Featured Essays The Prisoner The Prisoner’s “The Schizoid Man” Doubles Down on Imposter Syndrome By Dan Persons | Published on January 24‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed More From Doppelgangers See All Posts News sci-fi tv Traveling to Outer Space Will Mess Up Your Mind‚ According to Constellation Trailer By Vanessa Armstrong January 22‚ 2024 News star wars: the bad batch The Bad Batch Face Off Against an Infamous Foe in Season 3 Trailer By Vanessa Armstrong January 22‚ 2024 Rereads and Rewatches Star Trek: Enterprise Star Trek: Enterprise Rewatch: “Terra Prime” By Keith R.A. DeCandido January 22‚ 2024 Comment 3 News news Noah Hawley (and FX) Wants Their Alien Series to Span Several Seasons By Vanessa Armstrong January 17‚ 2024 Comment 0 icon-left-caret Caret See All Posts “If I’m not me‚ who am I? And If I’m somebody else‚ why do I look like me?” —Popeye‚ “Hello‚ How Am I?” An interesting thought came to me while prepping for this piece: In the past forty years‚ has anyone on Earth had reason to utter the phrase‚ “Three wavy lines?” Might not mean anything to you‚ especially if you were born after 1980. But yeah‚ in the ’60s and ’70s‚ that phrase had carved out a little niche for itself in pop culture. It referred to one of the five Zener cards‚ a tool—invented by‚ duh‚ Dr. Karl Zener—meant to test a person’s ability to read minds. The idea was that the researcher would shuffle a deck of these cards‚ go through them one by one—the cards’ other symbols were a circle‚ a square‚ a cross‚ and a star—and the test subject would try to divine which symbol the researcher was looking at. (Why four-fifths of the cards could be identified by monosyllables while the fifth was a complex‚ very precise descriptor‚ I haven’t been able discover. Maybe it was a bonus round—like‚ if you guessed that one‚ you got a free sandwich.) The process was eventually debunked—turns out there were ways to beat the system‚ either deliberately or inadvertently—and the last I personally saw of the things was a cameo at the beginning of Ghostbusters (1984) where they were used as a metaphor for how disreputable paranormal research had become. For a while‚ though‚ the Zener cards were the gold standard if a film or TV show needed a shorthand way to demonstrate a person’s psychic capacity. The symbols were easy for the camera to read at a distance‚ unlike standard playing cards‚ and the process was straightforward enough that audiences needed no explanation to understand what was going on. The technique was so well-accepted that when‚ at the beginning of “The Schizoid Man”—the fifth episode of the 1967 British TV series The Prisoner—we see the show’s protagonist‚ Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan)‚ running fellow prisoner Number 24 (Jane Merrow) successfully through the drill‚ it means something that the otherwise chronically skeptical Number 6 treats her acing the test as irrefutable proof of her psychic abilities. Well‚ whaddya want? It was the Sixties‚ when paranormal research still kinda looked like a credible science. But then‚ The Prisoner overall was a good example of the culture at the time‚ and in particular of a kind of satiric storytelling that we’ve since lost‚ something at once wild‚ biting‚ and yet sincere. I’m not one to harp on the “They don’t make them like they used to” schtick—art evolves‚ and what gets left behind by-and-large doesn’t automatically vanish—but I do miss that particular brand of caustic wit. It still crops up every now and then—a Wag the Dog here‚ a Bamboozled there‚ a Don’t Look Up elsewhere (much as I didn’t like the latter)—but things like The President’s Analyst‚ The Ruling Class‚ and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb channeled an intensely earnest kind of rage that got shuffled off the stage once some refugees from The Harvard Lampoon joined forces with the comedic talents of Canada to form a more detached and ironic kind of humor. Before that particular tide turned‚ though‚ we got The Prisoner. A follow-up to McGoohan’s previous show‚ Danger Man (known as Secret Agent here across the pond)‚ The Prisoner was built around a simple but intriguing premise: A spy (presumably Danger Man’s John Drake‚ although the show never admits to that outright)‚ having resigned his commission with no little righteous indignation‚ is abducted by forces unknown and whisked away to a facility where he can be interrogated. Beyond the basic premise‚ though‚ there’s very little that’s simple or straightforward. The “prison” is the Village‚ an ice-cream-colored fantasy community secreted somewhere in Europe‚ although where exactly varies from episode to episode—in the show’s finale‚ it’s even suggested it’s located about a five-hour drive outside of London. There are cameras everywhere—including‚ of course‚ in the cottage-like residences—the inhabitants may be fellow agents or moles working for the warders‚ and despite the resort-like amenities (the show’s outdoor sequences were shot on-location in the actual Welsh resort village of Portmeirion)‚ behind the scenes there operated an apparatus of psychological manipulation and torture. All of the Villagers (almost—more on that later) are assigned numbers‚ all the better to break their spirits: The person in charge‚ portrayed by guest actors rotated out on a week-by-week basis‚ is Number 2; the ultimate authority is a mysterious Number 1; and McGoohan’s otherwise nameless character is dubbed Number 6. It isn’t hard to recognize the anxiety of the Sixties poking its head into the basic scenario—computerized archiving of information was becoming more prevalent; telephone companies were dropping their quaint locators of Melrose-5 and Lexington-8 in favor of flavorless all-digit dialing. It didn’t stop there. Using the framework of one man pitted against a system determined to dehumanize him at every step‚ producers McGoohan and David Tomblin allowed the series to morph into whatever format they needed to take the piss out of a tumultuous time. There’d be political satire and paranoid thriller; one episode sent up the campy mess the James Bond films had become; another was a flat-out spaghetti western. And there was existential angst. Lots of it‚ to the point where the narratives could become downright surreal. “A Change of Mind‚” anticipated Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a scenario where Number Six undergoes a procedure to check his antisocial behavior. “Dance of the Dead” begins with Number 6 finding a radio that tuned into the outside world‚ which eventually leads to him being tried and sentenced to death by a kangaroo court of costumed revelers‚ and ends with him trashing a teletype machine that clatters back to life as Number Two informs him that the zeal of his would-be executioners is misplaced‚ because he’s already dead. And then there was “The Schizoid Man.” Many episodes of The Prisoner revolved around the week’s Number 2 deploying elaborate mind-fucks—to use a clinical term—to  find out why Number 6 resigned. (There were also many episodes focused on Number 6’s efforts to escape the Village‚ and it was not uncommon for the two plots to intersect‚ as they do here.) In “The Schizoid Man‚” the plan is to have Number 6 question his own identity by introducing him to his doppelgänger. This was not an unusual trope for the time—such stories usually ended with a fistfight between the look-alikes while a gun-wielding spectator declared‚ “But which one should I shoot?” (This eventually morphed into the present-day trope of a clone and its creator arguing over which one was the original.) But McGoohan and writer Terence Feely worked a wicked little variation on the theme‚ first having Number 6 spirited away in the middle of the night to undergo weeks of reprogramming‚ and then having him reinserted into the Village as the imposter‚ Number 12. He wakes up left-handed‚ with lacquered‚ black hair‚ and a similarly cheesy mustache. Villagers greet him by his new number‚ and Number 2 (Anton Rodgers) effuses over their longtime friendship and his delight that his compatriot has been assigned the task of breaking Number 6. When Number 6 protests that he’s the real thing‚ Number 2 blithely compliments him on staying committed to his role. (You see? Some UK actors besides Daniel Day Lewis do use the Method). The true mind games begin once Number 12 meets “Number 6” (also played by McGoohan—director Pat Jackson does some neat stuff with split-screen‚ doubles‚ and camera moves to make it look like the two entities are sharing the same scene). In portraying the imposter‚ McGoohan drops his character’s customary stoic determination in favor of a hyped-up parody‚ making him archly flippant‚ almost jolly. His voice is pitched up an octave‚ he smirks‚ he snarks‚ he exudes an easy confidence. He’s the flesh-and-blood equivalent of what people go through when they first behold themselves on video: The image is immediately recognizable‚ and yet uncannily wrong. Doubly galling is that he turns out to be a better Number 6 than Number 6. He can handle objects with his right hand without fumbling‚ bests his rival at fencing and boxing‚ and has the identifying mole that somehow has vanished from the real Number 6’s arm. (Driving another nail in the coffin‚ Number 2 summons the doctor meant to replicate the blemish and upbraids him right in front of Number 12.) The coup de grace comes when the real Number 6 attempts to run through the Zener cards with Number 24 (whom Number 6 calls by name‚ in what appears to be a deliberate break in protocol by the show’s creators)‚ and fails miserably‚ while his double crushes the test. There’s an exquisitely insidious tang to the way Feely manages to continually pull the rug out from under Number 6’s feet‚ not just undermining his attempts to prove his legitimacy‚ but having Number 2 frequently pipe in with a‚ “It’s all right‚ old chap‚ not your fault we didn’t prep you sufficiently.” Little by little‚ but with impressive speed (the show only runs an hour‚ after all)‚ the former spy’s sense of self is stripped away. Before the plot turns back in his favor—the discovery of a bruise inflicted before the reprogramming triggers Number 6’s suspicions‚ and bit of do-it-yourself shock therapy restores his right-handedness—we see him convulsing in bed‚ wracked with doubts about his own identity. Well‚ who could blame him? A lot of the audience may well have identified‚ what with the nagging sense that‚ more and more‚ the System—however you cared to define it—was seeking to strip away our individuality. But “schizoid‚” after all‚ refers to an internal fracture‚ one that predates computers and prosperity-induced conformity. There’s a fragility to the ways we benchmark our own identities; it can be short-circuited by those who know just the right buttons to push. Number 6 above all has managed to survive the mind games of the Village by maintaining a rock-solid confidence in who he is. To have that subverted through an encounter with a cartoonish satire of himself is to trigger a kind-of inverse version of the imposter syndrome: What if you’re not just committing a fraud on others‚ but a fraud on yourself? But given The Prisoner’spenchant for allegory‚ am I too out-of-line in thinking the creators were looking at a broader crisis of identity? It was a turbulent time: Unpopular wars‚ the struggle for civil rights‚ the conflict between capitalism and socialism—plus the questioning within a once-dominant world power of what follows once the Empire crumbles—were causing a serious reappraisal of what the world had become. Were we the heroes we believed ourselves to be‚ or were we fooling ourselves? If you looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the face that looked back‚ could there be a good reason? “The Schizoid Man” doesn’t go quite as wide-ranging when it comes to resolving the conflict. Number 6‚ being Number 6‚ regains his sense of self through sheer will‚ while the doppelgänger is killed by a malfunctioning security robot for his hubris. Number 6 even reaffirms his psychic connection with Number 24 while impersonating Number 12 in a thwarted attempt at escape. (BTW: Number 6‚ Number 12‚ Number 24? Doubles all over the damn place!) Maybe the intent was just to encourage us to be secure in ourselves‚ despite those who endeavored to manipulate us. Know thyself‚ and fuck anyone who tells you different. I’ll admit I may be taking it too far in reading a broader social critique into “The Schizoid Man.” But The Prisoner came at a time when social commentary could wear its heart on its sleeve‚ when fury at the state—as well as the state of things—could be voiced at top volume. McGoohan and his team weren’t afraid of taking wild swings at their targets—to the point where some of the show’s narratives were not only perplexing upon their debut‚ but remain so today. The series sometimes ran the risk of having its viewers throw up their hands and shout‚ “Okay‚ okay‚ I get it!” but that brash earnestness was‚ more often than not‚ exhilarating. (By contrast‚ when AMC offered a remake of the series in 2009‚ the attempt to tame the narrative into some form of coherence‚ combined with a presentation that leaned more into Lynchian enigma‚ robbed the tale of the energy that made it so compelling.) Whatever its intent‚ The Prisoner was visionary filmmaking‚ and “The Schizoid Man” was a warped little inquest into the question of identity. Like Number 6 confronting his double‚ it made us ask who we truly are‚ and whether we like what we see. * * * It’s becoming popular—maybe too popular—for media commentators to go around declaring: “You couldn’t make that show today.” All in the Family is frequently dragged into that argument‚ but I suspect some would want to cite The Prisoner as well‚ not so much for its controversial subject matter as for its attitude. It does seem very much of its time‚ when a societal revolution was at hand and we could be more upfront with our passions. But have we become so jaded as a culture that—AMC botch notwithstanding—somebody couldn’t take another stab at The Prisoner‚ or its equivalent‚ and imbue it with the kind of zeal that crackles through the original? What do you think? Is The Prisoner just an archaic artifact of its time‚ or something that still has value today? Are there any contemporaries fit to join its rank in wit‚ incisiveness‚ and style? If you have thoughts‚ you’re welcome to comment below. Remember to be friendly and polite with your contributions—you are being monitored! [end-mark] The post <;i>;The Prisoner<;/i>;’s “The Schizoid Man” Doubles Down on Imposter Syndrome appeared first on Reactor.

Lists five books Five SFF Works Featuring Noble Lies and Useful Prevarications By James Davis Nicoll | Published on January 24‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed More From five books See All Posts Rereads and Rewatches Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett Book Club: Where’s My Cow? By Emmet Asher-Perrin January 19‚ 2024 Comment 0 Book Recommendations cults 5 Books About Regretting That Cult You Joined By Olivie Blake January 9‚ 2024 Comment 0 Rereads/Rewatches Terry Pratchett Book Club Terry Pratchett Book Club: Wintersmith‚ Part III By Emmet Asher-Perrin December 15‚ 2023 Comment 0 Book Recommendations Fantasy Eight Fantasies About the Joys of Bread and Baking By Lindsay Eagar December 18‚ 2023 Comment 0 icon-left-caret Caret See All Posts The truth will set you free! But what if it won’t? What if the unvarnished truth is an impediment to a worthy goal? If a slight mistruth would inspire people to do the right thing‚ it might be wrong not to lie… Or so some authors would have us believe. The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper (1963) Conn Maxwell returns to backwater Poictesme in possession of a secret that will transform that underdeveloped planet. During his Terran university sojourn‚ Conn has uncovered one of the Federation’s1 most closely held secrets: the location of the supercomputer Merlin. Once Poictesme develops the means to reach Merlin‚ the nigh-godlike computer will guide Conn’s fellow cosmic bumpkins towards planetary prosperity. All of which is a barefaced lie. Conn does not believe Merlin exists at all. However‚ the steps required to reach Merlin are the same steps needed to exploit the abundant military stores abandoned in Poictesme’s star system in the aftermath of a recent war. The Merlin lie is simply the means to entice Conn’s people to embrace prosperity. I am embarrassed to admit that it took me decades to realize why Piper named his protagonist “Conn.” The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa (2003) Led by Eden Leisure Entertainment‚ a consortium undertakes a tremendous challenge: turning the chairman’s thirteen-year-old daughter Tae’s vision of a lavish wedding chapel on the Moon into reality. Among the many recruited for the cause is skilled auditor Reika Hozumi‚ who is key to convincing investors that the project is a sound one. In fact‚ the project cannot possibly pencil out. While Tae’s claim that people will spend vast sums on lavish weddings is entirely correct‚ the case that this means a wedding chapel on the Moon can turn a profit is flimsy. It’s best for Reika’s peace of mind that she has no idea Tae’s ultimate goal is not the one publicized. Gullible Reika’s primary task is to provide the Lunar chapel project with a patina of plausibility. In this case‚ therapy would have been much less expensive than the course of action that the characters chose. But they do get a very shiny wedding chapel out of it! Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey (2019) Ivy Gamble is visiting The Osborne Academy for Young Mages. It’s no surprise to find a Gamble at Osborne. After all‚ Ivy’s estranged sister Tabitha is a teacher there. It is perfectly reasonable to suppose that Ivy shares Tabitha’s knack for magic. She lets everyone there assume that this is the case. In fact‚ Ivy is a mundane with a specific set of skills otherwise unknown at Osborne. She is a private investigator tasked by headmaster Torres with determining just how it was that Health and Wellness teacher Sylvia Caple was lethally bisected. Lies are just one tool in Ivy’s kit‚ albeit a tool of which Ivy is very fond. One might conclude from this novel that schools are a dangerous place to learn magic. Gailey’s When We Were Magic (2020) features self-taught magic with equally lethal potential. In Gailey’s stories‚ it seems that magic‚ however learned‚ is inherently dangerous. Usotoki Rhetoric‚ Volume 2 by Ritsu Miyako (2013) Urabe Kanoko was born with a seemingly supernatural ability: Tell a lie in Urabe’s hearing and the young woman will infallibly sense falsehood. This gift  made Urabe a pariah in her Showa-era hometown and forced her to find her fortune in distant Tsukumoya. Eager to prove her worth to detective Iwai Soma‚ Urabe undertakes to solve the case of a missing spoon. She soon zeroes in on a suspect‚ one who possesses a spoon just like the missing one and whose claims regarding the spoon Urabe can tell are lies. As an embarrassed Urabe will soon learn‚ not all lies indicate guilt. Some lies serve a higher purpose. It is not entirely true that Urabe was driven from her hometown because she is a living lie detector. The issue wasn’t that she could always tell when someone was lying; the problem was that as an innocent child she could not refrain from loudly announcing that someone near her had lied. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (1996) The Auditors of Reality‚ being a particularly joyless lot‚ launch an audacious attack on the myths underlying the Discworld. Assassin Teatime is given the task of killing the Hogfather‚ the Discworld’s version of Father Christmas. Teatime is as cunning as he is merciless. If Death and Death’s granddaughter Susan Sto Helit cannot confound Teatime‚ reality itself will be imperiled. Toward the end of the novel is an exchange between Death and Susan that earned Pratchett’s book the final position in this list. “All right‚” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need … fantasies to make life bearable.”REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.“So we can believe the big ones?”YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.“They’re not the same at all!”YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE‚ ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD‚ AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.“Yes‚ but people have got to believe that‚ or what’s the point—”MY POINT EXACTLY. * * * Is Death correct or was this manifestation of a force of nature kidding itself because it is itself the beneficiary of the folk belief in a personified death? Can lies be justified? Why did I leave your favourite fictional example of a justifiable lie off this list?2 Have fun hashing it out in the comments. [end-mark] No‚ this is not a Star Trek novel. There is a starship “Enterprise” that appears in a later novel in this setting but it shows up after the Federation’s fall. ︎Or did I? ︎The post Five SFF Works Featuring Noble Lies and Useful Prevarications appeared first on Reactor.

Tuning Stones are essential items to make your Seneschal Companion stronger in Diablo 4 Season 3. One of the best ones in Diablo 4 is the Evernight Tuning Stone‚ and in this guide‚ you’ll learn how to get it. What does the Evernight Tuning Stone do in Diablo 4? What makes the Evernight Tuning Stone special is its effect is the supported Skill grants you plus four to all Skills when used for 2.0 seconds. Basically‚ it makes all of your Skills stronger when the Seneschal Companion uses its Skills. Related: Best ways to farm Governing Stones &; Tuning Stones in Diablo 4 The Evernight Tuning Stone is an extremely rare Tuning Stone that can be slotted into your Seneschal Companion just like every other Tuning Stone. It can also be upgraded as you acquire more Evernight Stones. All ways to get Evernight Tuning Stone in Diablo 4 There are four ways to get the Evernight Tuning Stone in Diablo 4. Note: the Evernight Tuning Stone has a very lo...

Steam Deck is one of the best ways to enjoy gaming which is why you’re here wondering if Enshrouded works on the device. Well‚ let’s not waste any time — here’s your answer to if Enshrouded works on Steam Deck. Does Enshrouded work on Steam Deck? After downloading and booting up Enshrouded on Steam Deck to see if it works for myself‚ I can confirm that Enshrouded does work on Steam Deck. Related: Does Enshrouded have a creative mode? Currently‚ Enshrouded has an “unknown” status listed for its Steam Deck compatibility. Usually‚ games listed as unknown or unsupported don’t work on Steam Deck‚ games listed as playable work on Steam Deck but have a few wonky features‚ and games listed as playable are fully supported and work great. In the case of Enshrouded‚ it runs on Steam Deck‚ but the graphics (and battery life) suffer. When will Enshrouded be playable on Steam Deck? Right now‚ you can play Enshrouded on...

The Glider is a must-have item in Enshrouded. Don’t waste any more time walking around — learn how to unlock and craft the Glider in Enshrouded now! Enshrouded: How to get the Glider Screenshot: PC Invasion To get the Glider in Enshrouded‚ you need to craft a Workbench — this is also one of the first steps you need to take to get into the beginning phase of building. The Workbench automatically and always has the Glider as a craftable option. To build a Glider‚ it costs the following resources: 8x Shroud Wood 2x Animal Fur 2x String 2x Shroud Spores How to get Animal Fur‚ String‚ Shroud Wood‚ and Shroud Spores in Enshrouded Animal Fur: Getting Animal Fur is easy but not easy to farm. Defeat the wolves around the Braelyn Bridge to quickly get two Animal Fur. String: After getting your Animal Fur‚ snag the grass and bushes while exploring to get Plant Fiber. Use these to create two String in your Manual...

Winter Games has started in Monopoly GO now that Ski Stars has ended. Now is a great opportunity to score Sticker Packs and Cash. Also – the new Ice Skate Player Token is available with this event. So make sure to grab it! Full list of Milestones and Rewards for Winter Games in Monopoly GO Below is a complete list of all the rewards for the Winter Games Milestone Event in Monopoly GO. Note that cash rewards vary from player to player‚ so I can’t give any values. Excitingly‚ this event will also reward Pickaxes for the Jungle Treasures event! MilestonePoints RequiredRewards1415 Free Rolls2103 Pickaxe Tokens310Green Sticker Pack4203 Pickaxe Tokens565100 Free Rolls6155 Pickaxe Tokens720Cash820Green Sticker Pack9256 Pickaxe Tokens10180225 Free Rolls112510 minutes of Cash Grab1230Green Sticker Pack13357 Pickaxe Tokens1440Cash15350425 Free Rolls164511 Pickaxe Tokens1765Orange Sticker Pack18100120 Free Rolls197013 Pickaxe Tokens20700Ice Skate Player Token2...

Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington condemned President Joe Biden’s promotion of abortion at a Virginia rally on Tuesday evening. Burbidge spoke out following the president’s rally in Manassas where Biden advocated for codifying Roe v. Wade into law. Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris condemned Republican efforts to protect the unborn as they spoke before a massive “RESTORE ROE” banner. Biden repeatedly criticized former President Donald Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade‚ telling his audience that Trump thinks he won’t be held accountable for the massive pro-life victory. “But guess what?” Biden asked the crowd. “I’m betting he’s wrong. I’m betting you won’t forget.” The president describes himself as a devout Catholic‚ though he heads the most pro-abortion administration in United States history‚ supporting unrestricted abortion up until birth. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a crime against human life. “It is incredibly devastating to know President Biden would place ‘choice’ over his sacred duty to protect life‚” Burbidge said in a statement. The bishop emphasized that Biden’s rally took place just four miles away from the pro-life pregnancy center Manassas Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic‚ through which Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington offers free resources‚ support‚ and care to pregnant mothers and their babies. President Joe Biden speaks at a ”Reproductive Freedom Campaign Rally” at George Mason University on Jan. 23 in Manassas‚ Virginia. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) “In the year after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision‚ the Diocese of Arlington delivered $877‚000 in free medical care to more than 1‚000 women‚” Burbidge said. “Going further‚ the diocese also provided rent and utilities assistance‚ nearly 400‚000 diapers‚ and 4‚000 cans of formula to families in need.” The Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision effectively overturned Roe v. Wade. The bishop of Arlington admonished Biden that “taking the life of an innocent child is never a ‘choice.'” “Women who are facing unexpected or difficult pregnancies deserve assistance that affirms and supports life—not destroy[s] it‚” he said. “Abortion remains the preeminent civil rights issue of our time‚ yet‚ just yesterday‚ the Biden administration announced renewed efforts to increase access to medically unsafe prescription abortion pills. This is clearly not about women’s health.” Burbidge concluded by promising‚ “The Diocese of Arlington and the entire pro-life movement will remain steadfast in ensuring parents facing unexpected or challenging pregnancies have the support they need to choose life for their unborn children.” Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.  The post ‘Clearly Not About Women’s Health’: Virginia Bishop Condemns Biden Abortion Rally appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. As all physical roads lead to Rome – so all political and media ones truly lead to the US presidential election. And over the past eight years‚ the stakes have been getting ever higher. Some cynics will say for no other reason than the shocking 2016 Trump victory which left the establishment reeling and disoriented‚ then in feverish search of a “culprit‚” openly challenging election integrity – seemingly culminating with the “Russian interference” conspiracy theory. But over the years‚ relentless censorship of all manner of “legal but dissenting‚” let’s put it that way‚ opinions on social networks have also become the new normal. It’s a fairly safe bet that even back in 2016 a corporate legacy media like Bloomberg would have trouble advocating for social sites – susceptible to all kinds of political pressure – as “arbiters (of speech).” But now after long years of these platforms playing an appropriated‚ likely illegal role‚ the words just roll out. And it’s “out of concern” for democracy‚ apparently. “US Heads Into Post-Truth Election as Platforms Shun Arbiter Role‚” a headline on a Bloomberg piece spells it out. Excuse us? Who died and made social platforms any kind of arbiter of speech? And didn’t “post-truth” happen precisely as these platforms and their power over third-party content got elevated to the “arbiters of truth” in the last few years? None of the arguments‚ when summed up and examined on logical grounds‚ make sense. But that’s not what Bloomberg is out to do now – it’s to make an immediate impact on a susceptible audience. And leave it at that. There is nothing we haven’t already heard as if the authors stick to the same playbook: allegedly there’s more “disinformation” than ever; the “AI” is “a real and present danger” – and Elon Musk is just crazy for opening his platform to free speech. What’s somewhat differentiating here – although‚ is it really? – is a sense that since X won’t get fully reined in time for the US election‚ even more pressure must be heaped onto other major platforms. “(…) Other platforms are also changing their approach to monitoring‚” writes Bloomberg‚ whose reporters’ text editors must be falsely replacing “censorship” with “monitoring.” “Meta Platforms Inc. has sought to downplay news and political content on Facebook‚ Instagram‚ and its new struggling Threads app. Google’s YouTube has decided that purging falsehoods about the 2020 election restricts too much political speech (Meta has a similar policy)‚” says the article. Are those mentioned really bent on censoring less‚ this time around? Highly doubtful. The post Bloomberg Complains That Big Tech Companies Are Shunning Their “Arbiter” of Truth Role appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Pham Tuan occupies two special places in Vietnamese history books—although both distinctions have attracted some controversy as well as fame. He gets credit for being the first Vietnamese fighter pilot to shoot down a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and with being the first Southeast Asian to reach outer space. Born in Kien Xuong District of Thai Binh Province on February 14‚ 1947‚ Pham Tuan joined the North Vietnamese military in September 1965 as a radar mechanics student and later trained at the Krasnodar flight school in the Soviet Union. Back in Vietnam‚ he underwent further training‚ including night flying‚ in the 910th Air Training Regiment. His first combat assignment was piloting Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 fighters with the 923rd Fighter Regiment in 1969. He switched to MiG-21s with the 921st from 1970 to 1973.  On December 14‚ 1972‚ President Richard M. Nixon responded to the North Vietnamese walking out of the Paris peace talks by approving Operation Linebacker II‚ a renewed bombing offensive intended to force them back to the negotiating table. Although both opposing air arms fought with all they had‚ the most prominent protagonists in Linebacker II were waves of B-52s that dropped huge bomb loads from high altitude‚ opposed by batteries of S-75 Dvina (NATO codename SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). The North Vietnamese began exhausting their missile stocks over the next two weeks‚ however‚ so on December 26 their air force committed 12 MiG-21 pilots‚ eight of whom were trained in night fighting‚ to take a more active role in defense of the beleaguered SAM sites by intercepting the B-52s.  Cosmonauts Pham Tuan (right) and Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko train for their mission aboard the Salyut 6 space station. On the night of December 27-28‚ Pham Tuan‚ flying MiG-21MF bort number 5121‚ took off from Hanoi’s Noi Bai airfield and was directed by ground control intercept (GCI) to attack three B-52s reported over Moc Chao. He spotted the targets at an altitude of 23‚000 feet‚ accelerated to 746 mph and climbed above the bombers to 33‚000 feet. As he closed on the B-52s‚ GCI instructed‚ “You have permission to fire twice‚ then get away quickly‚” since American fighters were approaching. “I launched two [K-13] heat-seeking missiles from a distance of 2 kilometers‚” he reported. “Big flames were visible around the second B-52 as I turned sharply to the left and descended to 2‚000 meters before landing at Yen Bai.”  Pham Tuan received credit for the first successful B-52 interception by a fighter plane‚ for which he was awarded the Vietnam People’s Armed Forces medal on September 3‚ 1973. He claimed to have last seen his quarry burning at the border between Hoa Binh and Vinh Phouc provinces and that the entire crew were killed. The United States Air Force lost two bombers that night. The six crewmen of B-52D 56-0599 of the 77th Squadron‚ 28th Bombardment Wing‚ 307th Strategic Wing‚ operating from U-Tapao‚ Thailand‚ bailed out and were rescued‚ and later testified that their plane had been fatally damaged by the last of 15 SAMs launched at them. B-52D 56-0605 of the 7th Bombardment Wing‚ attached to the 43rd Strategic Wing from Andersen Air Force Base‚ Guam‚ was also lost that night‚ with two men killed and four taken prisoner. All four survivors subsequently claimed that they‚ too‚ had been SAM victims. Vietnamese aviation historians‚ however‚ now credit Pham Tuan with the latter B-52.  After the war Pham Tuan married and had two children‚ but he remained in the air force. Meanwhile‚ in April 1967‚ the Soviet Union initiated an Intercosmos program‚ opening up crew positions on its spacecraft to non-Soviet personnel. One of the three Vietnamese pilots sent to the Gagarin Air Force Academy for cosmonaut training in 1977 was disqualified due to health problems and on April 1‚ 1979‚ Pham Tuan was selected to replace him for the sixth international flight. On July 23‚ 1980‚ he and Soviet cosmonaut Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz 37.  Gorbatko and Pham Tuan lifted off on July 23‚ 1980‚ aboard Soyuz 37. Pham Tuan became the first Asian and the first Vietnamese citizen to reach space. Although there’s no doubt that Pham Tuan reached space‚ a popular joke among Vietnamese referred to him as “the hitchhiker‚” because he left all the “driving” to his Soviet hosts. Still‚ there were indications that he was not just along for the ride. Three days before takeoff‚ he was informed that he was to serve as chief cosmonaut aboard Soyuz. Then technical problems arose with the rocket engine. Facing the possibility of an abort before launch‚ Pham Tuan received orders to shut down all systems‚ but ground command was able to restore the engine to normal operation and the mission proceeded as planned. On July 24‚ Soyuz 37 docked at space station Salyut 6‚ where among other things Pham Tuan conducted experiments in melting mineral samples in microgravity and with azolla plants as well as photographing Vietnam for mapping purposes. Departing the space station aboard Soyuz 36‚ he and Gorbatko returned to Earth on July 31‚ having completed 142 orbits in just under eight days.  Besides the Ho Chi Minh Order and Hero of Labor‚ on July 31‚ 1980‚ Pham Tuan was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union. He is one of the few foreigners to receive the USSR’s highest decoration. He rose in rank to lieutenant general and served in the ministry of defense and as a member of the Vietnam National Assembly before retiring in 2007. The MiG-21MF 5121‚ in which he scored his single‚ controversial aerial victory‚ is on display outside the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi.  this article first appeared in AVIATION HISTORY magazine See more stories Subscribe now  

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