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'Fear among immigrant communities'

Books Science Fiction Five Books About the Dangers of Messing With Science Stories about experiments gone wrong (or gone horribly right). By Lorna Wallace | Published on November 19, 2024 Photo by Ryan Zazueta [via Unsplash] Comment 0 Share New Share Photo by Ryan Zazueta [via Unsplash] Many scientific advancements have vastly improved the quality of human life, but not every breakthrough has been a boon. We need look no further than the invention of nuclear weapons for proof of that. Plenty of authors have turned their minds to imagining the horrors that can result from tinkering with science, from the murderous (but misunderstood!) monster brought to life in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) to the genetically engineered dinosaur mayhem of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990). Along the same lines as those sci-fi classics, here are five books that explore the dire consequences of science gone wrong, including cruel human experiments and cutting-edge technologies going haywire. Intercepts (2019) by T.J. Payne Nobody likes it when work follows them home, but it’s a particularly big problem for Joe Gerhard, who works at a secret government facility that conducts inhumane experiments on people. By day, Joe supervises the tests, which involve human subjects being kept in a near-constant state of sensory deprivation—a state which unlocks abilities that can be put to use by the government. By night, Joe tries to be the best dad he can be to his teenage daughter Riley—but that job becomes a lot more difficult when Riley starts seeing a strange ghostly figure. For me, the scariest thing about Intercepts isn’t where the story ends up—although it is suitably bloody and dark, while also being grimly satisfying—but where it starts. Government-organized and funded human experimentation is well-documented throughout history and it’s absolutely terrifying. Even though Intercepts goes in a wild sci-fi direction, the basis of the story is sadly all too grounded in reality. Final Girls (2017) by Mira Grant Mira Grant’s novella Final Girls is about a new experimental therapy that uses virtual reality to run people through horror movie scenarios in an attempt to heal their past trauma (that’d be a hard pass from me!). Reported results have been incredible so far, but journalist Esther Hoffman—whose bread and butter is debunking pseudoscience—is unconvinced. Although Esther is hesitant to try it out for herself, she agrees to undergo a session in order to tear it apart more thoroughly give it a fair shot. The woman behind the technology, Dr. Jennifer Webb, is confident that Esther will change her mind and plans to use the journalist as a selling point to convert other skeptics. The experience of regression therapy via horror movies (although Dr. Webb insists that it’s more complex than that) is supposed to be scary, but, of course, things quickly go off the rails. The short page count and lightning fast pace make the story fly by, but the horrifying VR scenarios still manage to pack a gruesome punch. The Queen (2024) by Nick Cutter Nick Cutter is no stranger to imagining the horrifying possibilities that science can unlock—The Troop (2014), The Deep (2015), and The Breach (2020) all explore this topic—and his latest offering, The Queen, follows suit. The story starts with teenager Margaret trapped in the kitchen of a country club, where people are mutating into grotesque forms in the ballroom. We then cut to one day earlier, with Margaret waking up to a text from her best friend, Charity… which is unexpected, considering Charity has been missing for the past few weeks. Over the course of the day, Margaret follows the breadcrumb trail that Charity texts to her, which gradually reveals why she’s missing. The journey takes Margaret all over town—ending at the country club—and exposes the secrets behind the mysterious Project Athena, an experiment spearheaded by an absurdly rich tech guy called Rudyard Crate, who has an unhealthy obsession with insects. The Queen features wasps and ants in abundance, plus many squirm-inducing descriptions of repulsive mutations. But running alongside all of the body horror, there’s also an emotional story of female teenage friendship in all of its loving—and sometimes messy—glory. Our Hideous Progeny (2023) by C.E. McGill Our Hideous Progeny is linked to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, with main character Mary being the great niece of Victor Frankenstein. Mary never met Victor, but she comes across his scientific notes about fashioning a man from various body parts and then bringing him to life. Being a scientist herself—and desperately wanting to prove herself to the largely misogynistic scientific community—she decides to try and supersede her great uncle’s work. The story takes places during the Victorian era, with the setting being split between the smoggy bustle of London and the misty quiet of northern Scotland. Rather than being outright scary, Our Hideous Progeny is wrapped in creepy Gothic atmosphere. Mary’s creation is certainly horrifying to some, but, like our main character, I’m a monster apologist. The creature in both this story and in Frankenstein just needs to be treated with kindness! The various men that Mary deals with are the true monsters of the story, but thankfully she’s buoyed up not only by her passion for science, but also by a budding sapphic romance. Second Variety (1953) by Philip K. Dick Second Variety takes place in a version of America that has been utterly ravaged by radiation bombs dropped by the Russians. Although the Americans immediately retaliated, Russia maintained the upper hand, eventually moving troops onto American soil—or, rather, into bunkers below American soil, because the surface is now a wasteland. But the playing field was leveled when American scientists created razor-filled spherical killing machines called “claws.” Major Hendricks has to venture out of the safety of a bunker when he gets word that the Russians have a matter of extreme importance to discuss. While traveling across the wasteland, he learns that the claws—which are built by automated machines and which have been designed to repair themselves (people really don’t want to go near them!)—have now started making their own terrifying adaptations. The story beats of this novelette likely won’t come as a surprise to anyone well-versed in sci-fi, but that doesn’t make this version of a robot-filled world any less scary. This short list is clearly not intended to be exhaustive—there’s a wealth of classics that fit this theme, from H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), without even getting into the 20th century and more recent works! But I’d love to hear your recommendations for books and stories that explore the horrors of science—please leave any examples not yet mentioned in the comments below![end-mark] The post Five Books About the Dangers of Messing With Science appeared first on Reactor.

The gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair have begun. Trump-haters in newsrooms are sounding the alarm about the anticipated separation of families under “Operation Aurora,” the mass-deportation of illegal aliens that president-elect Donald Trump promises and which 58% of Americans support, according to an Oct. 16 Marquette University survey. “If Trump gets his way, his deportation program threatens to rip families apart,” Nicole Narea warns in a Nov. 8 Vox column. A Denver Post editorial went so far as to compare Trump’s plan to FDR’s effort “to round up foreign-born Japanese Americans during World War II” and called it “a clear nod to the white supremacists backing his campaign.” Here is my free advice to foreign citizens who want both the American dream and family cohesion: Enter legally. My sainted parents wed in 1960. Two years later, they arrived with U.S. visas in their Costa Rican passports. I hatched in Los Angeles in 1963, and my sisters followed in 1965 and 1967. So far, no one has threatened to send us anywhere. My mother’s parents, sister, and younger brother arrived in 1965. They all landed legally. My grandparents—Aguelo and Aguela, as we called them—are gone, but my aunt and uncle are in L.A.—alive, well, and grandparents in their own right. Lesson: To avoid family separation, come to America legally. If you invade—as Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have let 8.4 million illegal immigrants do—you instantly violate 8 U.S. Code § 1325: “Improper entry by alien.” Henceforth, you are a lawbreaker, and America owes you less than nothing. The argument that illegal immigrants “just want better lives” is vacuous, hollow, and infinitely meaningless. Who doesn’t want a better life? I want a better life. So, may I barge into Elon Musk’s mansion and drain his wine cellar? Even with his $303 billion checking account, Musk must long for something that would afford him a better life. Regardless, that grants him no license to breach the French-Monaco frontier and occupy a 345-foot yacht or $79 million, sun-splashed palace. Illegal alien supporters now focus their rage on the incoming border czar. “Tom Homan is skilled at using public safety rhetoric to justify vicious tactics that tear families apart,” Heidi Altman, director of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement to Fox5. Arash Azizzada, co-director of a group called Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, told Al Jazeera that Homan’s appointment confirms Trump’s dedication to keeping his “most cruel and racist policy promises.” Such hyperbolic twits should dismount their unicorns and fill hard chairs before absorbing this news: Homan received a Presidential Rank Award for serving Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He scored that honor in January 2016—from Barack Obama, one of six Democrat and Republican presidents whom Homan served between 1984 and 2018. (In July 2016, by the way, The Associated Press reported that Obama had deported “more than 2.4 million people, nearly as many as his two predecessors combined.”) That’s right. Obama saluted Homan’s performance as executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. According to ICE’s press release trumpeting Homan’s trophy, this distinction—“the nation’s highest civil service award”—is “bestowed to leaders who’ve achieved sustained extraordinary results” for “consistently demonstrating strength, integrity, and commitment to public service.” ICE described Homan’s “extensive accomplishments” as “impressive and wide-reaching in scope.” In fiscal year 2013, Homan deployed a “federal biometric information sharing capability that resulted in the removal of more than 325,000 criminal aliens.” “In FY 2014, ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations] removed nearly 316,000 individuals from the United States,” according to ICE. “Nearly 56%, or 177,960 of those removed, were convicted criminal aliens. … The amount of criminal aliens removed from U.S. communities in FY 2014 would fill the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium to capacity more than two times over.” (Note the liberal use of the proper legal term “aliens” rather than today’s gratingly woke euphemism: “migrants.”) “In the three years that ICE’s Executive Associate Director Homan has been at the helm, ERO has removed more than 920,000 aliens from the United States. In that same time frame, ERO arrested and removed 534,000 criminal aliens. These accomplishments have a direct impact on national security and public safety.” “Homan successfully led expedited efforts to expand family detention capacity from 96 to more than 3,000 beds, an increase of more than 3,000%.” (In short: Tom Homan, thank you for locking up illegal aliens.) “And finally,” ICE concluded, “a record 98% of FY 2015 removals met one or more of the civil immigration enforcement priorities, which constitutes a near perfect execution of the stated mission.” Democrats who foam at the mouth at this news should relax, wipe their frothy chins, and read this: “I think the American people appreciate and believe in immigration. But they can’t have a situation where you just have half a million people pouring over the border without any kind of mechanism to control it.” Thus spoke Barack Obama in 2009. His words were as true then as they are true today. And Tom Homan, Trump’s new border czar, has Obama’s Presidential Rank Award to prove it. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post New Border Czar Tom Homan: Award-Winning Public Servant appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of the accompanying video from professor Peter St. Onge. Will Donald Trump end tax on tips? Will he go all the way and end tax on everything? During the campaign, our 47th president made a big, beautiful series of promises about things he would exempt from the tyrannical income tax that preys upon our fair republic. Trump started with “no tax on tips” in June, inspired by a “very smart waitress” he met dining in Las Vegas and subsequently introduced as the No Tax on Tips Act by Sen. Ted Cruz. Happily, what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas, as Trump embarked upon a cascade of income tax exemptions, from overtime pay to Social Security, then first responders, and even America’s 16 million veterans. Capping it all off with Trump’s musing on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that we should just get rid of the whole stinkin’ income tax so the federal government lives off tariffs. I’ve mentioned in previous videos how this would nearly double take-home pay and shrink the federal government—two for one! Alas, politics is the art of the possible. Will any of it actually happen? So the starting point is Trump’s clearest promise, no tax on tips. This is massively popular—Ipsos says three-quarters of Americans support it, even among Democrats. That makes it the perfect gateway drug. Right now, betting market Kalshi puts 63% odds on no tax on tips in the next two years. Poly markets puts 40% odds by April. Now, no tax on tips is obviously great for the 4 million tipped workers, who on average make just $17.56 an hour—with tips. They’d take home another $7,000 a year—a 30% raise. This would, of course, increase the deficit, by about $10 billion per year according to the Tax Foundation, which allegedly is anti-tax but apparently spends its time attacking tax cuts. Considering $10 billion is roughly one-17th of what we gave Ukraine, many Americans might feel blue-collar workers keeping their money is a better use of money than Ukraine’s meatgrinder. The other criticism is it’s distortionary because it exempts tips, but still taxes hourly pay. The Tax Foundation conjures a dystopia where “accountants receive their income as voluntary tips.” In other words, if you don’t like your accountant—or your cable provider—you don’t have to pay. Which sounds pretty awesome. Moreover, as Ronald Reagan put it, “Like my grandchildren, I love all tax cuts.” They drain the federal beast. They encourage work and entrepreneurship. And, of course, they return stolen goods. And if that taxless dystopia comes when prices are replaced by tips, sign me up. So what’s next? No tax on tips is great for blue-collar workers. But it’s great for everybody because it suggests broader tax cuts are also coming, with 40% odds by April. Why? Because tax cuts are very easy to attack as handouts to the rich since they’re overwhelmingly paid by middle- and upper-earners. Today, the bottom half of earners pay precisely 2.3% of income taxes. So you’d obviously pair a blue-collar tax cut like no tax on tips with across-the-board cuts. That means across-the-board cuts could also be coming as soon as April. That raises the odds—dare we dream—that Trump pulls a rabbit out of his hat and we skip the Biden recession altogether. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post No Tax on Tips appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Democratic River of Denial Flows From D.C. to the San Francisco Bay

1933 Redux: Berlin Police Advise Jews and Gays to Hide Their Identity

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Those weird streaks you can see on top are far more interesting than you think.

President-elect Donald Trump's nominations so far have generated significant backlash from establishmentarians, confirming the picks' strategic value as disruptors. While Trump has yet to disclose who, if anyone, he wants to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray — whose term does not expire until 2027 — the old guard's pre-emptive attacks on former National Security Council official Kash Patel signal that he might be the prospect most threatening to the dysfunctional status quo. Senior officials at the highly politicized bureau are preparing for a thorough housecleaning. Meanwhile, former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner has gone to the liberal media with his concerns, blasting Patel as "dangerous" and insinuating that his housecleaning may prove to be more thorough than that executed by others. When speaking to CNN's Jessica Dean on Sunday, Brunner parroted the talking points that have been recycled by others in Washington, D.C., in response to each of Trump's appointment announcements: Patel is supposedly inexperienced, revenge-driven, and keen on littering a sacrosanct federal agency with pink slips. 'He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI.' "It's really important to understand that the person who is leading the FBI, who is the director and then the deputy director, those are two very important positions," Brunner told Dean. "You're in charge of tens of thousands of employees, both special agents, analysts, everyone that is enforcing the law, federal law that is on the books and supporting the Constitution of the United States. Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous." Brunner unwittingly continued his commercial for Patel, noting, "His resume isn't traditional. There is nothing on his resume other than three years as a line U.S. attorney at the DOJ." Patel previously served as chief of staff to former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller; as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; principal deputy to the acting director of national intelligence; as national security adviser for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice; as a public defender; and as a hockey coach. After downplaying Patel's experience, Brunner highlighted what was apparently his greater concern: He has clearly stated that he wants to exact revenge upon those that have investigated President Trump and those who have investigated those that are around him. He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI ... and employees who have put their names on certain documents because they were just working the case. There will be hundreds of employees who will be unjustly fired or have their security clearances removed only because he feels that it’s something he needs to do. So I think he'll be very, very dangerous. Elements of the liberal media appear to be singing the same tune. The leftist blog New Republic blasted Patel as an "intellectual lightweight," warning that "if Trump installs Patel at the FBI, it would certainly further Trump and his MAGA allies' goal of purging the federal workforce of disloyal employees." Another prospect, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), has not been subject to the kind of attacks that Patel has faced in recent days. Semafor reported that the "MAGA wing" of the Republican Party is keen to see Patel as FBI director, whereas "more conventional Republicans" are pushing for Rogers, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee who defended warrantless surveillance of American citizens. "If they aren't bloody, if they don't have scars from one of the get Trump 'scandals,' then they're for Rogers," an unnamed source close to the transition team told Semafor. "I am a big fan of Mike Rogers, and should there be an opening, he would be my choice," said Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R). Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, "Mike Rogers is a terrific guy. I don't know Kash Patel." While Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Rogers "might be good," he stressed that Patel would "be great." "Smart, knows a lot about law enforcement," said Tuberville. "He's loyal to the president. And those are pretty much the top requirements." Toward the end of his first term, Trump considered installing Patel as deputy director at the FBI or CIA, reported the Associated Press. The plan fell apart when then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and former Attorney General Bill Barr made a stink. In his book "Goverment Gangsters," Patel called for an elimination of "government tyranny" within the FBI and the removal of anyone who "in any way abused their authority for political ends," reported ABC News. "The FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken," wrote Patel. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!