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Tigers don’t roam across Asia as they used to, but on one island in Indonesia a population of Critically Endangered Sumatran tigers may have found a habitat that supplies them with enough space, intact forests, and prey to thrive and raise their young. To examine tiger population densities, researchers working alongside local rangers installed infrared […] The post New Camera Trap Survey Sees Nearly 3x More Images of Endangered Sumatran Tigers Than Years Prior appeared first on Good News Network.

Movies & TV It: Welcome to Derry IT: Welcome to Derry Embraces the Power of Fear in “The Black Spot” Rich + Margie 4-EVA By Leah Schnelbach | Published on December 8, 2025 Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO This week’s episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, “The Black Spot”, does finally take us to the murders at The Black Spot, but also gives us a glimpse of Ingrid’s childhood, and what will probably be the military’s endgame. It was written by Jason Fuchs & Brad Caleb Kane, and directed by Andy Muschietti. As Brief a Recap as a King Adaptation Will Allow We open in 1908, with a long setpiece about Bob Gray’s act as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Far from being mindless slapstick, his act starts as a kind of foreshadowing of Caddyshack as he battles a gopher, then turns into a sweet, silent fable about the death of his wife. The children of Derry are entranced—but as soon as the story ends and the fast dancing music comes back up, they storm the stage and try to tear Pennywise’s wig off. Across the Midway, we see a small boy watching from a barn. Backstage, Young Ingrid shows her Papa her extremely elaborate clown makeup and costume. He loves it and tells her to show him the bow, which she does. He says that soon they’ll work together—“The Pennywise and Periwinkle Show.” “That was mom’s name,” Ingrid says. Bob immediately backtracks. “You can change it!” “No I love it,” she says. He assures her that “…one day the big tent will come a-callin’ again” and that their “act will be something new.” Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO This achingly sweet interlude ends as badly as you would expect on this show. Later that night, Bob is leaning against a fence drinking, and staring out into the woods. A scruffy kid who looks like he wandered in off the Insidious poster creeps out of the woods. “The children seem drawn to you,” the child says, as that’s a perfectly normal thing for a child to say. Bob comments on that, and the “boy” changes tack, pitching his voice up and saying “I can’t find my parents.” “Me neither,” Bob Gray replies, and now I’m wishing we’d gotten a whole episode of this fuckin’ guy. But then there’s screaming in the woods, and Bob leaves the safety of the carnival and the lights, and the “boy” takes his hand and leads him away. All that’s left to give Ingrid is her Papa’s blood-stained handkerchief, and the interlude closes with a narrowing circle of darkness like a silent film lens. Back to the Black Spot, the mob have burst in. They wave their guns around, but, well, this is an officially recognized military hangout (kind of) and every man in the place pulls his own gun. “Ours just happen to be government issue.” Unfortunately, Hank Grogan does the honorable—and stupid—thing, and tries to give himself up to end the standoff. Reggie and the other men still refuse to let him go with the mob; Clint Bowers (still hidden behind a Dracula mask) convinces the rest of the mob to retreat, only to block the doors and set to work with gasoline and Molotov cocktails, now with the “justification” that the Spot is harboring a fugitive from the law. The camera POV stays mostly in the club for an agonizingly long time. Heads are split open by the bullets the mob manages to shoot into the windows, arms catch on fire, the fire spreads across the ceiling, onto the bar. The doors have all been blocked by the mob, there is no clear way out. People churn and rush in circles, screaming. In the midst of this carnage, a dancing figure appears in the background. Pennywise approaches a sobbing woman, calls her Noreen, and claims he knows a way out. In her shock, she takes the hand of a giant clown and lets him lead her away, and moments later Ronnie Grogan stumbles over them. Pennywise is devouring her, dripping with blood. “Whatsamatta? Do I have… face on my face?” (For fuck’s sake, television show. You’re going to make me laugh during this scene?) Dick, meanwhile, sees a Civil War era (???) ghost and follows it, and finds a way out under the fridge. He starts to climb down alone, but he hears Ronnie’s screams. Reluctantly, extremely reluctantly, he goes back to rescue more people. Dick sees the spirit of Necani, the Shokopiwah warrior, wearing a bear pelt, and asks her for help to find the children. Pennywise spots him. “Seein’ things? I think THEY SEE YOU, TOO.” Dick manages to get past him and practically throws Will and Ronnie into the passageway, and Ronnie practically drags Hank with her as he fights to try to get others. And then… that’s it. A wall collapses, and Dick is separated from the rest of the living people. He escapes, but has to leave Rich and Margie behind. Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Richie helps Margie into the Coke fridge, and closes it on her just as she relaizes there isn’t enough room for both of them. He lies on top of the fridge. “Remember what you said about knights? We don’t just pee in pots—we also protect fair maidens.” He tells her the story of the first time he ever saw her, and they sob out that they love each other as the flames consume the roof. Back outside, most of the mob has driven away, but Stanley Kirsh realizes his engine is messed up. As he gets out to deal with it, Ingrid flits through the trees. She approaches him. She is fully done up in her Periwinkle clown gear. Naturally, she’s the one who informed about Grogan. She set this all up, to lure Pennywise to a site of fear and horror. She tries to tell Stanley that this is who she really is, but Stanley tells her to go home and take it off unless she wants to be “black and blue”. She seems disappointed in him for a moment, but then… “Papa?” Bill turns, and there’s Pennywise. Holding a comically huge meat cleaver, of course. And there goes Bill’s head. As Pennywise slurps her husband’s brain out of its skull, it seems to occur to Ingrid that things are amiss. She calls Pennywise Papa again, and he stops eating long enough to say “Show me the bow.” She does, he applauds, and then says he’s going to sleep. When she panics, he reassures her that he’ll come back, but she grabs his arm and begs “Don’t abandon me!” He drops the act and looks at her with pure malevolence, and she screams that he’s not her papa. Pennywise giggles. “I ate him! He still lives inside of me! I can feel him right now!” And then he hits her with the Deadlights, and she levitates. The next morning, the fire department cleans up what used to be The Black Spot. They find Margie, alive in the fridge, and she finds Rich’s body propped up against it. Ronnie and Will come back in from the woods and gather around her. Later, when the kids are sitting outside, we see Ingrid on a gurney being wheeled into an ambulance, and she seems to be catatonic—until she flicks her eyes toward Will. When Major Hanlon and Charlotte get there, Will tells them that Mr. Hallorann got them out, and Hanlon’s called over to speak with Dick. Ronnie takes that opportunity to tells Charlotte that her dad’s in the woods. Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Dick Hallorann is sitting on a log, his eyes rolling and head shaking as the dead press around him. Hanlon stands in front of him. “Hallorann! You all right?” “…nooo? Nooooo.” (This is not just the best line read on this show, I think it’s the best line read I heard on TV this year. The way these actors wring incredibly dark humor out of their dialogue is amazing.) “I had to talk to ‘em.” Dick says. From Hanlon’s perspective, it’s just Dick sitting there. From Dick’s, there are legions of dead people whispering, “Make it right…” He tells them that IT is gone, or dormant—“It’s like a light went out”—but that he can still lead them to a Shard. “Now we just gotta follow her,” Dick says, staring past Hanlon. “Who?” he asks. “HER,” Dick replies. He’s looking at Necani, who stands in the woods watching him. Major Hanlon suggests that Charlotte take Hank to their house in Derry, as no one will look for him there. As morning dawns over Derry, the radio DJ informs the town that an “electrical fire” destroyed “an illegal Colored speakeasy.” He says that among the dead were Stanley Kirsh (“Rest in peace, Stanley. No one could filet a tenderloin quite like you.”) and Hank Grogan. So now at least the town thinks he’s gone. Lilly’s mom glares at her daughter to eat more of her breakfast as they listen to the horror on the radio. The Shokopiwah meet, and tally up the dead. Twenty-three adults, seventeen children. As some of the newer members of the circle react in horror at the numbers, Rose reminds them to “focus on the lives we protected because we keep this thing in ITs cage.” Meanwhile, at the latest dig site, that cage is, um… The military find the Shard that was inside a turtle shell and load it into a truck. Hallorann is told he’s done good work and sent back to base, and Major Hanlon is told to stand down as the plan has changed, and they’re taking the Shard to scientists on the base. When he protests that it’s like “leaving a cage door open” he’s assured that since the entity is dormant, they’ll now be able to study the Shard safely.   Sure. Taniel, somehow, has staked out the Shard site and sees them take it. Ronnie and Margie go to Lilly’s to tell her about Rich, and the three of them go to the Tower to gather his things. Margie starts sobbing again as she realizes that he never got one of his balsa planes all the way to Main Street. Charlotte has Hank change into one of her husbands old uniforms, and tells Will to stay home because even if IT is asleep, as Mr. Hallorann says, it wasn’t IT that set fire to the Black Spot. She takes Hank to Rose, and tells the other woman that she has contacts in Montreal who could help him start over. They just need help getting him over the border. “Just a line on a map, right?” As Rose smiles, Taniel bursts in. “We might have a problem.” The scientists and military men are slowly putting the Shard into what looks like a barbecue smoker. Major Hanlon rushes in with a gun to try to stop them, and for a moment they stand down at Shaw’s order. Shaw finally explains his real plan. The country is “fracturing into jagged pieces”, but “the one thing that makes people listen is fear.” In Derry, after the horrific events at the Black Spot: “The streets are calm today. No rioting, no looting, no unrest. The Fear settles on every living person it touches… like a fog. Like a goddamn anesthetic.” (I think the streets might also be calm cause Derry’s fucking racist, and the good white people of Derry are pleased about what happened, even if they won’t admit that, and the small Black population knows a protest will only lead to more murder—but I doubt the General’s going to hear that opinion.) Major Hanlon is, in his way, as horrified at this mask coming off as the kids are when they glimpse IT. “You want to make America Derry???” He tells Major Hanlon that his actions “may very well have saved this country” and tells him to go home. And as soon as he’s out of earshot he tells his underling to make sure Hanlon never leaves the base. The phone rings, and Will, trapped at home, runs to it. It’s Ronnie, calling to talk about what happened at the Black Spot—but once she starts describing how delicious Rich’s fear was, Will realizes that his enemy isn’t dormant after all. “I’m done being afraid of you!” he screams, which is easy to say over the phone, but harder when he turns and sees Pennywise crouched on top of the fridge like a particularly menacing cat. IT Deadlights him. Do We All Float? Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO Hoo boy. I absolutely love the way the show takes the time to give us the long set piece at the circus. Seeing Ingrid’s dad’s artistry, seeing how great he is with her, seeing how, in the midst of this life that was clearly broken down, he was trying to give her acceptance and creativity and magic, makes it all the more horrible when the idyll comes to an end. It goes a little way towards explaining her actions as an adult. Bob Gray’s silent play is amazing? It created a fascinating cognitive dissonance to see Pennywise perform something so moving. And then to drop us from that into the horror at the Black Spot was masterful. By keeping us in the building for the fire, the show doesn’t allow us to look away from what’s happening, it doesn’t soften any of it, and then it shows us the aftermath: the happy white folks of Derry going about their day, the stern white generals informing their Black reportees that what America really needs is more racist massacres. My only frustration here is that Dick only managed to get Will, Ronnie, and Hank out—given how cavalier the show has been about plot armor, it would have been nice if the show had included a couple of background characters escaping to let it work both ways, and add to the realism. The scene with Margie and Rich is just perfect. After those two sequences, I was shocked to see how much episode was still left. Both of them were so riveting that they felt like entire episodes on their own. But the show still added actual nuance to moments that could have just been plot machinations, with Charlotte finally reaching out to Rose for the friendship she was promised, the kids all coming together to mourn their friend, and Major Hanlon trying to make a giant heroic play only to learn just how high up the evil goes. In all of this, it’s Dick Hallorann who’s proving baffling. When the spirits tell him to “Make it right”—what does that mean? Surely not to let IT escape. Why would Necani lead him to the Shard, after everything she sacrificed fighting IT? Is this some sort of huge spiritual trap? Or is IT still manipulating him, even though, at this point, he think IT has gone dormant? Aside from that, I really love how he was going to fully abandon everyone to their fate. I’ve really enjoyed seeing the beginning of the Mr. Hallorann who risks his life for a boy he barely knows decades in the future. And finally, holy crap, Madeline Stowe as Ingrid. The arc on this character has been beautiful to behold, and the way she says “Papa?” destroys me. All of the acting has been stellar here: Arian S. Cartaya and Matilda Lawler in their final (???) scene together, all the kids coming together to mourn Rich, Bill Skarsgård as Bob Gray. The only way this kind of horror works is if it’s grounded, and these performances have been fantastic all the way through. #JustKingThings Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO In the book, the murders at The Black Spot are recounted as a horrible act of racism that becomes part of Mike Hanlon’s generational trauma. I was extremely concerned with how this would be handled, since it could so easily become exploitation, or trauma porn, but the way the show expands on it is brilliant. The massacre is set in motion by a white woman. BUT. She isn’t just acting out of jealousy, racism, or some twisted power game—she sets the massacre up because she wants to draw Pennywise out, to try to save her father. Which is much more interesting, and even more tragic. This disturbed person uses her lover, who protected her at the risk of his own life, as bait. But not bait for a stupid white power fantasy, bait for an evil alien creature that feeds on fear. I also have to note that both of the white girls make it out alive—the girl who is recognized and sent home by a mob member, and then Margie, who Rich saves at the cost of his own life. Almost every Black person, and one Cuban boy, are murdered by white supremacist thugs. And as General Shaw notes, there are no riots the next day, because the few people in Derry who have tried to ally across racial lines—all of them quite young—have been terrified into submission. Turtles all the Way Down The military finds the shard that was sealed up in a turtle shell, but they seem to be able to take it and barbecue it easily enough. Mike Hanlon’s Photo Album We finally see the killing at the Black Spot, and we see the last day in the life of Bob Gray, so it’s kind of the photo album come to life. Ridiculous Alien Spider, or Generationally Terrifying Clown? Credit: Brooke Palmer/HBO After all the irritating “Pennywise is gonna run really fast now” stuff, the show finally shows us some things that transcend all of that. First the creepy child wandering in from the dark woods, with its strange, obviously performative voice and unblinking Kubrick eyes. But better, I think, is that we simply see IT eating. We see the delight it takes tormenting humans, and the sheer joy IT takes in burying ITs teeth into flesh. After all the bells and whistles of embodying people’s deepest fears, IT is simply a carnivorous animal hunting us and chucking us straight to the bottom of the food chain—the most primal fear most people don’t even know they have. And best of all, ITs sick glee in laughing at Ingrid and ripping away her fantasy that somehow her dad is still in there, able to fight back.[end-mark] The post <em>IT: Welcome to Derry</em> Embraces the Power of Fear in “The Black Spot” appeared first on Reactor.

Books reading recommendations Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Series Did you miss these books the first time around? Good news! By James Davis Nicoll | Published on December 8, 2025 Image by 愚木混株 Yumu [via Unsplash] Comment 0 Share New Share Image by 愚木混株 Yumu [via Unsplash] There are many reasons one might miss books when they are first released. Perhaps the books were poorly distributed, the warehouse in which the print run was stored flooded, the cover art misled purchasers1, you weren’t in the mood for that book at that particular time, you couldn’t afford it, you had to detour to the emergency room before reaching the bookstore, you had yet to be born when they were released2, and so on. Given how short the shelf life of a book can be3, it’s not uncommon for readers to discover that they missed their window of opportunity. Such readers need not despair and hurl themselves into the Seine4—there is such a thing as reprints. New editions provide readers with that rare thing, the second chance. You might want to consider these five recently (or soon to be) re-released books and series. Dominion of the Fallen by Aliette de Bodard For the last eight centuries, fallen angels have found refuge in Paris, the City of Lights. This has not always worked out to Paris’ benefit, as the Fallen’s Great Houses are as keen on competition as they are indifferent to collateral damage. Since the 1914 unpleasantness, Paris has become a desolation. House Silverspires survived the conflict. It survived the loss of its founder, Morningstar. Can it survive what is to come? Dominion of the Fallen includes three novels, The House of Shattered Wings (2015), The House of Binding Thorns (2017), and The House of Sundering Flames (2019). All are slated for re-release with brand-new covers. Community Witch by Ash Kreider Aspen Fahey is a non-binary aspiring community witch and failed witchfluencer living in downtown Toronto. When their aunt dies and bequeaths them a witching practice on Vancouver Island, their life unexpectedly turns into a Lifetime movie: early thirties enby leaves the big city to move to a beautiful small town, has meet-cute with beautiful stranger before running into The One That Got Away. Community Witch is kind of an odd duck for this essay. Unlike the other examples, Community Witch is a recent release. But it began as a self-published work. A publishing deal with Varus Publishing offers a more prominent profile5. Accordingly, the book has been unpublished in its original form, and will be re-released in February of 2026 as Parksville Community Witch. Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine Raised on the frontier world of Mars, Arabella Ashby was dragged back to Earth by her very proper mother. Arabella will be groomed into a suitable young woman for the very best sort of husband. But Arabella prefers less ladylike pursuits. Confounding the homicidal machinations of her malevolent cousin will be only the first of her adventures. The Arabella of Mars series is a steampunk—remember steampunk?—planetary romance series consisting of Arabella of Mars (2016), Arabella and the Battle of Venus (2017), and Arabella the Traitor of Mars (2018), all of which have since fallen out of print, as books do. However, they’ve just been reprinted, so you need not miss them6. Sarah Tolerance by Madeleine E. Robins Sarah Tolerance’s Regency England is a different regency than the one we know. For one thing, the Prince of Wales married Catholic Maria Fitzherbert, which is why the Regent is the Queen Regent. Other details are quite familiar. Poor George III is still quite mad and the roles open to fallen women such as Sarah are still limited, unpleasant, and designed to encourage prudent women to conform. Sarah rejects the role of cautionary tale in favour of becoming quite possibly England’s first woman consulting detective. The Sarah Tolerance series of old consisted of Point of Honour (2003), Petty Treason (2004) (both from Forge) and The Sleeping Partner (2011) (from Plus One Press). However, the relaunch of the series isn’t confined to a reprise of old material. The reprints are companied by a brand-new fourth volume, The Doxies Penalty (2025). Letters to the Pumpkin King by Seanan McGuire Originally published in 2014, Letters was billed as the first collection of Seanan McGuire’s non-fiction works7. It offers a diverse assortment of short pieces, non-fiction as well as poetry, that might otherwise be difficult to obtain. It did so in one of NESFA’s nicely-bound hardcovers that last forever. The combination of “works by an author whose awards are so numerous word count limits preclude listing them,” and “durable, well-made artifact” was enticing enough that readers purchased the whole print run. Which is good! Much better than not selling the entire print run. But a disappointment for anyone who missed the initial release8. Or it was a disappointment! Now you can purchase the second edition. (McGuire fans may also be interested to know there’s a new Velveteen, Velveteen vs. the Early Adventures, available for preorder.) Books are always being reprinted, and thank goodness for that. Did I miss some notable recent or upcoming examples? Please mention them in comments below.[end-mark] I know, I know. That seems terribly unlikely. There’s even a saying about judging books by covers that I someday plan to read… ︎Not being born yet is my excuse for not picking up Curme Gray’s 1951 Murder in Millennium VI. ︎It is not practical to keep books on shelves indefinitely, because that would take up valuable shelf space needed for more editions of The Lord of the Rings and various Stephen King novels. ︎Which would do no good, as the Seine is already full of despairing operatic police officers. ︎Hmmm. I could write an essay on self-published works that found their way into trad publishing. There are certainly enough examples. ︎I assume that ebook issue counts as a re-release. ︎Awkward phrasing for two reasons, one reasonable and one not. The reasonable one is that first implies there might be a second, and I am not sure there were more McGuire non-fiction books. My sources failed me. The unreasonable one is that the collection includes the complete texts of two poetry collections. If poetry counts as non-fiction or at least didn’t disqualify collections containing it as non-fiction, then the two poetry collections might count as non-fiction? Fun fact: I once joked to my boss I had a 128-step system to avoid overthinking and she thought I was serious. ︎Especially readers who have never heard of NESFA. ︎The post Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Series appeared first on Reactor.

There are two kinds of antisemites in the world: Those that hate Jews and know it, and those that promote the hatred of Jews and don’t. I learned about both one tragic October day in 1983. And on another tragic October day 40 years later. I was the editor-in-chief of my college newspaper at the largest private college in New Jersey — Fairleigh Dickinson University—and my grandfather was of Lebanese descent, having come to America seeking a better life for his family. When 241 U.S. military personnel (including 220 Marines) were murdered in their barracks in Beirut in October of 1983—the deadliest day for U.S. Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima — I had the temerity to defend America and Israel in print. And in classrooms and with my peers.   The terrorist group responsible for the attack had recently been formed with funding from Iran’s newly formed Islamic dictatorship. It was Hezbollah’s debut and put the little-known terrorist group on the map. I thought I was on solid ground when I called it what it was: a vicious attack against America for supporting of our ally in the region, Israel. It was an attack against the West. And all the West holds dear. For taking that position in public and print, I felt the immediate wrath of my Arab peers, something I expected because antisemitism is so ingrained in the Arab world—Israel being the scapegoat for all that ailed the Middle East, with all the usual tropes. The kind propagated in Arab culture, literature and even comic books. Jews as devils. Jews as thieves. Jews as running America and the world. Ancient tropes that have haunted Jews through the centuries. I was soon ostracized by many Arabs on campus upset that I’d called out Arab antisemitism in public. I was tagged an “Uncle Ahab” by some, and a “Jew lover” by others. The American casualties were tragic, my peers rationalized, but the real problem was American foreign policy. My Arab friends never said as much, but their underlying message was clear: America should stop defending and supporting Israel. Or face more attacks. That they had no such disgust for any of the Middle Eastern countries—or the ways those countries treated their own women or gays or Christians—was immaterial to them. Israel was their special obsession. What surprised me most were the rebukes from white students and faculty, most from a small but growing hard-left contingency in the college’s liberal arts department. I’ll never forget the day they sat me down, intervention-style, and explained that taking sides with Israel and America reflected my own colonial mindset. My own white mindset. Both of which my family adopted without knowing it. It started, they explained, with my grandfather’s choice to leave Lebanon for America. And to allow the folks at Ellis Island to change the spelling of his birthname from Habib to the less Arabic looking name, Habeeb. Did I not understand the subtle violence of that exchange? My dad, they continued, doubled down on the commitment to become more American, and less Arab. They urged me to read a book that explained how the West had colonized not just my family and our minds, but how brown and black people around the world have been mistreated by the same forces. Forces that kept them poor and powerless. “The Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon—recommended with the zeal a Christian would recommend the Bible to a nonbeliever—was popular on campuses across America at the time, and it was easy to see why. Susceptible readers were left by books’ end to choose sides: You’re with the oppressed or against them. With capitalism or for massive wealth redistribution from rich white colonial powers to poor brown and black colonized ones. Fanon’s world was devoid of nuance, let alone human agency. Life happened to us, and there was little to do but overthrow existing power structures. Or become part of them. But this was real force and appeal in his work: A young person was granted instant and unearned moral superiority in Fanon’s neatly constructed universe, a kind of sanctification that in real religions requires work and sacrifice. This was heady stuff for young white suburban college kids away from their parents’ authority for the first time. His emphasis on psychology—and his use of religious language and metaphors—made his work especially attractive to rebellious young people in search of purpose and meaning. My peers wanted me to join this quasi-religious cause, filled with primal passions and fears. Sin wasn’t the enemy in their sacred text—or Satan. Western civilization, capitalism, imperialism—and the Bible itself—were humankind’s enemies. This worldview had the effect of promoting a new kind of antisemitism: hatred of Israel, not Jews. It was a very different—and dangerous—form of antisemitism than the virulent form Jews had experienced for millennia. One I believed then to be on the fringes of academic thought. Then came the Oct. 7, 2023 savagery by Hamas that took the lives of over 1,200 innocent Jews—40 years after the October attack on America’s troops in Beirut. Many Arabs around the world celebrated the savagery, as expected. But it was the response to Israel’s military response—a strong show of military force in Gaza—that displayed how the oppressed/oppressor anti-colonial mindset of Fanon’s had metastasized in the West. Watching college-aged students, aging faculty members and progressive warriors from across the social justice world lead chants calling for the destruction of the state of Israel, chants like “From the river to the sea,” shocked the world. They, like my friends and peers back in 1983, were quite confident that their efforts weren’t grounded in antisemitism. Their beef, they would tell you (and themselves) is not with Jewish people, but the state of Israel. That it was the Jewish people’s scared texts—and ethical monotheism itself—that inspired Western civilization is lost on them. As is the fact that Israel itself has played a central part in the formation of the Western world and mind. It’s impossible to separate the reality of the world’s only Jewish state from its own Jewish roots. Equally disturbing is a new strain of antisemitism on the Right, much of it masked in a muscular “America First” policy. Embedded in this new strain is the belief that some of America’s problems—especially in the Middle East—have the state of Israel as its source. Like the new strain from the hard Left, this form of antisemitism from the isolationist wing of the GOP promotes antisemitism unwittingly. Believers insist that Isreal is no different from any other nation in crisis—think Ukraine or Haiti. And that there should be no scared bond with America and anyother nation—including Israel. Add to that a strange form of antisemitism arising from within a younger generation of evangelical Christians—and some older ones too—who believe the birth of Christ somehow invalidated the Old Testament. It’s an absurd idea, one that most Christians of every denomination refute. If anything, the bond between the vast majority of America Christians and the state of Israel has never been deeper. So, what do we do about these two forms of antisemitism—old and new? From the Left and to a lesser extent the Right? The answers aren’t simple. The old and persistent kind of antisemitism—the ancient variety of deliberate and willful antisemitism—will probably be around another millennia if history is any judge. Though at least in the Arab world—thanks to the Abraham Accords—there are real glimmers of hope. The new kind is best approached through ongoing debate, discussion and education. Maybe even a grand national debate and public relations project on the subject. There’s never been a better time—or reason. And never have there been more able and talented people on the Left and Right—and Christians too—to do it. Any takers? Originally published in Newsweek. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post An Arab American Response to Antisemitism Old and New appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Department of Homeland Security has rolled out a new searchable website allowing Americans to see the names and faces of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens arrested across all 50 states since the start of the Trump administration.   Now, Americans from Springfield, Ohio to San Diego to Boston can learn the identities of some of the illegal aliens Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained in their community, and what convictions or criminal charges those individuals face.   “This new Worst of the Worst webpage allows every American to see for themselves the criminal illegal aliens that we are arresting, what crimes they committed, and what communities we removed them from,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said.   “This is all about transparency and showing results. As the media whitewashes the facts, day in and day out, our brave men and women of ICE risk their lives for the American people,” McLaughlin continued.   Through the “Worst of the Worst” webpage, McLaughlin says, “Americans don’t have to rely on the press for this information—with this transparent tool, they can see for themselves what public safety threats were lurking in their neighborhoods and communities.”  Of the illegal aliens ICE has arrested since the start of the Trump administration, 70% have either been charged with or convicted of a crime in the U.S., according to DHS.   The new platform features 10,000 “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens. The website will continue to be updated, according to DHS.   Since January, DHS reports nearly 600,00 illegal aliens have been arrested.   The rise in targeted immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration has spurred opposition from some who oppose the enforcement of immigration laws. DHS reports there has been a 1,150% increase in violence against ICE agents since President Donald Trump took office.   Despite this opposition, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says the Trump administration will continue to carry out arrests of illegal aliens across the U.S.  The post New Tool Allows Americans to Learn Identities of Illegal Aliens Arrested in Their Communities   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Is the US Military Overmatched?

This past week, as several MS NOW hosts fretted over the recent deportation of a Babson College student to Honduras, it was barely mentioned that a court had issued a final order of deportation against her. She was apprehended at Logan International Airport as she tried to fly to Texas to visit her family for Thanksgiving. National correspondent and frequent deportation critic Jacob Soboroff went so far as to claim that the story proves that it is "complete BS" that the Donald Trump administration is "going after the worst of the worst." On Thursday, when Morning Joe covered the story for the second time, co-host Joe Scarborough mocked the administration's DHS: What tough guys -- what tough guys, the Trump administration ripping 19-year-old girls away, who went home to visit their parents Thanksgiving. Been here since they were seven. What -- what -- what tough guys. And what a lie. What a total lie to say, "We're only going after the worst of the worst." On the same day's Deadline: White House, which also covered the story for the second time, host Nicolle Wallace proclaimed: As Donald Trump continues to escalate and ramp up his immigration practices and crackdown, despite its deep unpopularity with the American people, his claim that the only people impacted would be the so-called "worst of the worst" has been exposed as a flagrant lie over and over again with the parents of veterans, daycare workers, U.S. citizens, grandmas all caught up in this mess of Donald Trump's mass deportation strategy. Deep unpopularity? Fact check: In October, The New York Times was unhappy to report its poll found "the share of registered voters who favor deporting immigrants living in the country illegally — 54 percent — has remained unchanged." As Soboroff appeared to present clips of an interview that he did with the student, Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, the MS NOW host asked him if the Trump administration is now deporting "dreamers." Soboroff grumbled: That's certainly what it -- what it looks like. And it's not just not right. It's just -- it's complete BS that they are going after the worst of the worst, and I think it's so important that you point that out, and we point it out time and time again because I do think that there is a risk of people getting tired -- people wanting to know less -- people not feeling like this is as bad or as egregious as the family separation policy where people were being ripped apart deliberately during the last administration. Back on Tuesday, afternoon host Katy Tur gave an unchallenged forum to Belloza's attorney, Todd Pomerleau, to rant about the case. After calling the deportation a "dystopian nightmare" and "absolute child abuse," he made a crack comparing MAGA to the Redcoats from the American Revolution: She's flown multiple times in the last year, all within the United States, visiting numerous schools, and she chose to go to Boston, you know, where we fought a revolutionary war years ago against Redcoats. And now we're fighting red hats on a daily basis. This is a MAGA roulette. You're playing with your life when you get on a plane and choose to fly in the United States. It doesn't matter if you're traveling internationally or if you're a college student dreamer. They come and get you and they ship you off in the middle of the night with no recourse. Well, we have a Constitution. It may be on fire, but we're here to extinguish it one lawsuit at a time. And we're not going to stop until we bring Any back to the United States. This is God-damned disgusting what they did to her. Between Monday and Thursday, MS NOW ran seven segments on the story on various shows, but only once was it mentioned that an order of deportation had been issued in the case as a clip of Soboroff's interview aired on Thursday's Katy Tur Reports. According to a statement by DHS spokesperson Alicia McLaughlin, the order was issued in 2015. Transcripts follow: MS NOW Katy Tur Reports December 1, 2025 2:48 p.m. KATY TUR: Nineteen-year-old Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was on her way home from college for Thanksgiving to surprise her parents, but she never got there. She was detained by immigration agents at Boston airport, and instead of being sent back home to Texas to Austin, Texas, she was deported to Honduras, a country she has known -- not known or even seen since she was seven years old. Joining us, Any's attorney, Todd Pomerleau. Todd, thank you for joining us. Where is Any right now? And how is she doing? TODD POMERLEAU, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Well, she's considerably distraught and, you know, absolutely understandable given what happened to her. Last, you know, week ago, she was trying to surprise her family -- to fly home for Thanksgiving and to see her two little sibling sisters, mom and her dad, you know. A family friend who her dad works for in a tailoring shop was the only one who knew she was coming to town. You know, most college kids can't afford to fly home for a holiday. ... Gets arrested at Logan International Airport. It's the third such case we've had in the last few months where women just get detained with no warning -- no warrant. She had no idea what was happening, and she's a 19-year-old child under the immigration laws -- under the age of 21 -- and a scholarship recipient at Babson University, you know, living the American dream. Any's dream basically has turned into this dystopian nightmare of immigration and customs abuse. That's what it is. It's not enforcement of the law. This is absolute child abuse. (...) She's flown multiple times in the last year, all within the United States, visiting numerous schools, and she chose to go to Boston, you know, where we fought a revolutionary war years ago against Redcoats. And now we're fighting red hats on a daily basis. This is a MAGA roulette. You're playing with your life when you get on a plane and choose to fly in the United States. It doesn't matter if you're traveling internationally or if you're a college student dreamer. They come and get you and they ship you off in the middle of the night with no recourse. Well, we have a Constitution. It may be on fire, but we're here to extinguish it one lawsuit at a time. And we're not going to stop until we bring Any back to the United States. This is God-damned disgusting what they did to her. (...) Deadline: White House December 2, 2025 5:23 p.m. NICOLLE WALLACE: An alarming new sign that the lawlessness of Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign may be expanding after a college student was deported despite a deportation stay from a federal judge. Amy Lucia Lopez Belloza, a freshman at Babson College outside of Boston, was on her way to board a plane back to Texas to see her parents and two little sisters for Thanksgiving break when she was stopped by immigration agents, handcuffed and placed in an unmarked vehicle. Two days later, she was deported to Honduras, a country she hadn't been to since she was seven years old. (...) Morning Joe December 4, 2025 7:51 a.m. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Welcome back, there are new developments in a story that we brought to you earlier this week. A college student who was detained at a Boston area airport, shackled and deported to Honduras while trying to fly home to Texas to visit her family for Thanksgiving. (...) ANY LUCIA LOPEZ BELLOA, DEPORTED TO HONDURAS: And I didn't even know that I was going to get deported until I was on the plane. JOE SCARBOROUGH: What -- what -- what tough guys -- what tough guys, the Trump administration ripping 19-year-old girls away, who went home to visit their parents Thanksgiving. Been here since they were seven. What -- what -- what tough guys. And what a lie. What a total lie to say, "We're only going after the worst of the worst." This happens so much. Jacob Soboroff, thank you so much for being with us. And thank you so much for for bringing us that interview. Please tell me more about what you learned. JACOB SOBOROFF: Well, when you talk to Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, Joe, you feel exactly what I think all of us feel, which is this is, as you said, someone who came here when they were seven years old, who was on a scholarship to Babson, who wanted to go home to surprise her mom and dad in Texas, only to be directed to customer service, where she was met by federal agents, handcuffed and eventually shackled, and sent back to Honduras. Because she was described as an, quote unquote, "illegal alien," one of the "worst of the worst," a criminal, in the words of Gregory Bovino, the border patrol chief who's been going all around the country picking off people, doing their quotidian activities. And exactly the point that you are making is what I wanted to know from her. People keep calling the folks that are being picked up off the street the "worst of the worst," and I want to know if she felt that way about herself. So here's a little bit more of what we talked about. What's it like for you to hear people like you described in that way -- as being the "worst of the worst" -- as being a criminal? (...) What do you want Donald Trump to know? If the President is watching this interview and he sees that his Department of Homeland Security just picked up a college freshman from Babson who was studying business and, you know, wanted to have a bright future ahead of her in the United States. What do you want the President to know? (...) BRZEZINSKI: Thank for bringing us that story. SCARBOROUGH: Thank you, Jacob, so much. It really brings it home. It really does. Thank you, Jacob. SCARBOROUGH: Brought here when she was seven years old by her parents fleeing violence, played by the rules, worked hard, studied hard, went to Babson College, and got deported for going home to see her family on Thanksgiving like so many other college students do. (...) Chris Jansing Reports December 4, 2025 12:45 p.m. ALEX WITT: Meantime, still ahead, a cable news exclusive: My colleague, Jacob Soboroff's conversation with a student deported to Honduras just while on the way home to surprise her parents for Thanksgiving. (...) WITT: We are back with a cable news exclusive. For the first time, we're hearing from a Babson College student who was deported while trying to fly home to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. Nineteen-year-old freshman Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was detained in the airport in Boston, and then held for two days before she was sent back to Honduras where she emigrated from when she was just seven years old. My colleague, Jacob Soboroff, spoke to her and joins me now. What story, Jacob -- what did she share with you? SOBOROFF: Yeah, that's the key point, Alex, I think that this is a young woman who came to this country from Honduras when she was seven. She was 19 years old, a freshman at Babson College, going down to see her parents to surprise them for Thanksgiving. Greg Bovino, the chief patrol agent for Border Patrol that is going around the country executing the indiscriminate raids all across the United States, called her literally two days ago a criminal. That is not what she is. That is certainly not what she feels like. (...) Katy Tur Reports December 4, 2025 2:47 p.m. ANTONIA HYLTON: Nineteen-year-old college freshman Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was deported when she was trying to fly home to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. The student is now in Honduras after she was detained at Boston's Logan Airport. (...) Deadline: White House December 4, 2025 5:44 p.m. NICOLLE WALLACE: As Donald Trump continues to escalate and ramp up his immigration practices and crackdown, despite its deep unpopularity with the American people, his claim that the only people impacted would be the so-called "worst of the worst" has been exposed as a flagrant lie over and over again with the parents of veterans, daycare workers, U.S. citizens, grandmas all caught up in this mess of Donald Trump's mass deportation strategy. Our friend Jacob Soboroff sat down with one of those people, the college student whose story we brought you earlier in the week, Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, on her experience of being taken into ICE custody and deported to Honduras, a country that she has not been to or lived in since she was seven years old. (...) ANY LUCIA LOPEZ BELLOZA, DEPORTED TO HONDURAS: Many people like me -- many undocumented people who are getting themselves ready to go to college, it's really difficult for us because we try to find the best that we can to be able to fulfill our dreams, and people saying, like, we're criminals, it's just not right. WALLACE: Jacob, I mean, she said "Dreamer." Are we now -- is America now -- is Donald Trump deporting Dreamers obviously now? SOBOROFF: That's certainly what it -- what it looks like. And it's not just not right. It's just -- it's complete BS that they are going after the worst of the worst, and I think it's so important that you point that out, and we point it out time and time again because I do think that there is a risk of people getting tired -- people wanting to know less -- people not feeling like this is as bad or as egregious as the family separation policy where people were being ripped apart deliberately during the last administration. But, as we've talked about over and over again, that is exactly what's happening. It is what happened in this case to Any. It is what is happening in 26 Federal Plaza in New York City on a regular basis. It is what's happening in states like Florida where the local law enforcement is deputized, and the thing about Any's case that I think probably resonates with so many people is that she was going home, as you discussed with her attorney, to meet and surprise her parents for Thanksgiving. She was a college freshman on a scholarship in business school. This person is as American as you or I or anyone watching this broadcast right now, which why I encourage everybody to scan that little QR code in the corner of the screen and watch our complete interview to see who the people really are that Donald Trump and Stephen Miller and Gregory Bovino -- who called this specific person, Any, a criminal, are kicking out of this country. WALLACE: It's also deeply unpopular -- MOLLY JONG-FAST, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. WALLACE: -- with the American people JONG-FAST: No, I mean, what's amazing is about this administration is that this stuff is not popular, voters don't like it, and when you see interviews like this, I mean, you have to imagine that this is changing hearts and minds, right? There's no, you know, she is in college. People come -- by the way, think of the foreign students who are watching this thinking, like, "Do I want to send --?" because, you know, America gets a lot of money and American education gets a lot of money from foreign students. Think of the affluent parents who are like, "Oh, I could send my kid to the United States and they could get deported or sent to a Louisiana facility," as we've seen, or, "I could send them to Dubai and they'd be safe."