Books cover reveals Revealing Lavender Spike by Rachel Tremblay A cyberpunk novel arriving June 2026 By Reactor | Published on February 24, 2026 Photo credit: Roger Proulx Comment 0 Share New Share Photo credit: Roger Proulx We’re thrilled to share the cover of Rachel Tremblay’s bold new cyberpunk novel, Lavender Spike—available June 23, 2026 from ECW Press. Isobel “Izzy” Ker, the last working artist of the Old Holy Order, lives a life of poverty in the Dumps outside of Mahl City, covertly selling her illegal paintings to the Old Order’s few remaining devotees. But when her studio is ransacked by the city’s enforcers, her only choice is to seek refuge with the Half-Light Rebels, a gang of anti-art radicals and glorified thieves.She agrees to help the rebels, but their first mission goes south, and Izzy is arrested and brought before the leader of the oppressive New Art Government, a group that keeps people in check by feeding their addiction to a novel and dangerous craft, Trigger Art. Izzy has a choice: Convert to their way of life, using her skills to debut as a Trigger Artist, or rot in the city’s infamous prison. Izzy accepts and is thrust into the spotlight, now intoxicated by the luxury and power afforded her, not to mention her handsome bodyguard, Rilke. The wild, engrossing act of creating her first public piece almost makes her forget what life was like in the Dumps. Almost. All the while, Izzy is fanning the flames of rebellion, working in secret with the rebels and preparing to unveil her audacious debut piece.Written by a rising star in science fiction, Lavender Spike is a bold, wholly original cyberpunk novel in which art is both drug and religion. Cover art by Rachel Tremblay; Design by Jessica Albert, ECW Press Buy the Book Lavender Spike Rachel Tremblay Buy Book Lavender Spike Rachel Tremblay Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget Rachel Tremblay is a painter, writer, and musician. A youth filled with guitar shredding, horror movies, skateboarding, and poetry led her to produce two music albums, study fine arts, and pen stories. She lives in Montreal with her husband and two adult children. Lavender Spike is her fifth novel. The cover art is an original canvas painting done by the artist. The post Revealing <i>Lavender Spike</i> by Rachel Tremblay appeared first on Reactor.

Books reading recommendations Five Horror Stories Set During the Medieval Period Given all the plague, war, and famine, the Middle Ages seem like an ideal setting for horror fiction. By Lorna Wallace | Published on February 24, 2026 “Knight, Death, and the Devil” by Albrecht Dürer Comment 0 Share New Share “Knight, Death, and the Devil” by Albrecht Dürer I’ve found that certain historical periods seem to inspire more horror stories than others. For instance, I don’t think I’ve ever read a horror novel set during the Renaissance (though it should be noted that the playwrights of that time were absolutely writing horror—no one can convince me that Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus isn’t horror, with all of its mutilation and cannibalism). On the other hand, many authors have chosen to set scary stories during the medieval era. I can’t deny that it’s a period rich in potential horrors—from brutal wars to deadly diseases—and the five works below take full advantage of those dark and disturbing possibilities. “A Dog in Dürer’s Etching ‘The Knight, Death and the Devil’” by Marco Denevi (1966) (Translated by Alberto Manguel) Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513) is an engraving by German artist Albrecht Dürer which depicts a proud knight on horseback being shadowed by Death upon his own pale horse. Hundreds of years later, Argentine writer Marco Denevi was asked to contribute to a collection of stories that took the artwork as inspiration and the resulting work was (and is) haunting. Denevi keeps the nameless knight an opaque figure who is returning from a purposefully unnamed war in order to cast him and the conflict as representatives of all soldiers and wars. As the knight makes his way back to his castle, the story ruminates on the death and destruction that is wrought by war and on its ultimate futility. The entire story is written as one breathless sentence. While that might sound like it would be hard to follow, the narrative not only flows seamlessly, but also only takes around 10 minutes to read. The stylistic choice to omit full stops perfectly plays into the tale’s theme too—time marches on mercilessly, regardless of human actions or desires, just as the story does. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (2012) Between Two Fires is set in 1348 in a plague-ravaged France. The few who haven’t been killed by the Black Death are lucky to be alive, but they’ve been left in dire straits, with famine and violence now widespread. Thomas is a knight-turned-brigand whose rumbling stomach has led to him (largely) abandon his previous sense of honor. But the already warped path of his existence takes another sharp turn when he meets—and saves—a girl who has recently been orphaned. The pair are soon joined by a priest, and the trio set off on a journey across France that brings them face to face with a variety of grotesquely creative supernatural horrors. There’s no escaping the fact that this is a brutal story, but the darkness is somewhat lightened by the humorous dialogue and the heartfelt relationships that develop between the characters. Come for the demons and monsters, stay for the thoughtful reflections on faith, friendship, and redemption. “Palette” by J.L. Kiefer (2022) Unrealistic beauty standards for women are ever changing, but also ever present, which means that “Palette” will resonate with modern readers, remaining deeply relevant despite being set during the medieval period. The unnamed main character is a fabric weaver who is obsessed with her appearance. In order to achieve the smooth porcelain skin that society deems so desirable, she slathers her face in concoctions that are laced with ingredients that we now know are deadly, such as lead and mercury. The body horror that results from her primping and preening is stomach-turning. But beyond the gruesome descriptions of the woman’s body and her accompanying mental decline, it’s also unsettling to observe just how little has changed over the hundreds of years that separate us from her. We’ve just swapped quicksilver for injectables. “Palette” was originally published in Howls From the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror (which is on my TBR list!), but it can also be read for free at the link above. Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey (2025) Once Was Willem is what you get if you take Seven Samurai (1954), shift the setting to 12th-century England, and add a hefty dose of fantasy horror. The titular Willem dies near the beginning of the story, but is resurrected via magic, only to be cast out by his village as a monster. Not long afterwards, an opportunistic bandit and an evil wizard take advantage of the chaos caused by civil war to seize a nearby castle. When this villainous duo abduct the local children (for reasons I’ll leave a mystery to avoid spoilers), the villagers enlist Willem and his newfound monstrous friends to save them. The story leans into the elements that make Seven Samurai (and all of the works it has directly inspired) so effective—primarily found family and the fight for justice. Everything in Once Was Willem feels richly drawn, from the worldbuilding to the characterizations to the language. And while it might take a little bit of time to get used to the archaic vocabulary that Carey sprinkles into his prose, once you’re in, it feels incredibly immersive. The Devils by Joe Abercrombie (2025) The Devils is another tale of monstrous characters coming together for a worthy purpose, but it’s more Suicide Squad than Seven Samurai. The story is set in an alternate version of Europe in what I’m pretty sure is the medieval era (it’s never explicitly stated, so I’m just going off of context clues). A group of unwilling villains—from a cursed knight to a cocky necromancer—are forced to escort a thief, who is believed to be a lost princess, to Troy so that she can take her rightful place on the throne. The Devils is packed full of blood-slicked brutality and action-packed mayhem, but the book’s heart lies with its eclectic and chaotic cast of characters. Although none of them want to be on this mission, their chemistry is clear from the outset and watching as their bond slowly develops is heartwarming. The story is also riddled with Abercrombie’s delightful brand of dark humor, which perfectly matches the gritty and gory world he’s crafted. There are plenty of other medieval-set horror stories out there that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet, so let me know which ones you most recommend in the comments below. And I’m all ears if anyone has any suggestions for horror set during the Renaissance—I’m sure there are good examples out there![end-mark] The post Five Horror Stories Set During the Medieval Period appeared first on Reactor.

The Trump administration has taken many steps—some of them truly unprecedented—to advance pro-life policies, both domestically and abroad. President Donald Trump could do one thing to protect life and send a powerful pro-life message internationally, simply by enforcing an existing law you may have never heard of. It’s called the Siljander Amendment and dates to 1981. In recent days, Trump expanded the Mexico City Policy exponentially. This is the law that renders entities that promote or provide abortions ineligible for U.S. foreign assistance funding. The new policy goes further by plugging key loopholes in the policy’s earlier iterations and expands its scope to include gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology as well as abortion. One key addition to the policy is that it now applies to multilateral organizations, which is important both because agencies of the United Nations and the Organizations of American States, or OAS, have a history of receiving generous funding from the U.S. and of promoting abortion. In all its iterations, the Mexico City Policy has been an executive order enacted and reinstated by Republican presidents and rescinded by Democrat presidents since the 1980s. However, it exists as a supplement to a prior law—the Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act which bars U.S. funding from directly promoting or providing abortions abroad. The Mexico City Policy was introduced because money is fungible; it is hard to claim that U.S. taxpayer funding is not complicit in promoting abortion overseas simply because U.S.-funded Planned Parenthood affiliates in foreign countries insists that its abortion work is done with separate funding. The Siljander Amendment plugged yet another hole and that is the lobbying hole. It prohibits U.S. funds from being used to lobby for or against abortion, something U.S. aid recipients do aggressively and globally.  During the first Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defunded two organs of the OAS, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission of Women, because they were lobbying for the legalization of abortion in Latin American and Caribbean countries. At the time, the same approach was not taken with UN agencies, but it should be now, and for the same reason. UN entities frothily lobby and pressure countries on abortion in violation of this amendment.  The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights supports the work of the human rights treaty monitoring bodies and special mandate holders, many of which have explicitly called on countries to decriminalize abortion entirely, legalize it for all grounds, and remove any barriers to access, including by violating the conscience rights of health care providers. Another UN entity with a long track record of lobbying for abortion is the Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction. While housed within the World Health Organization, it is a joint program of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Bank, all of which have been recipients of U.S. funding in recent years. In 2022 the HRP published its latest guideline on “safe abortion,” which calls for recommend full decriminalization of abortion, which says should be available on the request of the woman (they say “pregnant person”), without restrictions based on grounds or gestational age. A 2025 update to the guideline called for heightened restrictions on conscientious objection. The HRP often posts infographics to social media with messages like “abortion is healthcare,” “abortion should never be criminalized,” and “quality abortion care is part of the universal right to health.” There is no internationally agreed human right to abortion, and UN consensus by member states holds that its legal status is for individual governments to determine. The Siljander Amendment is U.S. law, and it should apply to U.S. taxpayer funding to multilateral institutions, which have historically been generously supported by the U.S. It must be enforced regardless of the policy preferences of whoever inhabits the White House. As it clearly states, it would also apply to any UN agency that lobbies against abortion—although finding one of those might be more difficult than achieving what the UN was established to do, like ending war and poverty. In keeping Trump’s record of defunding agencies that violate our values, he should take a close look at this little-used tool.  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Trump Could Further His Pro-Life U.S. Foreign Policy by Enforcing Existing Law appeared first on The Daily Signal.

NYT: Who's Bright Idea Was It to Release the Epstein Files, Anyway? UPDATE: NYT Disclosure Fail

A Chagos Declaration of Independence?

“We are losing species at an alarming rate, and the world urgently needs a distributed network of global BioVaults – a true backup plan for life on Earth.”

Luckily, it did not have to face Shelob, but it might have learned about the past habitability of the Red Planet.

MRC Watchdogs churn out breaking news on a daily basis. Don't miss Today's Highlights, where you can keep up with the top MRC content, whether it's the latest study on media bias, a glaring omission from the elitist media, or how the Big Tech companies are serving up the same leftist spin as the media.  Top Stories: FLASHBACK: Media Elitists Despised Trump’s Addresses to Congress ABC LOSES IT Over Patel in Milan, Cites Iran, Guthrie for Why He Shouldn’t Have Gone Viral MRC Tweet: (CBS News Old School Immigration Reporting) Promoting NYT, Google News Blocks Right-Leaning Media During Scathing Trial   FLASHBACK: Media Elitists Despised Trump’s Addresses to Congress 2017, CNN Tonight, Don Lemon: “The way President Trump speaks extemporaneously is not the same as what he said tonight. It sounded, to me, and this is just — I mean, I thought it was — he sounded very presidential. This was a speech written by a college student for someone else trying to use big words to impress that the person who is reciting it did not know the meaning of the words. That’s how it sounded.” 2018, MSNBC Host Chris Matthews: “It almost got ugly. Very tough about saying immigrants are basically killers. MS-13. Beginning a discussion about immigration in a country of immigrants with crime. And that was his way of opening up the discussion like I’m protecting us from criminal elements. I thought that got very ugly about that point.”... 2019, CNN's Van Jones: “I saw this as a psychotically incoherent speech with cookies and dog poop. He tries to put together in the same speech these warm kind things about humanitarianism and caring about children. At the same time, he is demonizing people who are immigrants in a way that was appalling.” 2019, MSNBC Host Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe: “How can anyone see this as a good speech? How can anyone see this as unifying when he is spewing out lies to the American people?...This is an angry, racist platform that has been surrounded by sweet stories and World War II veterans....but the bottom line is his platform is based on hate and lies, bottom line.”   ABC LOSES IT Over Patel in Milan, Cites Iran, Guthrie for Why He Shouldn’t Have Gone ABC Stands Alone in Its Outrage While every other major network ignored the story, ABC’s Good Morning America was the only one to pitch a fit over Patel attending the U.S. men’s hockey gold-medal game and celebrating with Team USA in the locker room — turning a feel-good American victory into “controversy.” Desperate Guilt-by-Irrelevant-Association ABC’s Pierre Thomas bizarrely tied Patel’s previously scheduled trip to the “elevated threat environment,” the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother, and tensions with Iran — claiming these were reasons he “shouldn’t have gone.” This is textbook media desperation to smear a Trump appointee. Fake “Taxpayer Boondoggle” Smear Debunked FBI officials confirmed the Milan trip was planned months in advance, combined official security business with the games, and that Patel personally reimbursed any non-official expenses. ABC ignored these facts and instead parroted Democratic complaints about agency-jet use, exposing their blatant double-standard and bias.   Viral MRC Tweet: (CBS News Old School Immigration Reporting) Bill D'Agostino, MRC Senior Research Analyst, uncovered a CBS News clip from 1995 in which Dan Rather exposes the “national anxiety” over illegal immigration  Transcript from 48 Hours Trailer: “The American people are having a national anxiety attack over large scale immigration, illegal immigration. [America] can’t take care of the world.  “Anger over immigration. People who are here illegally will be deported. I feel hurt and let down and replaced by foreigners. It is outrageous. Schools and hospitals strained to the limit. Criminal aliens on our streets, burglaries, robberies. He's got 20 different aliases. I just can't believe this really happened. Should America slam the door?” Elon Musk commented: Those days are long gone. White House Advisor Stephen Miller commented: For discredited legacy media to regain public confidence (and audience) they need to pursue real journalism like this once again.   Promoting NYT, Google News Blocks Right-Leaning Media During Scathing Trial Total Blackout on Right-Leaning Media Over four consecutive days (Feb 17–20, 2026), Google News featured ZERO articles from right-leaning outlets in its top 20 morning stories each day — that's 80 articles with not a single conservative or right-leaning perspective included, effectively censoring diverse viewpoints and forcing users into a one-sided news bubble. Overwhelming Leftist Dominance More than half (44 out of 80) of the promoted top stories came from outlets rated "left" or "lean left" by AllSides, with The New York Times (rated "lean left") as Google's clear favorite, appearing in eight stories across the period — this isn't neutral curation; it's active promotion of leftist narratives on everything from Jesse Jackson's death to Prince Andrew's arrest. Stunning Hypocrisy Amid YouTube Trial While Google faces a massive lawsuit from over 1,500 families accusing YouTube of addictive, harmful design targeting children, its Google News platform simultaneously pushes "harmfully one-sided narratives" by boosting leftist media and suppressing right-leaning sources — proving Big Tech's double standard: lecture others on content harms while engineering biased information flows.    

CNN doesn’t care about the victims of illegal alien crimes or their families, White House Press Secretary Karoline said Monday, calling the leftist network “a total disgrace” for completely ignoring Monday’s event honoring and hosting “Angel Families.” “.@CNN is a total disgrace,” Leavitt declared in a social media post following the White House ceremony, during which President Donald Trump signed a proclamation designating February 22, 2026 as National Angel Family Day: “President Trump hosted a powerful event honoring Angel Families who lost loved ones at the hands of illegal alien criminals and deadly drugs – but CNN refused to cover EVEN one second of it. “That’s because CNN doesn't care about the victims of illegal alien crime. “They pretend to be a news organization, but they refuse to cover anything that doesn’t fit the Left’s narrative. This is why CNN is failing and losing all of their viewership.” Leavitt embedded video from the event of comments by Allyson Phillips, whose daughter, 22-year old Laken Riley, was killed by an illegal alien. . @CNN is a total disgrace. President Trump hosted a powerful event honoring Angel Families who lost loved ones at the hands of illegal alien criminals and deadly drugs – but CNN refused to cover EVEN one second of it. That’s because CNN doesn't care about the victims of… https://t.co/8jJIYmkGOB — Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 23, 2026 “.@CNN spends much of their time attacking the Trump Administration's strict immigration policies, but they will never air stories like this, which are the reason our strict enforcement policies are happening in the first place,” Leavitt said in a separate post including video of a police officer explaining that he had arrested Riley’s illegal alien murderer, José Ibarra, before he killed her, but he was then set free. .@CNN spends much of their time attacking the Trump Administration's strict immigration policies, but they will never air stories like this, which are the reason our strict enforcement policies are happening in the first place: https://t.co/A8LoFV05Ct — Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 23, 2026 “.@CNN will never show this incredible man's honest words because he completely debunks their fake narrative that ‘Trump is bad and racist,’ the press secretary wrote in a third post of video from the event: “Jody Jones, whose brother, Rocky, was shot and killed by an illegal: ‘I'm sick and tired of hearing these [Democrat] politicians stand up on these podiums and say how sorry they are for seeing these criminal illegal aliens being 'ripped apart' from their families. What about US?... We mean something to, and this man right here understands it.’” .@CNN will never show this incredible man's honest words because he completely debunks their fake narrative that "Trump is bad and racist" https://t.co/coRSCHk2cS — Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 23, 2026 “Why doesn't @CNN think this American mother's words are worth airing on their network?” Leavitt asked in a post of video of Laura Wilkerson, whose son was "brutally beaten, tortured, and strangled to death, and his body set on fire" by an illegal immigrant. “Jesus works on my family every day, still healing us today, and I am just so incredibly grateful for the man who’s in office who never quits (Pres. Trump),” Wilkerson said, asking God to “breathe a fresh breath of air through this administration.” Why doesn't @CNN think this American mother's words are worth airing on their network? https://t.co/LxX41g0Lvc — Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) February 23, 2026  

Both ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show returned on Monday after a week off to offer up some Olympic-sized hockey hot takes. Kimmel would try to turn the gold-medal-winning women’s team into a symbol of the anti-Trump resistance, while Daily Show host Jon Stewart and this week’s Tuesday-Thursday host Desi Lydic used the opportunity to explain why Canada, which both the men’s and women’s teams beat in overtime to win gold, is better than the U.S. For his part, Kimmel introduced a clip of the men’s team talking on the phone with Trump after the game, “So, Trump dials into the locker room after the game, Kash has got his phone to glom on to the glory and invite the men’s team and, begrudgingly, gold medal-winning women’s team, who also won in overtime, to his State of the Union tomorrow.”   Jimmy Kimmel and his audience applaud the women's hockey team not being able to make it to the State of the Union, "What a funny creep, huh? The women's hockey team, by the way, immediately refused his invitation. Truly. I mean, can you blame them? The last time Trump invited a… pic.twitter.com/0LnPLcIn4Y — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 24, 2026   Over speakerphone, Trump declared, “We'll do the White House the next day, we’ll just have some fun, we have medals for you guys and we have to, I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team, you do know that. If I don’t do that, I believe I probably would be impeached, okay?” As Trump was talking, the team was clearly excited about the idea of sharing the spotlight with the women’s team and understood the joke, but Kimmel, who purports to be a professional funny person, was not amused, “What a funny creep, huh?” He then applauded the women’s team while trying to decipher hidden meanings in Hockey USA’s official statement: The women's hockey team, by the way, immediately refused the invitation. Truly. I mean, can you blame them? The last time Trump invited a woman with a medal to the White House, he made her give it to him. A spokesperson for USA Hockey wrote, ‘We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women's hockey team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement. Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.’ Which is a nice way of saying, ‘Puck off, Trump!’ We've got better things to do. Meanwhile, The Daily Show sought to satirize what it considered to be overzealous chest-beating by certain conservative media personalities trying to make political points about liberals and Canada. At the same time, Lydic would not-so subtly suggest that if you wanted to actually compare the U.S. with Canada, then the latter would be better. Stewart played the role of the straight man when he declared, “I just don't know if our political systems are really all that different from Canada's.”   The Daily Show sought to mock what it considered overzealous conservative political reactions while implying Canada's actually better. Desi Lydic claimed "Our democracy separates executive power from the legislature with a president appointed by an electoral college, while their… pic.twitter.com/RPnZt2H1bh — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 24, 2026   Lydic sarcastically lamented the existence of the Electoral College, “What? Are you kidding me? Our democracy separates executive power from the legislature with a president appointed by an electoral college, while their democracy appoints an executive based on the outcome of which governing party has the majority. And as we learned on the ice yesterday, that system sucks!” Fact-check: In both 2019 and 2021, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party won despite losing what American liberals would refer to as “the popular vote.” After some additional caricaturizing from Lydic, Stewart claimed, “But the game didn't change the fact that Canadians still have a better health care system than we do.” Lydic returned to the sarcasm, “Yes. Okay, I thought so, too, until I saw the scoreboard! For-profit health care: 1. Universal Canadian health care: 0. USA! USA!” Ah yes, the Canadian health care system. The system that gives its people shortages, absurdly long wait times, and euthanasia. Here are transcripts for the February 23 shows: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 2/23/2026 11:44 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: So, Trump dials into the locker room after the game, Kash has got his phone to glom on to the glory and invite the men’s team and, begrudgingly, gold medal-winning women’s team, who also won in overtime, to his State of the Union tomorrow. DONALD TRUMP: We'll do the White House the next day, we’ll just have some fun, we have medals for you guys and we have to, I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team, you do know that. If I don’t do that, I believe I probably would be impeached, okay? KIMMEL: What a funny creep, huh? The women's hockey team, by the way, immediately refused the invitation. Truly. I mean, can you blame them? The last time Trump invited a woman with a medal to the White House, he made her give it to him. A spokesperson for USA Hockey wrote, "We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women's hockey team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement. Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment." Which is a nice way of saying, "Puck off, Trump!" We've got better things to do. *** Comedy Central The Daily Show 2/23/2026 11:09 PM ET JON STEWART: I just don't know if our political systems are really all that different from Canada's. DESI LYDIC: What? Are you kidding me? Our democracy separates executive power from the legislature with a president appointed by an electoral college, while their democracy appoints an executive based on the outcome of which governing party has the majority. And as we learned on the ice yesterday, that system sucks! STEWART: The systems seem, actually, pretty similar. I mean, don't both the U.S. And Canada have bicameral legislatures? LYDIC: Yes, but American senators are elected, while Canadian senators are appointed, just like how Canada just got appointed to our nuts, bitch! STEWART: That kind of came out of nowhere, Desi. Comprehensive and filthy, Desi. LYDIC: Aw, thank you! Here's another: In America, we have electoral districts. But in Canada, they call their districts ridings, which is fitting because Team Canada was riding our nuts, bitch! STEWART: Jon: Please stop saying "Nuts." LYDIC: I will not. I will not. And by the way, another reason we're better: America's congress has a sergeant at arms, but the Canadian parliament has an "Usher of the Black Rod," and speaking of ushering a black rod— STEWART: No, no, Desi, no. LYDIC: Yeah, I didn't like where that was going. Same way the Canadians didn't like where my nuts were going, bitch! STEWART: Okay, don't encourage her! The cold weather has changed you! But the game didn't change the fact that Canadians still have a better health care system than we do. LYDIC: Yes. Okay, I thought so, too, until I saw the scoreboard! For-profit health care: 1. Universal Canadian health care: 0. USA! USA! STEWART: Desi, that wasn't even the final score.