Senate Democrats largely brushed off the pleas of a longtime party ally to end the 28-day government shutdown on Tuesday, rejecting a clean funding measure to reopen the government for the 13th time. Senators voted 54 to 45 to temporarily fund the government through Nov. 21, falling short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. The vote […]

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Books Front Lines and Frontiers An Imperfect Crime: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester A brilliant blending of science fiction and detective story. By Alan Brown | Published on October 28, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement. Today, I’m looking at one of the most influential books by one of the most influential authors in the history of science fiction: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. It imagines a world where telepathic powers, while not ubiquitous, are present in a portion of the population, and tells the story of a man’s improbable quest to get away with murder when surrounded by people who can read his mind. Like all Bester’s work, it is full of lurid and flawed characters, snappy dialogue, and evocative settings. It is satirical, cynical, and as dark as the classic revenge stories that Rafael Sabatini used to write. The text is full of narrative and textual tricks, and Bester’s prose has a rhythm that almost feels like poetry at times, although it is the rat-a-tat rhythm of an advertising pitch rather than the dreamy musicality of a literary poem. Once you start reading, the book is difficult to put down. When I first read The Demolished Man as a young teenager, I found it disturbing. I was probably a bit too young to understand a lot of it, especially the psychological traumas that are portrayed. The copy I read for this review is an undated Signet paperback edition, which I think I bought in the late Sixties or early Seventies. And because it made me uncomfortable, I’m pretty sure this re-read is only the second time I have read it. This time, I was ready, and I found the book compelling from beginning to end. About the Author Alfred Bester (1913-1987) was an American author, script writer, comic book writer, and editor. He lived nearly his whole life in New York City, except for attending the University of Pennsylvania, a period of over a year when he lived in Europe, and a move to rural Pennsylvania after he retired. His wife, Rolly, was an actor, primarily in radio, television, and theater. His first science fiction publication appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1939 after winning a prize competition. (This was the same competition that Robert Heinlein had withdrawn a story from because he found the payment from Astounding Science Fiction would be higher than the prize.) In addition to Thrilling Wonder Stories, Bester’s work also appeared in Startling Stories and Astounding. Bester began socializing with leading science fiction authors in the New York area. In 1942, he began to write for DC comics; in 1946 he started writing scripts for radio dramas, and in 1948 began writing for television (with one of the shows being Tom Corbett: Space Cadet). In 1950, he returned to writing science fiction (with much of his short fiction during this period appearing in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction), and soon produced his most influential novels, The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man. The Demolished Man went on to win the very first Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1953. Bester continued writing science fiction, while writing mainstream fiction and non-fiction as well—and for a time, he wrote for and then edited the travel magazine Holiday. He then went back to focusing on science fiction writing, although his health began to limit his productivity. In 1988, he was recognized by the Science Fiction Writers of America with the Grand Master Award (and was told of the impending award just before his death). In 2001, he was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. There are a few of Bester’s early works available to read for free on Project Gutenberg. The Days of Mad Men A few years ago, my wife and I decided to dive into the show Mad Men… and we found ourselves enthralled. The writing was snappy, and the cast was excellent. But what drew me in was the detailed portrayal of an advertising agency in the New York City of the 1960s. My father grew up on Long Island, and we went to the city many times during the 1950s and 1960s when visiting my grandparents. In 1964, Ford Motor Company assigned my uncle to work at their pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, and I spent even more time in the city visiting my uncle and cousins. So, when I watched Mad Men, and saw the costumes, the sets, and the streets, it brought back a flood of memories. Now, you might ask, what does this have to do with science fiction? Because, when I read the works of Alfred Bester, with his many stories set in New York City, and many written in the 1950s and 1960s, it immediately triggers the same memories that came back to me when watching Mad Men. My mind would fill in the descriptions and settings of the stories with my own memories. It’s a reminder that, no matter how fantastic the settings or how far the stories are set in the future, both authors and readers are rooted in their own experience. And Bester’s work is indelibly rooted in the city where he spent most of his life: New York City in the midst of the 20th century. The city and the culture he describes are as much a part of his stories as the characters who inhabit them, and his characters and their actions reflect the diverse population of the city during that period. The Demolished Man Rich and powerful industrialist Ben Reich is plagued by nightmares about a Man With No Face. He lives in a world where people jet between the planets of the Solar System the way we fly between cities today. He goes to his Esper (Extra-Sensory Perception) Medical Doctor 2 for help in getting to the bottom of his nightmares, but even with his mental powers, the psychiatrist is not able to help. As Reich leaves, he realizes it is not this mysterious faceless entity who plagues him—his true enemy is his business rival, D’Courtney, who he wants to murder. But first, he decides to make an offer of partnership to D’Courtney. The narrative pauses to give the reader a list of code words and phrases from a commercial cipher. We follow Reich through his day, and discover that he has surrounded himself with Espers so that they can anticipate his every whim. He receives a reply from D’Courtney that refusing his partnership, which infuriates him. But a careful reader, who goes back to the table of code words, will find that the reply is actually an acceptance of Reich’s offer… which raises the question of how Reich could make such an obvious mistake. Reich reaches out to Augustus Tate, a level 1 Esper, whose services can be bought with an obscene amount of money. If he is going to commit murder, he will need the assistance of a very powerful telepath to cover his tracks, and someone who is willing to violate the strict ethical code of the Esper Guild. Tate knows that D’Courtney’s physician will be at a party at the house of Lincoln Powell, and decides to do some reconnaissance. This is a risk, because Powell is an Esper 1 and Prefect of the Police Psychotic Division. Like many high-level Espers, Powell is wealthy, and likes to host parties. He is also prone to telling tall tales, and refers to his urge to do so as “Honest Abe” episodes. His friend Mary Noyes is helping him host the party. She would like a closer relationship, but Lincoln has not yet found a woman he finds attractive. At the party, Powell picks up a hint from Tate that he is now working in some capacity for Reich, and warns Tate that Reich is trouble. Bester uses a lattice of words to try to display the multi-dimensional nature of the conversation between a group of Espers. Reich finds that D’Courtney will be visiting leading socialite Maria Beaumont soon, and gives Maria a book of party games, with all pages damaged except for the page describing the “sardine game,” which crowds an entire party into a single room. And he buys an old-fashioned slug-firing gun, with the slugs removed from the cartridges. He goes to Duffy Wyg& (Bester plays with typography throughout the book, and uses punctuation marks in names, like this one, which is Wygand, and also for another character @kins, or Atkins). Duffy Wygand is a jingle writer, and teaches him a jingle, a strong earworm that he can sing to himself to mask his thoughts when he’s around Espers. This jingle will punctuate the narrative many times as the tale unfolds. Reich and Tate attend a party at Beaumont’s house. Things immediately go awry because there is an uninvited guest who is another telepath. Reich’s suggestion of the sardine game pays off; they play it, and all the partygoers begin to move to one place. He goes and finds D’Courtney, who is suffering from throat cancer, which makes talking difficult, but who shows Reich affection and says he accepted his offer. Reich cannot understand this, puts his gun in D’Courtney’s mouth, and fires. But then D’Courtney’s daughter Barbara shows up, and when Reich tries to kill her as well, she runs grabs his gun and disappears into the streets in a nightgown. Powell arrives to lead the investigation, and proves to be an expert at manipulating a crowd. He also tricks Reich into giving up information about Barbara that no one could know except the murderer. So now the struggle begins. Powell knows Reich is the murderer, but doesn’t have sufficient evidence to prove it to the Prosecution Computer—a device designed to make totally logical and totally impartial judgements in criminal cases where the punishment is Demolition of the perpetrator. Reich knows Powell has his number, and he will do everything in his power to destroy or discredit his case, or bribe anyone who can block it. While something blew a hole in D’Courtney’s head, there is no bullet to be found. Both Powell and Reich are engaged in a mad scramble to find Barbara, who is the key to everything. The chase leads through both high society and the sleazy underside of the city, and it will take them through the tortured mind of Reich and to the ultimate mystery of the Man With No Face, whose presence drove him to madness. Powell, normally in control of his cases, will be pushed to the brink of madness himself, as Reich’s psychosis threatens to spread to others. The central plot of the book is as simple as a fairy tale, with a noble hero striving to rescue a damsel in distress from an evil villain. But the warrior is flawed, the damsel is not helpless, and the villain might not be as evil as he first appears, and the surrealistic world of a futuristic New York is anything but a fairy tale setting. The chase to the resolution is absolutely fascinating, and in the end, utterly satisfying. Final Thoughts The Demolished Man is Alfred Bester at his best; and it is easy to see why he is held in such high regard by the science fiction community. He is credited with influencing many of the literary movements that came after him, including the New Wave and Cyberpunk. He is frequently referenced by other authors, either by use of ideas he pioneered, or in obvious tributes, as in the case of J. Michael Straczynski, who named the telepathic police officer from the PSI Corps in the show Babylon 5 after Alfred Bester. At 13 or 14, I was a bit too young for the novel, but reading it again as an adult gave me a chance to fully appreciate it. As with all older science fiction, some elements feel a bit dated, but it is a compelling story that I would recommend to anyone above the age of 16. Re-reading the book reminded me of how much I liked Alfred Bester’s writing, and those of you who read this column regularly should not be surprised to see his other works featured in coming months. And now I look forward to hearing your comments, whether they be about The Demolished Man in particular, about Bester’s work in general, or even about other favorite works that feature speculation on telepathic powers.[end-mark] The post An Imperfect Crime: <i>The Demolished Man</i> by Alfred Bester appeared first on Reactor.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder became infamous for the viral video in which he tells a gathering, “When they go low, we kick them.” Now we know why the National Democratic Redistricting Committee he chairs invested $300,000 in the Abigail Spanberger campaign and the Virginia House Democratic Caucus the day before the Democrat House Speaker in Virginia announced he was calling a special session of the Legislature to start redistricting the state’s congressional seats. On Monday, Del. Charniele Herring patroned the legislation that formally set the agenda for the session: Proposing a Virginia constitutional amendment to let the General Assembly, which is currently controlled by Democrats, strip authority from a bipartisan redistricting commission and give it to the Legislature itself to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts for the 2026 congressional midterm elections. >>> Sign up for our Virginia email newsletter The Democrats are planning to potentially create two more Democrat-leaning districts in the commonwealth. The concerning part is, as Republican state Del. Tom Garrett told us in our last podcast, they are going to try and do an end-around a constitutional amendment process that usually takes two to three years to complete and have it done in two to three months. To pass a constitutional amendment in Virginia, a proposed amendment must pass both chambers of the General Assembly, then there must be an “intervening election” for members, and a new General Assembly must pass the same exact amendment wording a second time. Then the proposed amendment goes on the ballot for the voters to decide. Count this Nov. 4’s election next week as the “intervening election,” because all House of Delegates seats are on the ballot. That means if the Democrat-dominated Legislature passes the amendment in the special session this week, when it reconvenes in January for its regular session, it can vote on the amendment a second time and then send it to the voters. It’s a convoluted process. Here are some of the questions I’ve gotten from listeners to my radio show and my responses. Q: Didn’t this “intervening election” already start with early voting on Sept. 19? A: Yes, but the devil will be in the interpretation. “Election Day” is still Nov. 4, and since none of the ballots that were cast early will be tabulated until Election Day, the argument is they have not technically been cast. I know, the baloney is getting almost as thin as prosciutto. Q: If they pass the amendment a second time in January or February during the regular General Assembly session, how can it get a public vote before the November 2026 midterms? A: A special vote will likely be called for March or April. If the public votes to pass the amendment, the Legislature can then draw up new districts. That means whatever the new districts will look like, and even deciding how they will be drawn, won’t be final until six months before Virginians begin voting in the 2026 midterm elections. Q: What about the other amendments like House Joint Resolution 1, which allows for abortions up to the moment of birth, and House Joint Resolution 9, which would elevate the protection of same-sex marriage to the state’s constitution? A: Though not specifically addressed in the call for the special session, both amendments have already passed the General Assembly once. It seems likely that, if the Democrats maintain a majority next week, they will pass them in the regular session in the beginning of 2026 so that they could also be on the spring ballot. Q: What is the GOP doing about this? A: We don’t know for sure because much of that will depend on how the legislative motions are filed. The House Republicans currently have an even greater deficit with the recent resignation of House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, which leaves the House split 51-48 in favor of the Democrats. It only takes a two-seat “flip” to change the majority next week. If the GOP takes the House majority, all of this goes away and will get filed in the cabinet titled “Remember when they tried …?” The post What’s Behind Virginia Democrats’ Push to Change Redistricting Rules Ahead of Elections appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Bad Bunny isn’t all that bad. After all, the rapper and singer’s concert residency in Puerto Rico added over $200 million to the economy. That said, the announcement that he would headline the halftime show at the next Super Bowl engendered no end of controversy with the kickoff still over three months away.   Over 50,000 fans have already signed a petition demanding Bad Bunny step aside for country western icon George Strait. While hosting an episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the performer told all his critics to just learn Spanish before the big game.   Bad Bunny’s detractors, however, are less concerned that he sings in Spanish than upset that his politics are too woke for all-American halftime show. Since on average 127 million people around the world watch the Super Bowl—some just for the commercials and the halftime show, this is kind of a big deal.   There is an argument that the NFL cares more about the Benjamins than family values—relishing controversy that might bring more eyeballs to the big game, like Jimmy Kimmel getting a bump in viewership after being kicked off the air for being a jerk. That said, Kimmel lost more than half his audience after his brief ratings spike and in the end is likely going to be canceled for his dismal viewership, suggesting that for him this battle in the culture wars ended like the British at Yorktown.   So, what’s up for the NFL?  We are about to see the most audacious counterprograming since Trump trolled the Republican primary debates. The conservative group Turning Point USA declared it is producing its own halftime show. There have been rumors of major donations for the production—which may or may not be true. That matters not. Likely, the show will go on.    This will be one of the most titanic engagements in the culture wars since Greg Gutfeld disarmed Jimmy Fallon—delivering Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” by the way, its highest ratings in two years. What happens if tens of millions tune out the bunny for Turning Point? That may not be as heavy a lift as it might seem. Turning Point has over 900 chapters nationwide. In the wake of founder Charlie Kirk’s murder, the organization reported over 100,000 queries for starting new chapters. If the show just attracts members, friends, and families, that is a sizable audience—and Turning Points’ big show could draw many more.  In all likelihood, this battle for America’s attention will tell us what we already know. Americans are increasingly over woke, which is starting to smell like leftovers left in the back of the refrigerator too long.   Recent reports indicate a dramatic decline in young people identifying as transgendered. The No King’s Rally didn’t attract near as many no kings as advertised. Supporters even had to circulate a photo on social media from a much larger 2017 march to trump-up how anti-Trump they are. More women everyday are speaking out against men in women’s sports. No wonder why the Left is so angry. Woke seems to be peaking before their eyes and crashing at their rainbow-colored toenails.  Meanwhile, many fans are disappointed to see one of America’s favorite pastimes become a cultural combat zone, yearning for the days when the Right and Left cheered for their favorite team rather than jeering at each other. Remembering when serious Super Bowl controversies involved costume malfunctions and atrocious ads. Those days are long ago, but don’t blame the fans and viewers.   Professional sports were among the first to take sides in the culture wars—and it looks more and more like they picked the wrong side. The angst of fans may not necessarily be reflected in the ratings. American football is still wildly popular, thanks in part to Taylor Swift drawing new fans to the sport. That, however, doesn’t mean fans are happy having the politics of cultural combat competing with play-by-play coverage. Rather, the more overt and shrill the woke cultural assault is on everyday Americans the more quickly they seem to be turning away.    Bad Bunny may rock the Super Bowl, but he is more likely to lose the Left more at the ballot box—particularly if he pays more attention to headlining his politics than his music.   We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.  The post Is the Super Bowl a Turning Point? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The Department of Homeland Security has introduced a new rule that will greatly expand biometric tracking at US borders, establishing a system to photograph and identify every non-citizen who enters or leaves the country. Although the regulation applies to non-citizens, the cameras do not distinguish citizens from others in real time. CBP says US citizens may opt out by presenting their passports manually, and that photos of citizens are deleted within twelve hours once nationality is confirmed. However, that’s after the fact. Starting December 26, Customs and Border Protection will have authority to take photographs of “all aliens” not only at airports and land crossings but at “any other point of departure” the agency designates. We obtained a copy of the rule for you here. DHS describes the change as “operational modernization.” Privacy and civil-liberties organizations see it differently, warning that it formalizes a broad surveillance network that has been years in development. The policy completes the long-promised “biometric entry-exit” system that Congress first ordered in the 1990s and that gained renewed political momentum after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Related: TSA Fast Track Programs Are a Deal With The Devil Earlier restrictions, such as pilot site caps and age-based exemptions, have been removed. The result is a regulation that opens the way for a connected web of facial-recognition systems across airports, seaports, vehicle lanes, and pedestrian crossings. Until now, CBP’s use of biometrics has been uneven. The “Simplified Arrival” program already photographs nearly all foreign travelers entering the country at major airports, comparing the images to visa and passport records. Departures, however, were rarely monitored except at a few test sites. The new rule changes that by requiring biometric collection for every non-citizen departure, by air, land, or sea. Officials claim the expansion will make travel faster and safer. DHS says “photographing travelers at entry and exit allows CBP to verify identities within seconds, reducing document fraud and streamlining inspections.” Each image is sent to the Traveler Verification Service, a cloud-based matching system that connects with other government databases. When the software confirms a match, it notifies a CBP officer. For non-citizens, the photos and related data can be retained for as long as seventy-five years in the central biometric database known as IDENT. The rule gives DHS wide flexibility to decide where and when to take photographs, allowing cameras anywhere CBP operates, including boarding gates, border checkpoints, cruise terminals, and even private airfields or marinas. Related: Quiet Skies Turns Dark as Senate Exposes Secret Surveillance of Americans Officials justify the scope as a way to prevent travelers from leaving unverified, while privacy advocates argue it effectively enables biometric surveillance at almost any international departure point and impacts citizens, too. False matches remain a concern. CBP testing found error rates of up to three percent, which could mean thousands of travelers are misidentified each day once the system reaches nationwide scale. Such errors make voluntary participation questionable, since a mistake can result in data being retained beyond the promised deletion window. The traveler verification system connects with other DHS databases, including the Automated Targeting System, the Arrival and Departure Information System, and Enhanced Passenger Processing. Data ultimately feeds into IDENT, which stores fingerprints, facial scans, and iris data. Non-immigrant records can be held for seventy-five years, permanent resident data for fifteen, and US citizen records only in short-term logs. Privacy and technology groups have warned that the program’s long retention periods and interagency data sharing could turn it into a persistent tracking tool for millions of lawful residents and visa holders. The problem is that convenience and automation can create coercive conditions over time. When facial recognition lanes move passengers through in seconds while manual verification takes several minutes, those who opt out will find themselves in slower, longer, less-staffed lines. Airports, pressured to maintain throughput, will likely allocate fewer agents to manual document checks, effectively penalizing those who choose not to participate in biometric programs. This subtly transforms a “voluntary” system into a de facto mandatory one. The slow erosion of choice doesn’t come from a formal mandate but from bureaucratic efficiency pressures and traveler frustration. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post DHS Expands Nationwide Airport Biometric Tracking appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Will John Brennan Go to Jail?