Rumors are circulating that pop star Beyoncé will appear at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in her hometown of Houston on Friday. She is set to be joined at the event by her mother, Tina Knowles, and country music singer Willie Nelson, per anonymous sources who spoke to the Washington Post. It’s also being speculated that the 32-time Grammy Award winner will perform at the rally, NBC News reported. So far Beyoncé has not officially endorsed Harris for president despite months of speculation and pressure from fans. The pop star did allow her songs “Freedom” and “Lemonade” to be used in Harris’ campaign materials, though. Fans were convinced that Beyoncé would perform on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in August, but those rumors proved unfounded, and no appearance was ever planned. Instead, the final day included a performance by Pink. The 43-year-old singer joins a host of other famous musicians who have endorsed Harris or appeared on the campaign trail. On Tuesday night, Eminem took the stage to introduce former President Barack Obama at a Harris rally in Detroit. Bruce Springsteen is also headlining rallies in key swing states as the election heats up in its final weeks. MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28 Musical artists who have endorsed Harris include Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Stevie Wonder, Olivia Rodrigo, Barbara Streisand, and John Legend. While Beyoncé hasn’t gone all in for Harris yet, she has a history of supporting Democratic candidates.  The recording artist endorsed the Joe Biden/Harris ticket in 2020 and put on a performance celebrating Hillary Clinton in 2016. Beyoncé also performed at Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. Though Texas is not one of the hotly contested swing states in play, there is a closer Senate race between incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz and the Democratic nominee, Representative Colin Allred. Per the NBC News report, Harris will focus her remarks at the rally on the topic of abortion. Texas is one state that instituted an abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

Governor Tim Walz’s embrace of a left-wing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda resulted in higher energy prices for Minnesota residents, a new report from the House Judiciary Committee exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire found. The report found that Walz collaborated with environmental activist groups that pressured companies to pursue a “net-zero” carbon agenda, and used his post as the chair of the Minnesota State Board of Investment (MSBI), the state’s public pension fund, to further the agenda. His efforts, the Judiciary Committee report says, resulted in higher energy prices for the people of Minnesota. “Under Governor Walz, the MSBI uses $140 billion in the retirement savings of Minnesota public employees to ‘participate in ESG coalitions and engage with corporations on ESG related issues,’” the report found, also specifically honing in on Ceres Investor Network and Climate Action 100+, two organizations that the report says “form the spine of the climate cartel” and which MSBI collaborates with. The revelations could hurt Walz and his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the waning days of the presidential campaign. The economy remains one of the most important issues for voters, and polling has found voters are more likely to say that they trust former President Donald Trump to handle the economy than they do Harris and Walz. “In recent years, Governor Walz has used the MSBI’s participation in the climate cartel as a weapon in a broader climate crusade against affordable electricity,” the report goes on to read. “In 2023, after extensive coordinated engagement and support from Ceres, Governor Walz ‘signed one of America’s most aggressive climate laws,’” which mandated that all of Minnesota’s electricity come from carbon-free sources by or before 2040. The move, the House Judiciary Committee says, resulted in undue pressure on a major supplier of electricity to Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, New York, Texas, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota, forcing them to raise costs on some of its 3.8 million consumers. “Xcel Energy surrendered to the climate cartel and made a series of ‘net-zero’ climate commitments, forcing it to ‘retire’ carbon-based energy production and raise electricity prices throughout the Midwest,” the report reads. The company was even singled out by the activist organization Climate Action 100+, which called XCel a “focus company” as it pressured it to adopt ESG policies, causing prices to jump in the process. Xcel raised prices in Colorado more than six percent in order to “cover the cost of retiring a handful of coal-fired power plants,” but it was forced to raise prices nearly 10 percent in Walz’s state of Minnesota, which sought to “lead the clean energy transition.” Even worse, however, the company planned to charge Minnesotans as much as “seven times more for electricity during ‘peak’ usage periods.” The report alleges that the “climate cartel” has been empowered to push its agenda not just by governors like Walz, but by a Biden-Harris administration that’s “refused to enforce” antitrust law despite the organizations engaging in “anticompetitive conduct.” “Despite the harm to American consumers, the MSBI and other climate cartel investors plan to continue pressuring U.S. companies to surrender to ‘net-zero’ demands,” the report reads. “The Committee remains committed to investigating the climate cartel’s anticompetitive behavior to inform potential legislative reforms to U.S. antitrust laws.” Read the full House Judiciary Committee report here.

'They would come here and say, 'It's just a homeless guy''

Cooper said this was a personal endeavor for him

'Curry favor'

The word “baby” is one of the most frequently used and beloved terms in the world of music. It has been a cornerstone in countless song titles across genres, symbolizing everything from affection and tenderness to heartache and loss. Its universal appeal has made “baby” an integral part of popular music, capturing emotions that resonate with listeners on a deeply personal level. From iconic rock ballads to soulful R&B classics, songs featuring the word “baby” span decades and genres, each offering its own unique take on love, passion, and relationships. In this article, we explore ten of the best songs The post 10 Best Songs With The Word ‘Baby’ In The Title appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Missing only a hand, a life-sized statue of a Roman citizen unearthed recently in Bulgaria is about as pristine as they come. Found during construction work near the walls of the old fortress in the city of Varna, it depicts a middle-aged man holding a scroll and wearing a Roman-era toga—and thanks to a carved […] The post Near-Perfect Statue of Roman Citizen Unearthed During Construction in Bulgaria After Surviving for 1,700 Years appeared first on Good News Network.

News World Fantasy Awards Here Are the 2024 World Fantasy Award Winners By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on October 24, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share The winners of the 2024 World Fantasy Awards, which are given to works published in 2023, were announced at the World Fantasy Convention that took place last weekend in Niagara Falls, NY. Here are the winners in each category, as reported by Locus magazine. Best Novel WINNER: The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga; Titan UK) The Possibilities, Yael Goldstein-Love (Random House) Starling House, Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK) Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW; Gollancz) Looking Glass Sound, Catriona Ward (Viper; Nightfire) Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) Best Novella WINNER: “Half the House Is Haunted,” Josh Malerman (Spin a Black Yarn) The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom) Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK) “Prince Hat Underground,” Kelly Link (White Cat, Black Dog) A Season of Monstrous Conceptions, Lina Rather (Tordotcom) Mammoths at the Gates, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom) Best Short Fiction WINNER: “Silk and Cotton and Linen and Blood,” Nghi Vo (New Suns 2) “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub,” P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23) “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” P. A. Cornell (Fantasy 10/23) “John Hollowback and the Witch,” Amal El-Mohtar (The Book of Witches) “Waystation City,” A. T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 1-2/23) “The Sound of Children Screaming,” Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare 10/23) Best Anthology WINNER: The Book of Witches, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK) Christmas and Other Horrors, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan UK) Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume One, Stephen Kotowych, ed. (Ansible) The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner) Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Random House; Picador) Best Collection WINNER: No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories, Premee Mohamed (Undertow) The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volumes 1 & 2, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon) The Fortunate Isles, Lisa L. Hannett (Egaeus) White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra) Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow) Jewel Box, E. Lily Yu (Erewhon) Best Artist WINNER: Audrey Benjaminsen Rovina Cai Stefan Koidl Charles Vess Alyssa Winans Special Award – Professional WINNER: Liza Groen Trombi, for Locus Bill Campbell, for Rosarium Books E. M. Carroll, for A Guest in the House (First Second) M. John Harrison, for Wish I Was Here: An Anti-Memoir (Serpent’s Tail; Saga; 9/24) Stephen Jones, for The Weird Tales Boys (PS) Special Award – Non-Professional WINNER: Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, for Uncanny Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies Trevor Kennedy, for Phantasmagoria Brian J. Showers, for Swan River Press Julian Yap & Fran Wilde, for The Sunday Morning Transport [end-mark]  Ginjer Buchanan and Jo Fletcher also received Lifetime Achievement awards, which are given to those who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! [end-mark] The post Here Are the 2024 World Fantasy Award Winners appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Star Trek: Lower Decks “A gentle, supportive mutiny!” — Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Dos Cerritos” and “Shades of Green” Lower Decks is never better than when it embraces the entirety of the Trek universe—even the goofy parts. By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on October 24, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share One of the common tropes of a long-running serial narrative like Star Trek is that you can do retcons. Short for retroactive continuity, a retcon puts a new spin on an existing bit of lore. Sometimes it’s to reconcile an inconsistency, sometimes it’s to put a new spin on an old story, and sometimes it’s to fix a mistake. (As an example, Strange New Worlds has done a lovely job of retconning the Spock-Chapel relationship in the original series by establishing that they dated in the past.) Lower Decks has already done a certain amount of retconning of the Orion people. Indeed, they’ve given us a retcon of a retcon. When they were introduced way back in “The Cage” in 1964, they were described by Dr. Boyce as “green animal women,” who were there for sex appeal, and who were traded as slaves. Enterprise then retconned Orion women in 2005’s “Bound” as being the real brains of the Orion people, using pheromones to make men stupid in their presence. LD, thankfully, fixed that, making it a bit more nuanced. But there was one appearance of the Orions that had not been taken into account one way or the other: the species’ appearance in the animated episode “The Pirates of Orion.” That animated episode was mostly ignored up until this new fifth season of LD, but this show is never happier than when it’s embracing the entirety of the Trek universe—even the goofy parts. Especially the goofy parts. The animated series was produced by Hal Sutherland, who had issues with colors, which resulted in some entertaining palate choices on the show (e.g., pink tribbles). So the Orions, established in “The Cage” as well as “Whom Gods Destroy” as having green skin, instead had blue skin. In addition, the uniforms they wore were, to say the least, goofy, and also every voice actor was given bad information as to the pronunciation of “Orion.” (Everyone in the episode pronounced it “ORE-ee-un,” rather than “oh-RYE-un.”) The two-episode debut of LD’s fifth and, sadly, final season makes this seeming discontinuity into a plot point. The blue-skinned Orions are one of the many races among the Orion people—which only makes sense, given the variations in pigments among other humanoid species on Trek. They all pronounce their species name “ORE-ee-un,” and they’re proud of their silly outfits. Credit: CBS / Paramount+ The B-plots of each of the two new episodes focus on Tendi, last seen taking a leave of absence from Starfleet in order to fulfill her duties as the Mistress of the Winter Constellations, pirating for her sister D’Erika. And because Tendi is still Starfleet through and through, she tries very hard to be a kinder pirate. In particular, she doesn’t want to kill anyone while plundering. Unfortunately, this gets her in trouble. First the blue Orions are pissed that she’s not following the spirit of pirating in “Dos Cerritos.” That leads to a war between the blue Orions and House Tendi. This pisses off the Orion queen in “Shades of Green,” who says this war is taking time away from proper plundering. So they must do a solar-sail race through a nebula and retrieve a treasure. The winner gets all the loser’s wealth. Tendi once again acts more like a Starfleet officer than a pirate in two critical ways during the race. One is that she accidentally discovers that D’Erika is pregnant. This results in tiresome sitcom nonsense where Tendi tries to keep her sister from doing anything strenuous. The other is more useful: when the Tendi solar ship crashes (because the blue Orions fired on them with rifles), Tendi is able to technobabble a solution. But once again her attempt at compassion—to wit, having both ships come in together in a tie—fails, as the Orion queen doesn’t let them all keep their wealth. Instead, the queen claims both sides’ wealth, leaving them both destitute. Luckily, there’s an out that Tendi is able to provide once she reports back to the Cerritos, D’Erika having decided that she’s paid off her debt. The ship has been assigned to Targalus, which has just joined the Federation and is having a currency-destroying party now that they are enjoying the fruits of the post-scarcity replicator-based economy of the Federation. Credit: CBS / Paramount+ Once again, we get LD looking at the loopier side of Trek, taking things to their absurdist extreme. If a planet is moving to the moneyless economy of the Federation, of course they would celebrate by getting rid of all their money. We see paper money being burned and jewels and such being abandoned. Since the Cerritos was just going to recycle all the jewels and gold anyhow, instead, at Tendi’s suggestion, Freeman donates it to D’Erika, who then can restock House Tendi’s wealth and make them an important family again. Plus it improves relations between the Federation and the Orions… The premiere episode gives us an old Trek standby: the alternate universe story. An attempt to close a quantum fissure leads the Cerritos into a parallel timeline which is just different enough to be weird. Shaxs has long hair, Billups embraces his status as a member of the Hysperian royal family (he wears a coronet and cape over his uniform), Ransom has a mullet, Boimler is bearded and confident, and T’Lyn says “Remarkable” rather than “Fascinating” (which, of course, is literally the only difference between the two). The biggest changes, though, are to Mariner, Rutherford, and Freeman. Mariner has gone back to using her family name of Freeman, and is now the commanding officer, Captain Becky Freeman. As for her mother, she’s apparently been assigned to Starbase 80 (a fate worse than death, as established back in “Terminal Provocations” and seen in “Trusted Sources”). And then there’s poor Rutherford. The mainline version has been neglecting things like personal hygiene and friends, instead throwing himself completely into his work to distract himself from the fact that his best friend is gone. But “Otherford,” as Rutherford calls him, has taken that to an extreme: he’s more cyb than org, as it were, and has shut off all his emotions and erased his memories of Tendi. This proves to be a watershed moment for Rutherford, who doesn’t want to become all Borg… As for Mariner’s counterpart, she proves to be a bigger hardass than her mother ever was, going so far as to whack subordinates with a riding crop if they get out of line. But then we find out that she hates being captain, and pulls a Lore-in-“Datalore” and swaps places with Mariner, hoping to be the carefree junior officer who does what she wants once again. Boimler is particularly taken with his counterpart, and in “Shades of Green,” we see him working on facial hair and doing things he’s found in his counterpart’s service record, pulled from a padd he liberated from the alternate timeline. One of those is “Bointers,” different pointers on how to behave. At first it seems like the ensigns he’s bossing around are not thrilled with this, but they actually are able to use a “Bointer” to save their lives when they’re kidnapped by formerly rich Targalans who don’t want to give up being wealthy and powerful. Credit: CBS / Paramount+ I have to admit to some minor disappointments with “Dos Cerritos.” Usually the fun of these things is to watch the actors play different versions of themselves, but they’re not quite different enough—especially not vocally—for it to matter that much. The exceptions are Gabrielle Ruiz’s T’Lyn, as the fact that she sounds exactly the same is part of the joke, and Tawny Newsome’s Mariner/Freeman, as she’s the most different. Seeing the alternate Cerritos crew flinch around their captain is heartbreaking, and we learn that Mariner is the worst in any timeline, as she goes from being a horrible junior officer to being an incredibly horrible captain. I hope that this results in some changes to Mariner, but her changes to date have been incremental to nonexistent, so I’m not holding my breath. Boimler, on the other hand, has been genuinely developing, his natural talent swimming upstream against his insecurities. It’s especially frustrating to see him go all-in on doing what his counterpart does when it isn’t necessary—but it’s also completely in character. In addition, the banter between Boimler and Mariner has gotten much more fun since Boimler got more confident. It feels more like best-friend banter than the more abusive relationship they had in the first season, and Newsome and Jack Quaid have superlative friendly chemistry. (“Let’s do this!” “Yes, totally—but you are sitting on it backwards.” “Dammit!”) I adored the subplot in “Shades of Green” involving T’Lyn and Rutherford. For one thing, Rutherford is the only one of the “big four” who hadn’t had significant one-on-one scenes with T’Lyn up until now. And it’s heartening to see T’Lyn trying to help Rutherford through his post-Tendi funk, first by encouraging him to work on the shuttlecraft that he and Tendi had been repairing. Once she discovers that he’d been avoiding working on it because it was his and Tendi’s project, T’Lyn proceeds to completely demolish the shuttlecraft so the pair of them can continue to work on it. It’s incredibly adorable. After a really rocky first season, LD has settled into an absolute delight of a Trek show, mostly because it’s embraced its most successful version of itself: a Star Trek comedy, rather than a twenty-first-century office comedy with Trek bits. It’s still very much a Trek show in all the most important ways: the themes of both these episodes are to not be mean to other people and to be the best version of yourself. I’m gonna be sorry to see it go, and Paramount+ should be ashamed of themselves for cancelling it. Random thoughts I was really worried about “Shades of Green” from the title, which feels like a riff on “Shades of Grey,” the nadir of The Next Generation as a TV show. Luckily, this wasn’t a clip show like that 1989 TNG disaster, but rather a descriptive title, since so much of the episode is about the green-skinned Orions versus the blue-skinned ones. “Dos Cerritos” opens with a delightful heist sequence, as Tendi goes undercover on a ship run by someone of the same species as Palor Toff, the character played by Nehemiah Persoff in TNG’s “The Most Toys.” At one point, one of the Orions wants to tear out the twisty metal band that runs from ear to nose, with the poor alien crying in protest that “it’s prescription!” which is hilarious. The quantum fissure seen in “Dos Cerritos” is very much like the one that started the plot going in TNG’s “Parallels,” one of Trek’s better alternate-timeline episodes. Other examples of alternate-timeline versions of familiar characters include the original series’ “Mirror, Mirror,” TNG’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” DS9’s “Crossover,” “Through the Looking Glass,” “Shattered Mirror,” “Resurrection,” and “The Emperor’s New Cloak,” Voyager’s “Living Witness” (sort of), Enterprise’s “In a Mirror, Darkly” two-parter, Discovery’s “Into the Forest I Go,” “Despite Yourself,” “The Wolf Inside,” “Vaulting Ambition,” “What’s Past is Prologue,” and the “Terra Firma” two parter, Picard’s “Penance,” and Prodigy’s “Cracked Mirror.” For those who might think it silly that some Orions pronounce it “ORE-ee-un” rather than “oh-RYE-un,” I present as evidence my mother’s side of the family. The branch of the Andreassi family that is in the New York Metropolitan Area pronounce it “an-dree-AH-see,” while the branch of the same family that is in western Pennsylvania pronounce it “an-DRESS-ee.” Mind you, this drove my paternal grandfather crazy whenever he visited family in Pennsylvania, though it was on one of those trips that he met my grandmother, so he probably got over it…[end-mark] The post “A gentle, supportive mutiny!” — <i>Star Trek: Lower Decks</i>: “Dos Cerritos” and “Shades of Green” appeared first on Reactor.

News Good Omens 3 Good Omens Season 3 Will Only Be 90 Minutes Long By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on October 24, 2024 Credit: Prime Video Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Prime Video The third season of Good Omens will now be one 90-minute episode, according to Variety. The show was greenlit for a full third and final season in December 2023, and production was underway. Work was put on hold this September, however, when several women publicly accused showrunner Neil Gaiman of sexual assault. Good Omens, which is based on the novel by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, centers on the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant) who form an ineffable, loving relationship despite being from opposite celestial sides. While the two kissed in the Season Two finale, they parted on less-than-stellar terms after Aziraphale accepted a top-tier job in Heaven. Season Three of the series was meant to follow a sequel story created by the Good Omens co-authors before Pratchett passed away in 2015. According to Variety, Gaiman “had contributed to the writing of the series finale, but he will not be working on the show once production resumes.” He will also not be listed as an executive producer on the upcoming final episode. Production is scheduled to start up again in 2025 in Scotland, though there’s no news yet on when the one-episode third season will make its way to Prime Video. [end-mark] The post <i>Good Omens</i> Season 3 Will Only Be 90 Minutes Long appeared first on Reactor.