The Voice Season 26 has already shared some incredible talent, and now one more name can be added to that impressive roster. Motown Singer Austyns Stancil earned a four-chair turn with his incredible audition. Watch the judges’ reaction to his jaw-dropping performance during his blind audition. Austyns Stancil’s Audition The performance starts with a dark stage. The faint flickering of purple lights slowly begins to illuminate Austyns Stancil as he hits the first high notes of the song. This singer chose to take on the difficult song Ooo Baby Baby by Smokey Robinson. Quickly, he drops down to a lower octave, showcasing his impressive vocal range. Gwen Stefani notices the shift right away and says, “Ooohhhh” in admiration of Austyns’s skills. Michael and Reba can be seen singing along from their seats, yet they remain hesitant to turn. An incredible high note had the crowd standing on their feet, cheering, and the judges waited in anticipation. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, another impressive high note got Gwen Stefani to turn her chair. Now Austyns Stancil had at least secured his spot on this season of The Voice. “The Voice” Judges React To Austyns Shortly after Gwen, Reba followed suit and hit her button. Within seconds, Snoop Dogg joined the party and also turned his chair. Now, Austyns, and the crowd, just waited for Michael to make it a four-chair turn. With his last note, he got Michael to turn his chair around. Snoop begins the comments by asking “What you know about Smokey Robinson?” To which Austyns Stancil admitted that he prefers old-school music. Then Snoop Dogg admired the way that the singer could easily transition into his falsetto voice. Michael Bublé continues the praise of Austyns vocals by admiring how easily he switched from falsetto to a lower octave. The star stated that he was excited to see what a voice like Austyns’s could do across a broad range of genres. Reba started off her pitch strong by saying, “Before you choose me…I did win last season…I’m just saying.” The judges continued to try to sway Austyns Stancil to choose them. However, at the end of all the praise, Austyns chose Team Gwen for his journey on The Voice. Best of luck to this incredible singer this season. The source of the featured image is here. The post “The Voice” Motown Singer Earns 4-Chair Turns And An Eruption Of Cheers With His Powerful Range appeared first on InspireMore.

'This made the tests not just ineffective but unlawful'

Although first-generation home buyers will receive more assisstance, the program extends to non-first generation homebuyers as well.

'You have succeeded in none of the five objectives you set out for'

Regarding laws that control a man's body, Harris should look no further than Vietnam Vets

In a Sept. 27 post shared on X, President Joe Biden claimed guns are the number one killer of children in America. Guns are the #1 killer of children in America. It’s sick. And it’s sick if your response is “get over it” or it’s a “fact of life” as some of my colleagues across the […]

'They handed them 9% inflation for a protracted amount of time'

Multiple organizations are expected to receive financial aid

Books Backlist Bonanza Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Books Set During WWII Encounter time travelers, parallel universes, and mysterious horrors… By Alex Brown | Published on October 7, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Been thinking a lot lately about resisting fascism, community organizing, and building coalitions. What do we do as a society and as an individual when confronted with impossible violence and a government that seems eager to destroy anyone and anything that doesn’t fit their narrow little boxes? In the spirit of working together to defeat the seemingly undefeatable, here are five fantasy and science fiction books set during World War II.  A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones If you look up the word “prolific” in the dictionary, the definition will just be a picture of Diana Wynne Jones. Out of all of her excellent middle grade and young adult novels, A Tale of Time City is up there as one of my favorites. Similar to the Narnia books, World War II takes place in the background yet underlines the tension. While evacuating London to avoid the bombings, Vivian is nabbed by two boys Jonathan and Sam, who mistake Vivian for the “Time Lady,” a woman a key figure in the founding of Time City, an important part in its future, and who also may be responsible for things in the timeline getting out of whack. There’s a mystery, a question, and some fun if stressful timeline chaos. It’s a little bit Doctor Who and a little bit Time Variance Authority but for the younger set. (William Morrow, 1987) Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Triptych #1) The Milkweed Triptych does World War II, then the Cold War, then back to World War II, all with an alternate fantasy spin. There are superhumans, time travel, parallel universes, and eldritch horrors. Raybould Marsh, a British secret agent, uncovers a plot by a nazi scientist to create supersoldiers using dark magic. With the help of his black sheep lordling friend Will (who also happens to be a reluctant warlock), he tries to stop these new weapons from being unleashed. Two of those weapons, Klaus and Gretel, have plans of their own. The second book, The Coldest War, gets all alt history on the Cold War, while the third, Necessary Evil, dips back into World War II as an alternate alternate history. (Tor Books, 2010) The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith A group of queer and racially diverse teens wandering around Germany punching nazis is just as cathartic as you imagine. Liam, a queer physicist, figures out how to tap into dark energy from another universe. Of course, it being World War II, the baddies we all love to hate want to gain that power for themselves and use it to further their terrible agenda. The only thing standing in the way are Liam and his new friends: a pair of Jewish sibling assassins looking for revenge for the atrocities at the Łódź ghetto, a Black US army encryption specialist and tech expert, and an Algerian French Muslim bodyguard. Action and adventure in a young adult historical fantasy. I’ve seen this described as an alt history Stranger Things, and yeah, I can see that. (Philomel Books, 2021) Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson Set right around the time the US finally gets around to joining the rest of the world in the war that had already been raging for two years, this novel is Alaya Dawn Johnson doing what she does best. Phyllis has “saints’ hands,” powerful magic that drives her to kill. As a light-skinned Black woman doing wet work for a white gangster, her life is more complicated than not. Throughout the novel we follow her encounters friends, lovers, and enemies, including Dev, a mixed race Indian detective she can’t quit and Tamara, a Black dancer and card reader who can see the future. This is a world where racism is as powerful and dangerous as magic. Fans of mysteries, romance, and historical fantasy should find plenty to enjoy here. (Tor Books, 2020) The Fervor by Alma Katsu Despite being an American citizen with a husband fighting in the war, Meiko and her daughter Aiko are locked up in Minidoka, Idaho, a US-government sponsored concentration camp for people of Japanese descent. The women are trapped there along with the other 13,000 people of issei (Japanese immigrants) and nisei (second generation). That’s when the deaths start. One by one, people start falling into violent, hallucinogenic rages. Things get worse when the American scientists get involved. Fans of contagion horror, yōkai, historical fiction, and stories that dismantle the myth of American exceptionalism should definitely check this out. In a way, it reminds me of the second season of the television show The Terror, “Infamy,” which also takes place at a Japanese Concentration Camp. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022) [end-mark] The post Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Books Set During WWII appeared first on Reactor.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in September that it would be reducing certain Medicare prescription drug premiums in what experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation called a ploy to buy votes before the November election. Enrollees in the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit are slated to have lower average monthly premiums for their pharmaceutical drugs next year due to the Biden-Harris administration pouring billions into subsidies for insurers, with premiums set to fall $7.45 from $53.95 in 2024 to $46.50 in 2025, according to a press release from the agency. The move by the Biden-Harris administration is a political bribe aimed at securing the votes of Americans aged 65 and over who have the highest voter turnout historically, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The $2,000 cap [on Medicare out-of-pocket prescription drug costs], as well as other Inflation Reduction Act provisions were slated to triple the cost of Part D,” said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. “If millions of senior citizens see their premiums triple, they’d go to the polls and vote out those responsible. The Biden administration wanted to avert that.” Premiums were slated to rise in 2025, largely due to a $2,000 cap on Medicare out-of-pocket prescription drug costs enacted as part of provisions in President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that go into effect next year. To stave off the increase, the White House set up a “stabilization” demonstration program for 2025 that will offer Medicare Part D insurers $15 a month per enrollee in exchange for keeping premiums roughly stable, an initiative that is estimated to cost taxpayers $5 billion in 2025. “This is absolutely political,” Joel White, founder and CEO of health care consulting firm Horizon Government Affairs, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “They are buying down premiums to buy votes.” Senior citizens have had the highest voter turnout of any demographic in every presidential election since 1996, with nearly 80% of adults 60 and over voting in 2020. The U.S. population of senior citizens is also growing faster than any other age group, and four key swing states—Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona—rank in the top 20 in the share of their population aged 65 and over. “[Democrats] are not lowering premiums. They’re hiding premiums,” Cannon said. “This ‘demonstration project’ is merely a vehicle for channeling $5 billion to Medicare Part D insurers in order to keep the amount enrollees have to pay toward their premiums below what it is this year. The White House isn’t lowering premiums by lowering costs, they are doing it by passing the cost on to taxpayers rather than enrollees … . That has been Democratic health care policy going all the way back to the [Harry] Truman administration: Hide the cost of health care by shipping it to taxpayers.” The Biden-Harris administration issued a press release Sept. 30 touting its record on prescription drug costs, saying, “While Big Pharma made record profits, Americans footed the bill for the industry’s price hikes. Not anymore. Thanks to my Inflation Reduction Act.” Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris’ “New Way Forward” economic plan stated that, “Harris, along with President Biden, took on Big Pharma and won.” “The [demonstration program] is a Band-Aid that does not address the underlying wound. The [Inflation Reduction Act] radically rewrote the law in ways that fundamentally destabilize the market,” White told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Biden-Harris administration has taken a number of actions aimed at reducing drug prices, including proposing new guidelines in 2023 that would give it the power to seize patents from drug companies, so long as the protected products’ prices are considered too high and have received funding from the federal government. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services announcement comes roughly four years after Democratic lawmakers and the press attacked former President Donald Trump’s September 2020 proposal to provide $200 discount cards for prescription drugs to 33 million seniors, with The New York Times describing it as an “election-eve promise with dubious legal authority” and Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., calling the move a “blatant political gambit.” “It’s all pretty transparently crooked, and yet you have The New York Times praising this sham demonstration program,” Cannon said. “This initiative is fundamentally antidemocratic and unconstitutional.” “The sudden decision is an attempt to curry favor with this particularly massive voting bloc,” said Peter Earle, senior economist at the American Institute for Economic Research. “Repeated efforts to eliminate or reduce student loan debt and the huge gift to climate activists dubbed the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ are other, earlier instances of the same type of conduct … . Politically motivated redistribution is a mainstay of Washington, D.C., of course, but as both the debt and deficits of the Biden administration testify, it has escalated dramatically over the past four years.” The White House and the Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post ‘Transparently Crooked’: Biden-Harris Admin Buying Votes With Medicare Changes, Experts Say appeared first on The Daily Signal.