“The four months in federal prison not only didn’t break me, it empowered me. I am more energized and more focused than I’ve ever been in my entire life.” Steve Bannon posted a powerful opening statement as a newly released prisoner. He refers to himself as a political prisoner. He said he was imprisoned for […] The post Bannon: Young African-American, Hispanic Men DETEST Harris appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Have you ever had the nerve to make your way through a haunted house? While some are scarier than others, even the more tame ones tend to be quite frightening. Take for example the haunted maze that Prince Harry and Jimmy Fallon went through together not long ago. Then there is the haunted house that Jennifer Garner and her kids found themselves in the other day. While it seems as though her kids took the spooky journey in stride, the actor herself can’t say the same… While it would have been funny if Garner simply retold her haunted house journey, we got something much better. As she ventured through the Halloween attraction, she made sure to record herself. As a result, a video compilation was made of some of her best reactions to the excellent scare actors around her. See these hilarious (and likely relatable) moments in the video below! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jennifer Garner (@jennifer.garner) Nothing Could Have Prepared Jennifer Garner for This Spooky Haunted House Throughout Garner’s time in this haunted house, she seems to try and find ways to make herself less scared. She attempts a few methods, like telling the actors, “I see you!” or commanding them to stay where they are. In the end, however, it is pretty tough to say whether or not any of these methods were actually effective. “I cannot do haunted houses if my life depended on it. I think I’d just cry the whole time,” someone admits in the comments, with another adding, “Can you imagine working the haunted house and it’s Jennifer Garner?” “‘I see you and I’m not frightened of you,'” a third person writes, quoting Garner from the video. “Taking this new mantra to my therapist.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Jennifer Garner Records Herself Walking Through Haunted House & It’s Cracking Fans Up appeared first on InspireMore.

Some true, hopeless romantics pull out all the stops to make their partners feel loved. We’re a sucker for a romantic comedy when we’re in the comfort of our own living room. Take that romance on the road and recreate an iconic scene for a proposal, we can hardly stand it. Will Johnson planned to propose to his girlfriend, Emily Larson but wanted it to be big. He delivered. Will told People Emily’s favorite movie is 10 Things I Hate About You, and one scene in particular makes her happy, so he centered his proposal around that moment. “The first time we watched it together, during the scene where Heath Ledger sings to Julia Stiles, she said, ‘If you ever did that for me, I think I’d melt,'” Will told People. “Emily and I are high school sweethearts, been together for over eight years, and have known each other for about 12 years. We both were certain we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together for quite some time. So when I was to pop the question, I wanted to do it right. The way she has always wanted but never knew.” @tossed_ambrosia_salad #proposal #tenthingsihateaboutyou ♬ Can’t Take My Eyes off You – Frankie Valli Will Created A Perfect “10 Things I Hate About You” Proposal Not only did he recreate the iconic scene, complete with a marching band playing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, but he also took Emily to the original filming location. “I ended up writing a cover letter explaining the idea to the school district,” Will told People of securing the location. “After the district granted approval, I had to get an insurance policy and a banquet license (for the champagne) for that night.” It took Will two months to plan the incredible proposal, and it went off without a hitch. “She melted,” Will told People of his new fiancé’s reaction. “But for real, she was shocked! On the car ride over to the engagement celebration, she was telling me how precious that moment will always be for her. Don’t think she could have been more happy or excited within that moment.” TikTokers melted too. The couple’s friend, Ambrose, posted the video online, and, of course, it went viral. People absolutely love Will’s passion for Emily and his 10 Things I Hate About You inspired proposal. Someone wrote, “I would pass away if someone recreated that scene wow.” “Oh my god, this is such a perfect proposal ever,” another fan wrote. This TikToker said Will wins, “This may be the best proposal ever.” Congratulations to the happy couple. We’re obsessed with this movie and the proposal. May you have the most incredible marriage and a long life together. The source of this story’s image can be found here. The post Man Recreates Legendary “10 Things I Hate About You” Scene To Pull Off Epic Proposal appeared first on InspireMore.

Did you know that meteors enter the Earth’s atmosphere every single day? We just don’t see them all because most aren’t visible. But between the recent meteor shower called Orionids and the blazing fireball witnessed across several states, we’ve been seeing quite a few as of late. If you want to learn more about the Orionids, you can find our coverage of it here. But today we’re going to be focusing on the massive meteor that was spotted from Michigan all the way to North Carolina. It was also visible in parts of Canada. The meteor is said to have been visible around 7 p.m. ET on Monday, October 21. In fact, the American Meteor Society (AMS) says they received 534 reports about this meteor alone. Part of what makes it so special is the fact that it’s a fireball meteor. Catch a glimpse in the video below. Many meteors can burn bright in the sky, but fireballs are exceptionally brilliant. This can be seen in all of the footage people managed to capture of this celestial event. Despite the fact that these videos are taken on your average camera, it’s actually easy to spot the distant fireball as it soars across the Earth’s atmosphere. Get an even closer glimpse in the video below! Brilliant Fireball Meteor Visible in Multiple States Beautifully Soars Through the Sky “Saw this driving home from work in Columbus OH, it was not even dark yet, imagine how bright this would have been at night!” someone shares in the comments, with another adding, “This is precisely what I saw in the sky! I’m From Rochester Hills, [Michigan].” It’s said that this fireball occurred at an altitude of about 50 miles. It’s also the largest one to be documented in recent months. How cool is that!? You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Fireball Shoots Across The Sky In Several States — See Incredible Footage appeared first on InspireMore.

'To be fair, the guy’s really just doing what he does'

A natty, the Heisman, might be one of those years for 'The U'

What do you think?

'Any one of them puts him over the top'

Blog Front Lines and Frontiers In Defense of Adventure Tales: The Best of Planet Stories #1 by Leigh Brackett Leigh Brackett takes a stand for stories of daring exploits, courage, and derring-do! By Alan Brown | Published on October 29, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement. One of the many science fiction magazines that appeared on newsstands in the mid-20th century was Planet Stories, published from 1939 to 1955. It specialized in adventure stories, in the vein of space opera and planetary romance, and was often looked down upon by the more “serious” writers and readers of magazines like Astounding Science Fiction. But in a “Best of” anthology printed by Ballantine Books in 1975 and edited by frequent contributor Leigh Brackett, the author mounts a spirited defense of the magazine, both in her introduction to the volume and in her selection of some excellent stories from its run. And Brackett didn’t stop there. She took on the idea that adventure stories are somehow less valuable or estimable than stories that focus on the sciences. In her introduction to the volume, she points out that, “The tale of adventure—of great courage and daring, of battle against the forces of darkness and the unknown—has been with the human race since it first learned to talk.” She also showed a bit of disdain for the rigid guidelines Astounding’s editor John Campbell applied to fiction. Her choice of stories shows that there was a wide diversity of tales printed within the pages of Planet Stories. Brackett argues that just because a story is a fun read, that doesn’t prevent it from also having weight and meaning. I’ve spoken about Planet Stories magazine before in a review of one of Leigh Bracket’s collections, and you can find an Encyclopedia of Science Fiction article on the magazine here. Because the book I’m reviewing today is hard to find, and all the stories it contains (except one) are available to read online at Project Gutenberg, I’ve provided links so you can read the ones that sound interesting. About the Editor Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) was a noted science fiction writer and screenwriter, perhaps best-known today for one of her last works, the first draft of the script for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I’ve reviewed Brackett’s work before—the omnibus edition Eric John Stark: Outlaw of Mars, the novel The Sword of Rhiannon, the novelette “Lorelei of the Red Mist” in the collection, Three Times Infinity, the short story “Citadel of Lost Ships” in the collection, Swords Against Tomorrow, the collections The Best of Leigh Brackett and The Halfling and Other Stories, the novel The Long Tomorrow, and the Skaith Trilogy: The Ginger Star, The Hounds of Skaith, and The Reavers of Skaith. In each of those columns, you will find more information on Leigh Brackett, her career, and her works. And like many authors whose careers started in the early 20th century, you can find a number of Brackett’s stories and novels on Project Gutenberg. One and Done The Best of Planet Stories #1 was unfortunately a “one and done,” the only volume to appear in what had originally been intended as a series. It was published at a time when Leigh Brackett’s science fiction writing career was going through a period of renewal. She had revived her stories of adventurer Eric John Stark, sending him to a new world, Skaith, that orbited a faraway red sun. And she was soon to be tapped to write a script for the sequel to George Lucas’ surprise hit movie, Star Wars. But for some reason, Ballentine’s plans for the anthology series ended with the single volume. It might have been sales figures, it might have been Brackett being busy with other work, or it might have been down to the health issues that would cause her untimely death a few years later. But for whatever reason, this excellent collection stands alone. As a long-time science fiction fan, I am used to finding works I enjoy that turn out to be “one and done.” It started when I was a kid, and I would have to settle for whatever odd back-issues of used comics were available at the local convenience store, or choose from the limited selection of science fiction books available at the local library, which might only contain one random entry in a series, or maybe just a book that never had a sequel. Sometimes, I would find a sequel and have to imagine what came before it, or find a book with a cliffhanger ending without ever having it resolved. That problem became less common as I got older and gained access to more sources for reading material, but even with additional sources, I wasn’t protected from occasional disappointment. One of the areas where this kind of disappointment ran rampant was in science fiction on television. In my youth, it seemed that most science fiction shows were doomed to short runs. I loved Time Tunnel, but it ended after a single season. And the same thing happened to Jonny Quest, despite it being the greatest cartoon show in the history of mankind. Star Trek (the original, that is), lasted for three whole seasons, but my boyhood home was out of range of the nearest NBC station. Things did get somewhat better, as there were more TV stations to choose from, and there were shows that ran for multiple seasons, including the many other Star Trek shows, Babylon 5, and a whole host of others. But then a show like Firefly would come along and remind me that disappointment was still an option. In the end, however, I suppose having a book or show that leaves me wanting more is preferable to one that outstays its welcome. The Best of Planet Stories #1 The book opens with the long story “Lorelei of the Red Mist” by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (read it here). The publisher required Brackett to include one of her own tales in each volume of the anthology series, and from a marketing standpoint, it didn’t hurt to include a story whose junior author had become one of the most widely known and acclaimed authors of science fiction in subsequent years. The story is a great example of a planetary romance tale, set among a strange and decadent civilization in a lost corner of Venus that exists under a sea of swirling red mist. The consciousness of an escaping criminal is transferred into a barbarian warrior by a witch who hopes to have him kill her enemies. But the protagonist has his own ideas on how to live, given this second chance at life, and soon is careening from battle to battle. Leigh Brackett’s work has been a subject of many of my reviews, which are included in the biography above (including a link to a longer review of “Lorelei of the Red Mist”). You can also find my most recent review of Ray Bradbury’s work here, which contains links to my other reviews of his work. The next story in the collection, “The Star-Mouse,” is by Fredric Brown, a writer who frequently wrote humorous stories, and whose tongue was firmly in his cheek when writing this tale (read it here). It tells the story of a Professor Overburger, who fled a nation that wanted to use his rocket-building skills for evil purposes (and reminds me a bit of Willy Ley). In the best pulp fiction tradition, he is able to build a small but advanced rocket in his home workshop. Wanting to study the effect of rocket travel on living beings, he captures a mouse in his home, planning to use the rodent as a test subject. As a lonely old man, he holds a running one-sided conversation with his tiny friend as he builds the rocket. In his heavily accented English, he names the mouse Mitkey, after a cartoon character. His rocket works so flawlessly, it achieves escape velocity, and heads out on what the Professor believes will be a one-way journey. But instead, the rocket is captured by tiny aliens who inhabit an asteroid passing near the Earth. The aliens boost Mitkey’s intelligence, and learn about the Earth through examining his memories. Amusingly, because heavily accented English is the only language Mitkey has heard, he speaks the same way, and so do the aliens who learned from him. They send Mitkey home with a machine that can boost the intelligence of other mice, planning for him and his kin to disrupt human civilization. But fortunately for humanity, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry… Fredric Brown (1906-1972) was a popular science fiction author, best known for his humorous approach in works like the novel Martians, Go Home. This is the first time I have looked at Brown’s work in this column. Raymond Z. Gallun’s “Return of a Legend” is an atmospheric tale that follows the adventures of some of the first humans on Mars, who hear the call of the wild, and leave the fledgling Earth colony for life on their own (read it here). This Mars is much harsher than the planet as it was portrayed in many planetary romances, although still more habitable than the world our space probes have revealed. There is life clinging to the planet in all sorts of interesting forms, along with the ruins left by a lost intelligent race. The story is full of compelling adventure, as one person after another leaves the colony to find a way to live on their own terms. Raymond Z. Gallun (1911-1994) was an American science fiction author who was a prolific contributor to the field, especially in the pre-WWII pulp magazines. This is the first time I have looked at Gallun’s work in this column. In the “Quest of Thig,” by Basil Wells, alien warriors of the “Horde” capture a human being, and one of them, Thig, is imprinted with his memories and surgically altered to resemble him—a process so convincing that even his wife and children are fooled (read it here). Thig is a scout whose job is to determine whether the Earth is ripe for conquest, and like others of his kind, he’s beem raised without love or affection. But in his months on Earth, he learns that there are other ways to live, and in the end, it is not military might that saves the Earth, but simply the love of a wife and children for their husband and father. Basil Wells (1912-2003) was an American writer of short stories in science fiction and other genres. This is the first time I have looked at Wells’ work in this column. Keith Bennett’s “The Rocketeers Have Shaggy Ears” is one of my favorite science fiction stories of all time, a gritty and realistic tale of survival (read it here). A ship full of “Rocketeers,” members of a new branch of the military, has crashed miles away from their Venus base, and the unit must fight the rest of the way through forbidding jungles full of dangerous plants, animals, and even hostile intelligent inhabitants. Due to scarce resources, the Rocketeers are at risk of being disbanded, and their members incorporated back into the older branches of the military. They are desperate for a success that will prove their worth. And if they can survive, the small band of warriors making their way through the jungle may provide the spark the new service needs. There is little information on author Keith Bennett on the internet, and this is the first time I have looked at his work in this column. What little information I could find on Bennett was contained in an older Reactor article by David Drake, who cited this story as an early influence on his work, and you can certainly see that influence in Drake’s novel Redliners. “The Diversifal,” by Ross Rocklynne, is a tale of time travel. Bryan Barrett is told by a man who has traveled back in time that he and a woman he will meet will have a child who becomes the catalyst for the end of humanity. The time traveler constantly meddles with Bryan’s life, and the two grow to hate each other. But with the fate of the world in the balance, how important is one man’s happiness? I’ve only reviewed Rocklynne’s work once in this column (find it here), and you can find biographical information in that review. Poul Anderson, always an entertaining writer, gives us “Duel on Syrtis,” a gripping tale of hunter and hunted (read it here). Riordan, a ruthless human big-game hunter who has killed his way across the solar system, wants to hunt a Martian native, or “owlie.” An unscrupulous local agent helps him identify a target, a wily old warrior named Kreega, who in his time was a fierce opponent of human imperialism during the conquest of Mars. Riordan scatters radioactive material to trap Kreega within a five-mile radius of his home, and the hunt begins. The human has a heavy rifle, survival gear, and support from a trained Martian hound and hawk. But this is Kreega’s planet, and his home turf. Soon the roles of hunted and hunter are reversed, and the story ends with a twist worthy of an Edgar Allan Poe tale. You can find my most recent review of Anderson’s work here, which contains links to my other reviews of his work, and biographical information on the author. Final Thoughts The Best of Planet Stories #1 is an excellent collection of tales from the mid-20th century, proof that not all good science fiction of the era was printed in the pages of Astounding. While not every tale in Planet Stories was worthy of note, Brackett makes a good case that, at its best, the magazine could stand equal to the finest of the genre. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these tales, and on science fiction adventure stories in general. And I’m curious to hear what science fiction works you’ve been disappointed to find falling into the category of “one and done.”[end-mark] The post In Defense of Adventure Tales: <i>The Best of Planet Stories #1</i> by Leigh Brackett appeared first on Reactor.

As recently as two years ago, only three states banned surgeries on children to address gender dysphoria, up from just one a year earlier. Today, exactly half the states have such bans, and more are considering them. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a Tennessee case challenging those bans on Dec. 4. These procedures, advocates insist, almost never happen and are largely a myth concocted by the Right to scare people. As the LGBTQ+ magazine Them put it, “Contrary to modern conservative propaganda, gender-affirming surgeries for minors are exceptionally rare.” Similarly, the Human Rights Campaign rebuts what it alleges is a “concerted disinformation campaign” by declaring that with “rare exceptions,” “transgender and nonbinary people typically do not have gender-affirming surgeries before the age of 18.” The Association of American Medical Colleges echoes that theme, asserting that this type of “surgery among youth is rare.” But just how rare are these surgeries on children? According to a new study by the medical advocacy group Do No Harm, 5,747 sex-change surgeries were performed on children in the U.S. between 2019 and 2023. Given that there are about 12.5 million children between the ages of 15 and 17—the ages of minors who receive these surgeries—the annual rate of surgeries to remove and modify sex traits and organs on children works out to be 9.2 per 100,000. That rate might sound very rare until you compare it to other rates involving children. For example, drowning kills about 0.8 per 100,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 17 each year. That means such deaths are about 1/11th as common than gender surgeries among children of roughly the same ages. But we don’t act as if drowning deaths among children are so rare as to be inconsequential. Instead, we devote significant resources to ensuring that lifeguards are present at beaches and pools. We push families to enroll their children in swimming lessons. Indeed, the AAMC is so concerned about drowning deaths that it joined other organizations in crafting a letter earlier this year urging Congress to avoid cuts in funding to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control that would “eliminate several key programs,” including “drowning prevention.” The AAMC even cited increased drowning deaths as a reason to fight climate change, listing drowning as one of “the particular health risks that climate change poses to people in coastal areas.” Yet that same organization wants you to believe that major surgeries that often destroy the sexual functions of children—a procedure 11 times more common among teenagers than drowning deaths—are “rare.” The Do No Harm study identifies a “Dirty Dozen” set of hospitals that it considers the biggest promoters of sex-change procedures for children. You might expect that most of the Dirty Dozen would be located in deep-blue liberal states, where there was the most interest from potential patients and the strongest support from state politicians. But both the No. 1 and No. 11 hospitals on Do No Harm’s Dirty Dozen list are located in the decidedly purple state of Pennsylvania. The Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania—ironically known by the acronym CHOP—is identified as the dirtiest of the Dirty Dozen and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh comes in 11th. Pennsylvania policymakers considered legislation to restrict insurance payment for these procedures, but officials at these two hospitals successfully opposed those efforts. You can’t fool people forever. Eventually people realize that sex trait-modifying surgeries are happening on children in alarming numbers. And eventually people in purple states realize that their leading medical institutions are promoting procedures that run counter to their state’s values. Pennsylvania may be among the dirtiest of the Dirty Dozen performing these ghoulish procedures on children, but that cannot last. Eventually, policymakers there and in the rest of the states will end these barbaric practices, and it can go from allegedly “rare” to truly nonexistent. The post How ‘Rare’ Are Sex-Trait Modification Surgeries on Children? appeared first on The Daily Signal.