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Whitmer seems like the weird one to me

'That could incrementally increase customer bills'

Excerpts Fantasy Read an Excerpt From Cecy Robson‘s Bloodguard One hundred years. Tens of thousands of gladiators. And today, only one will rise… By Cecy Robson | Published on October 10, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Bloodguard, a new romantic fantasy novel by Cecy Robson, out from Red Tower Books on October 18th. Everything in the Kingdom of Arrow is a lie.Leith of Grey thought coming to this new land and volunteering to fight in the gladiator arena—vicious, bloodthirsty tournaments where only the strongest survive—would earn him enough gold to save his dying sister. He thought there was nothing left to lose.He was wrong—and they took everything. His hope. His freedom. His very humanity.All Leith has left is his battle-scarred body, fueled by rage and hardened from years of fighting for the right to live another day.Then Leith meets Maeve, an elven royal who is everything he despises. Everything he should hate. Until the alluring princess offers him the one thing he needs most: a chance to win the coveted title of Bloodguard—and his freedom.But in a kingdom built on secrets and lies, hope doesn’t come cheap.Nor will his ultimate revenge… Sudden drumbeats echo around the stadium, and my pulse quickens. The time has come to announce the matches. A few of the fighters ease their postures, feigning courage that’s long gone, and we all turn to head back to the wagon. Typically, we’re routed to the stables to wait for our match. As though the games aren’t cruel enough, we never know who or what we’ve been matched to fight or the order until we are called. But today, before we can reach the wagon, the gate of the cage is swung closed. The other gladiators murmur to one another at this change in protocol, but we don’t have long to wait. From the top tier of the arena, four messenger hawks, their bodies twice the size of my head and their wingspan twice my height, swoop into the center with large sacks gripped in their talons. Their dull auburn plumage flutters as they drop their sacks, and their wings flap furiously as they take to the sky again. Two large ogre guards lumber to the fallen sacks and work together to dump out their contents. Weapons and shields clatter to the gray sand. Just as they finish, more hawks soar toward them and dump even more sacks with dull thuds in the middle of the arena. Sullivan and I exchange glances, a knot forming in the pit of my stomach. The piles of weapons are larger than we’re used to…large enough for every gladiator here to choose their starting weapons. And instead of being herded back to the pens, a row of gladiators is nudged forward by the guards, toward the center of the arena. Their heavy feet stomp in the sand, puffs of dust floating away on the wind like funeral ash. “Next row,” the human guard calls, and my chest tightens. “We’re not being paired off.” Sullivan ignores the command, his expression bleak. “It’s all of us. Everyone for themselves.” Buy the Book Bloodguard Cecy Robson Buy Book Bloodguard Cecy Robson Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget My breath leaves in pained bursts. We’re not just fighting a single opponent of their choosing—whether man or beast—we’re also fighting one another to the death. The sun is high in the sky and burns along the deep axe wound on my back, but I barely feel it, my insides twisting. “Next row!” the guard bellows again. I take a step forward. Sullivan follows me, spitting into the sand. He’s very sick. I’m injured. But we won’t slow down for anyone. In the arena, there is no slowing down. There is only victory or death. The moon horses squeal as they are hurried toward the exit, the rickety wagon clattering behind them, making the wizard jump. Death thickens the air, more tangible than the coat of sand settling onto our skin. In the piles of weapons, I spot a sword and a dagger I can use. There’s a metal chest plate that would protect me more than the meager leather one I’m wearing now, but the seconds it takes to put the armor on could cost me my life. Suddenly, the drums speed up, almost catching my racing heart and silencing the crowd, and then the percussion abruptly stops. “Halt!” a guard shouts. “And turn!” As one, we pivot to face the royal box, my mind racing with thoughts of which fighter I should kill first, who will be best to get out of the way quickly. Anyone but Sully, I argue. Anyone but my friend. Just then, High Lord Vitor rises. “One hundred years,” he bellows, the magic within the royal box amplifying and reverberating his voice across the massive structure. The crowd shrieks with excitement. “One hundred!” they echo. “Thousands of gladiators,” he shouts. The spectators cheer louder, enlivened by the thought of ten more. “And today,” Vitor continues, “we have a special match.” He gestures to the bet makers rushing up and down the stands and then to the pile of weapons in the center. “There are two potential Bloodguards before us, and therefore there should be…two times the payouts!” The crowd goes wild. Holy hell. This son of a bitch is spinning it so this crowd can make a fortune—not lose one. And we’re the ones expected to make or break their status. “Well, shit,” Sullivan mutters. Neither of us saw this coming. People are screaming with delight and still trying to catch the ear of the harried bet makers scribbling on pads and tossing out tickets as fast as they can. They’re not even waiting to see the drop of the banner that will reveal our final odds. The High Lord lifts his hand and pauses for the arena to quiet again. “In these final moments of betting, take in what awaits, my friends, and choose wisely, for those who thirst for water today, tomorrow may demand wine!” The crowd’s thrill escalates, their calls for action mounting. Then something roars, the menacing sound extinguishing all others. Even the vultures circling the skies flee. We still. The air around us shifts, growing thick with dread. Sullivan and I exchange one final glance. We know what it is long before it lands. Webbed wings the size of ship sails stretch out as talons the length of my arms slam against the arena floor. The brown dragon chuffs, the fire brewing in its belly hot enough to shoot steam from its nostrils. The elf rider on its back is covered with enchanted leather that protects his flesh from the heat. The dragon’s body is the length of three moon horses. Not as large as they come, but large enough to easily squash us. My mouth goes dry. This dragon is a young male—I can see the pair of claspers under the base of his tail as he thrashes. The only thing more ravenous than an old dragon is a young male. They need more energy to fuel their rapid growth spurts. “Only one will rise,” Vitor shouts over the gasps of the crowd. His smile takes on a malicious edge. “Will it be gladiator—or shall it be beast?” The dragon roars once more, and the final betting bell is barely audible above the crowd’s screams and cheers. We all shift around to face the pile of weapons as fast as we can. Sully breaks away from me. He crouches and shakes out his hands. We don’t exchange farewells. After three years of watching out for each other, it all comes down to this. I lean forward and get ready to run, my focus on the pile of weapons and not on the man who was—dammit, is—my friend. The moment the horn blasts, I charge.  Excerpted from Bloodguard by Cecy Robson. Reprinted with permission from Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing. All rights reserved. The post Read an Excerpt From <i>Cecy Robson</i>‘s Bloodguard appeared first on Reactor.

Norwegian arms manufacturer Kongsberg announced late last month that it will build a missile manufacturing plant in James City County, Virginia. The development will be a major boon for the local economy and Virginia’s manufacturing capacity, thanks to a $100 million investment and the hiring of 180 employees. And, of course, the facility will produce a munition critical to naval operations in the Indo-Pacific.  Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, hailed the deal. “Following our productive meetings in Europe, Kongsberg’s decision to establish its first U.S. defense assembly facility in Virginia reaffirms our status as America’s top state for business,” Youngkin said. Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace will produce its cutting-edge Joint Strike Missile and Naval Strike Missile in the Virginia county, which includes Williamsburg and is part of the same metropolitan area as military-friendly Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Newport News. The Joint Strike Missile is the only long-range precision missile currently available for the Air Force’s elite F-35A stealth fighter that can be deployed inside the aircraft’s weapons bay and maintain its unparalleled stealth profile. The Naval Strike Missile, a superb anti-ship missile, would be crucial in any conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Kongsberg’s announcement comes as an increasing number of policymakers are waking up to the desperate state of defense manufacturing in America.  In the decades following the Cold War, much of our homegrown industry fled to foreign countries, chasing lower labor costs and less strict regulations. The primary destination: China. Efforts to move critical defense supply chains away from China will be a long-term challenge, but these efforts are an absolute necessity, especially as we find ourselves on the back foot in a great power contest with the communist regime. This factory in Virginia is part of a broader trend. Kongsberg also announced a simultaneous expansion of its factory in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Recent worldwide disruptions such as the Russia-Ukraine war have highlighted just how fragile our supply lines are. The disruptions also underline the importance of bringing back key manufacturing, particularly defense, to America and away from our geopolitical rivals. Besides losing significant overall industrial capacity, the dramatic reduction in the government’s defense spending over the past 30 years led to wide-scale consolidation of U.S. military contractors, resulting in higher production costs. According to a Congressional Research Service report on the defense industrial base, the consolidation was seen most intensely in the production of certain special weapons systems, including precision-guided munitions. To illustrate just how condensed the defense industry has become, five companies are the primary contractors on over 74% of the Pentagon’s major defense acquisitions. This squeeze allowed inefficiency, cost overruns, and time delays to become the norm as bureaucratic skill at navigating the Defense Department’s complex acquisition process was preferred over actual innovation. Kongsberg’s investment in the U.S. defense industry augurs well for efforts to undo this bad trend and restore competition. This is just one step, and much work remains to be done. The next presidential administration must make rebuilding our defense industrial base a top priority and encourage more companies to invest in America and put more Americans to work. The post Saluting Allied Investment in Virginia’s Defense Industrial Base appeared first on The Daily Signal.

CENTER SQUARE—Newly released federal inflation data shows that prices rose faster than expected last month, putting more pressure on Americans’ budgets. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation, which showed that CPI rose 0.2% in September. While inflation rose more than expected last month, the year-over-year inflation of 2.4% in this latest data is much lower than the major spike in inflation of recent years. The data comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced an interest-rate cut last month, a sign that the Fed thinks inflation is under control enough to lower rates, and thereby boost the economy. “Disinflation continues, but anyone who thought the Fed was going to lower rates by another .50 basis points in November is dead wrong,” Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia, said in a statement. “When interest rates aren’t high enough to lower growth, they aren’t high enough to stifle inflation completely either. The Fed will lower rates, but at a measured pace from here.” Much of the increase was driven by an increase in rent costs. The data also showed a jump in food prices of 0.4%, the biggest increase since January of this year. “Five of the six major grocery store food-group indexes increased over the month,” BLS said. “The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 0.8 percent in September as the index for eggs increased 8.4 percent. The fruits and vegetables index increased 0.9 percent over the month, following a 0.2-percent decline in August. The index for other food at home rose 0.2 percent in September, and the index for cereals and bakery products increased 0.3 percent. The dairy and related products index increased 0.1 percent over the month, while the nonalcoholic beverages index was unchanged in September.” Eating out became 3.9% more expensive in the past year. Meanwhile, experts say the deadly hurricanes hitting the U.S. right now are impacting the job market. “Initial jobless claims jumped to 258,000 in the week ending October 5, above the 230,000 consensus forecast or Comerica’s forecast of 250,000,” Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank “This is the first claims report showing the impact of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on September 26.” Originally published at TheCenterSquare.com The post Food Prices Jump, Inflation Rises Faster Than Expected appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The state of Florida had a population of 22,610,726 as of July 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That ranked third among all states—exceeded only by Texas, which had a population of 30,503,301; and California, which had a population of 38,965,193. As of this September, federal, state, and local governments in this country employed a record total of 23,421,000 individuals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In other words, government payrolls were populated by more people than lived in the state of Florida or in any of 47 other states. Only California and Texas had populations that exceeded the number of people who worked for government in this country. There were a total of 159,105,000 people working in nonfarm jobs in the United States last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The record 23,421,000 working for government equaled 14.7% of that total. More than one out of every seven workers in America worked for government. In January 1939, the first month for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has published employment data, there were 29,923,000 total non-farmworkers in this country, and 3,988,000 of them—or 13.3%—worked for government. At that time, government workers accounted for two out of every 15 workers. By contrast, in September 1979, there were 90,327,000 total non-farmworkers in the United States and 16,128,000—or 17.85%—worked for government. So the percentage of non-farmworkers working for government now is smaller than it was in 1979, while the actual number is larger. Of the record 23,421,000 people who worked for government in the United States this September, 2,999,000 worked for the federal government. Another 5,483,000 worked for state governments and 14,939,000 worked for local governments. The state government employment level of 5,438,000 was an all-time record. So, too, was the local government employment level of 14,939,000. (Federal employment hit an all-time high of 3,435,000 in May 1990, a census year.) Those approximately 14,939,000 individuals who worked for local governments included 8,139,700 who worked in the local government educational sector and 6,799,500 who worked for local government in noneducation-related jobs. As the number of people working for government in this country was climbing to record levels in recent years, so, too, was government spending. According to data published by the White House Office of Management and Budget, total federal, state, and local government spending in the United States was $5.7809 trillion in fiscal year 2015. By fiscal year 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it had climbed to $6.878 trillion. In fiscal year 2020, the pandemic year, it hit $8.8838 trillion. In fiscal year 2021, it climbed again to $9.1 trillion. In fiscal year 2022, it declined modestly to 8.8953 trillion. Then, in fiscal year 2023, it rose again to $9.0129 trillion. A year ago, this column reported on a Congressional Research Service report titled “Current Federal Civilian Employment by State and Congressional District.” This report, said the Congressional Research Service, provides “estimates for how many civilian federal workers live in each congressional district.” Not surprisingly, as this column noted, the report showed that the seven congressional districts with the highest percentages of federal employees were all in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and that all of them had elected Democrats to Congress. This September, the Congressional Research Service released an updated version of this report. It revealed the same thing: The seven congressional districts with the highest percentage of federal civilian workers in its workforce are all in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.—and all are represented by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Maryland’s District 5, according to this Congressional Research Service report, 18.18% of all workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House majority leader. In Virginia’s District 8, 16.67% of all workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Don Beyer. In Maryland’s District 8, 14.48% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin. In Virginia’s District 7, 13.59% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger. In Maryland’s District 4, 12.29% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey. In Virginia’s District 11, 12.06% of workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly. In Maryland’s District 3, 10.72% of the workers work for the federal government. It is represented by Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes. Imagine what our Congress would be like if 10% or more of the workers in every congressional district worked for the government. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Government Employees Exceed Population of Florida appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The Kennedy et al. v. Biden et al. lawsuit on Tuesday heard oral arguments presented by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Children’s Health Defense (CHD), who are suing the Biden-Harris administration, alleging its collusion with Big Tech to censor what should be protected online speech. Listen to the oral arguments here. Anthony Fauci is named as a defendant along with Biden, and they are accused of carrying out a systematic and concerted campaign in order to “compel the nation’s three largest social media companies to censor constitutionally protected speech,” the filing states. The companies in question are Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The legal battle is now taking place in the 5th Circuit US Court of Appeals, which is set to decide whether the case has standing to proceed – that is, whether the actions they are suing over have resulted in direct and concrete injuries that a court can redress. Previously, as CHD General Counsel Kim Mack Rosenberg recalled, a lower court ruled that Kennedy and CHD – who brought the suit along with another plaintiff, Connie Sampognaro – had legal standing (while Sampognaro did not), and the court of appeals will now accept or reject that opinion. Another consideration before the judges is the injunction by the Louisiana court, where the case was filed in the spring of last year, and whether to uphold it. If the 5th Circuit goes with the lower court’s position, the Biden-Harris White House’s “coordination” with social platforms will have to be put on hold pending the outcome of these proceedings. Reports about the way Kennedy v. Biden is unfolding make a note of the Supreme Court’s decision in Murthy v. Missouri (originally Missouri et al. v. Biden et al.), which found the plaintiffs had no standing. Even though this case and Kennedy v. Biden shared discovery and other processes, “they continued to be heard and ruled on separately,” CHD remarks. And, Rosenberg believes that the latter lawsuit has “clearly demonstrated standing” and has a much better chance of being allowed to proceed. During the hearing on Tuesday, the Department of Justice argued that Murthy v. Missouri “foreclosed the plaintiffs’ theories on why the plaintiffs have standing.” However, the plaintiffs’ attorney Jed Rubenfeld argued that Kennedy and others can prove past, and ongoing injury – including instances of deplatforming. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Free Speech on Trial: RFK Jr. Battles Biden Over Alleged Social Media Censorship appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Wiretaps Exposed: How Encryption Backdoors Open the Floodgates for Hackers appeared first on Reclaim The Net.