Iran and its Houthi allies escalated threats against the United States this week as a Navy carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln moved toward the Middle East, signaling the potential for wider confrontation if tensions continue to rise. The veiled threat came in the form of a video showing an earlier Houthi attack on a commercial cargo ship left burning at sea, accompanied only by the word “Soon.” The message could also be a signal of a return to attacks on all ships in the region, as happened in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.   Yemen’s Houthi rebels have released a video suggesting a resumption of maritime strikes in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea. The group indicated these actions would serve as a direct response to any potential American military aggression against Iran. pic.twitter.com/tPdgZUVatA — Geopoliti? Monitor (@GeopolitixM) January 26, 2026 The threat was reinforced by Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, who said the Iran-backed group would not remain on the sidelines if a conflict expanded to include Tehran. In a statement circulated online, Saree vowed continued support for Hamas forces in Gaza. He warned that the Houthis would stand with “any Arab or Islamic country” confronting what he described as Israeli aggression backed by the United States. Iran issued its own warnings as well. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Reza Talaei-Nik said Monday that any military action by the United States or Israel would trigger a response “more painful and more decisive than in the past,” according to Iranian state-linked media. Over the weekend, Iranian authorities unveiled a banner in Tehran’s Enghelab (Revolution) Square depicting an American aircraft carrier covered in blood and bodies, accompanied by the warning: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.” The display explicitly referenced the Lincoln. President Donald Trump has said the strike group is being redeployed “just in case” he decides to take action against Iran. Trump has already publicly stated that an attack from the United States would come if Tehran killed peaceful protesters or conducted mass executions of those it has arrested in the massive crackdown over the demonstrations. For weeks, large-scale protests against the Iranian regime have spread across multiple cities, with security forces responding with lethal force. Opposition groups and human rights monitors estimate that roughly 4,000 protesters have already been killed, while authorities imposed a near-total internet blackout for nearly two weeks in an effort to prevent images and video of the crackdown from reaching the outside world. The unrest, initially sparked by extreme inflation that caused a crash in the value of the rial and soaring prices for basic goods, has placed an intensified strain on Tehran at a time when an economic collapse and recent regional defeats have pushed the regime to its limits.  Historically, periods of domestic instability in Iran have increased the regime’s will to seek leverage abroad. Typically, this meant using proxy forces capable of striking at American, Israeli, or commercial targets across the region. However, this philosophy makes the latest crisis a near impossible equation for the current leadership in Iran to come to any conclusion without seriously neutering or collapsing their reign. The American naval action is widely viewed as a signal of deterrence amid concerns that a weakened or destabilized Iranian regime could lash out through its network of proxy forces, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in Gaza, which are heavily funded, trained, and armed by Tehran.  The U.S. military has not publicly responded to the threats. While the Houthis and Iran issued separate warnings, the parallel messaging from Tehran and its regional partners follows the pattern of historical reliance on proxy forces by the mullahs when undermined domestically. The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is intended to complicate the calculus for the regime, signaling U.S. readiness to respond to any escalation while reinforcing deterrence at a moment when Iran’s leadership faces its greatest threat in years.

This settles it ... I need to go to Yellowstone one day

'Middle class status is harder to achieve'

'An active criminal investigation with documented and troubling concerns'

'Slogans do not keep the lights on'

'Public opinion is overwhelming'

'Regrettable and Cowardly'

News The Super Mario Galaxy Movie New Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailer Is Full of Treats for Super Mario Bros. 2 Fans Yoshi can have all the candy apples he wants, he’s perfect By Molly Templeton | Published on January 26, 2026 Screenshot: Nintendo Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Nintendo Super Mario Bros. 2 is a godsend of a game for those of us who regularly grow deeply frustrated with repeatedly falling to our deaths for being bad at jumping. (Digitally speaking, I mean, not in real life.) No, I’m not talking about Luigi’s little kicky legs. I’m talking about Peach. Float-jumping! Magical! Wondrous! I would play Peach forever (except in Mario Kart, sorry, I’m a Toad/Yoshi loyalist). The latest trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is for us, Peach-players. Well, okay, there’s other stuff, too, like a longer sequence at those upside-down pyramids from Super Mario Odyssey. That’s where our plumberly pals find the greatest Super Mario character of all: Yoshi. Yoshi is, to be fair, the star of most of this trailer. He steals Toad’s candy apple! He tries to face off with a tyrannosaurus rex! Can we please have a Yoshi’s Island movie next? But: the Peach bits! She’s got her parasol, she’s got to deal with Birdo and those disconcerting mouth eggs, Mouser shows up, Clawgrip shows up, it’s a whole Super Mario Bros. 2 time. Perhaps Peach visits a Super Mario Bros. 2 planet? The Super Mario Galaxy Movie stars Chris Pratt (Mario), Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi), Jack Black (Bowser), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad), Kevin Michael Richardson (Kamek), Bennie Safdie (Bowser Jr.), and Brie Larson (Rosalina). And also Yoshi (voice actor unconfirmed). Super Mario Bros. directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and writer Matthew Fogel return for round two. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has one more surprise in store for fans: It’s now arriving in theaters two days early, on April 1, 2026. April Fool’s? Nah. For real.[end-mark] The post New S<i>uper Mario Galaxy Movie</i> Trailer Is Full of Treats for <i>Super Mario Bros. 2</i> Fans appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Between the Darkness and the Light” Garibaldi has a tense reunion with his former friends, and Ivanova learns of an ambush waiting for the fleet… By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on January 26, 2026 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “Between the Darkness and the Light”Written by J. Michael StraczynskiDirected by David J. EagleSeason 4, Episode 19Production episode 419Original air date: October 6, 1997 It was the dawn of the third age… Sheridan is still being interrogated by the guy from the end of last episode, but he’s using pharmaceuticals to make Sheridan think he’s having a pleasant conversation with Franklin. It’s not working as well as he’d like, though. Garibaldi meets with a contact in the Mars Resistance. He’s hoping for a meeting to explain himself—he is, instead, assaulted and brought to Number One with a bag over his head. Number One offers to let Franklin be the one to kill him, but the doctor wants to give Garibaldi a chance to explain himself. Garibaldi explains what happened, but of course he has no proof, as Bester isn’t going to leave evidence. When he sees that Alexander is also present, Garibaldi asks her to scan him, but that isn’t going to mean much to the Mars Resistance, as they don’t have much use for telepaths. Franklin wants to know for sure, and asks Number One if she’d want the same if it was one of her people. She says, “No,” and aims her PPG at Garibaldi. Franklin is able to spoil her shot, and a brief melee breaks out which ends with an MD and a commercial telepath somehow getting their hands on a rifle and a PPG and getting one over on a room full of resistance fighters. Sure. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Franklin holds the rifle on Number One while Alexander probes Garibaldi. She warns him that the blocks in place are strong, and her breaking them could damage him. Garibaldi points out that the alternative is that the resistance kills him, so he’ll take his chances. Alexander breaks the P12 barrier on his mind, and learns that it’s all true. Number One is skeptical of her claims, and Alexander—whose eyes have gone completely black—core-dumps everything she just learned into Number One’s mind. Number One realizes that Garibaldi is telling the truth, and everyone’s friends again. Garibaldi has learned where they’re holding Sheridan. He still has contacts from his time serving here, plus he’s considered a folk hero for turning Sheridan in, so people volunteer info to him. However, Number One can only spare one person to help them through the tunnels that will lead to where he’s being held, and she can only go so far. Her people are stretched thin as it is. On B5, Delenn and Lennier are appalled to learn that Mollari has called a meeting of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds—and not invited the Minbari. They crash the meeting just as they’re taking a vote, which passes unanimously. Mollari, G’Kar, and Vir explain to a very confused Delenn and Lennier that they have agreed to provide support to Sheridan’s fleet, in exchange for all the support Sheridan provided during the Shadow War. They kept Delenn out of it because of her relationship with Sheridan. Ivanova leads the resistance fleet to Beta IX, fighting the Damocles and the Orion, who refuse to surrender and therefore get their asses kicked. They take on prisoners, and one junior officer named Eisensen provides some rather nasty intel: Clark knows about the rendezvous at Sector 300 and they’re preparing an ambush with some powerful new warships that have just come off the line. According to Eisensen, not everyone who has defected to the resistance has really meant it—some have been feeding info back to Clark. Credit: Warner Bros. Television After discussing it with Cole, Ivanova decides to have the White Stars break off and go ahead to Sector 300, as there’s no way to warn Delenn and the rest of the fleet that’s meeting them there. James is not happy about that, but Ivanova insists—they stand the best chance against whatever Clark has waiting for them, and this way the Agamemnon and the others are in reserve in case they fall. On Mars, a woman named Felicia gets Garibaldi, Franklin, and Alexander part of the way to where they need to go, then leaves them on their own. They encounter a search patrol and take them out, though Garibaldi is stabbed in the back. Franklin is able to stitch him up, but it’s a makeshift job. However, they now have uniforms to wear…. The White Star fleet arrives at Sector 300, and a mess of jumpgates open to reveal EarthForce destroyers that have been significantly altered with Shadow technology. The battle is joined, and is brutal, but in the end, the resistance is victorious—but at a price, as Ivanova is mortally wounded. Garibaldi is able to talk his way past the first guard thanks to his notoriety, but the guards on Sheridan’s cell are more of a challenge. Garibaldi mentions the code to open the door, which causes the guard to think the code, which Alexander can read. They then take out the two guards and enter the code, freeing the incredibly drugged Sheridan. They barely escape, with Sheridan at one point shooting one of the guards repeatedly long after he’s down. The remains of the White Star fleet rendezvous with Delenn and the League ships as well as the remaining EarthForce ships that have defected. Ivanova is being cared for on Delenn’s ship, but she’s only got a few days to live. Sheridan is reunited with Delenn, then immediately goes to see Ivanova. She asks that Sheridan take command of the fleet from the Agamemnon, to which he agrees. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan continues to not break despite the best efforts of the EarthForce interrogators. Then he takes his old command back for the final battle, which will happen next time. Ivanova is God. Ivanova spends the entire episode making it abundantly clear that capturing Sheridan was not the flex that Clark and Edgars thought it was going to be, as she picks up right where Sheridan left off and is, if anything, a much more implacable foe than her CO… The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is desperate to a) prove that he was manipulated by Bester and b) redeem his actions while being manipulated by Bester. He’s only able to succeed thanks to Alexander’s Vorlon-enhanced telepathic awesomeness. Fittingly, he gets stabbed in the back at one point. If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn is overwhelmed by the support from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, then is reunited with Sheridan, finally. He promises to talk to her about what he went through when he’s ready. In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari waxes eloquent on the subject of how the humans have brought so many worlds together. Helping them is the right thing to do both politically and morally. Vir adds that politics and morality are, for once, on the same side, and how often does that happen? Though it take a thousand years, we shall be free. G’Kar is also eloquent on the subject of helping Sheridan, and he has a more direct debt to Sheridan to repay, as the captain granted him asylum when the Centauri conquered Narn. Pointedly, G’Kar always makes sure there’s either a large table or at least one person between him and Mollari the whole time. The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander can punch through a P12’s psychic shields, and then can dump an entire set of clear memories into someone else’s hyead. Because she’s just that awesome. We live for the one, we die for the one. Cole insists that Ivanova get some rest during the five-hour transit time to Mars. He gives her two choices: she can get five hours’ rest or listen to him nag her about it for five hours. When Ivanova tries to call his bluff, he insists that Rangers never bluff, which seems unlikely. But it works, and she gets some sleep… The Shadowy Vorlons. The big space battle is, in essence, the next generation of the Vorlon-Shadow conflict, as the White Star fleet are a mix of Minbari and Vorlon tech and the EarthForce fleet are a mix of human and Shadow tech. No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Cole stands over the sleeping Ivanova and says, “You’ll never know,” referring to his crush on her. But when she wakes up she tells him that she remembers what he said to her in Minbari one time, and she knows enough Minbari now to know that he said that she was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen, and she rather sweetly thanks him. So apparently she will ever know… Welcome aboard. Marjorie Monaghan and David Purdham are back from “The Face of the Enemy” as, respectively, Number One and James; both will return next time in “Endgame.” Bruce Gray is back from “Intersections in Real Time” as the interrogator, Marc Gomes plays Eisensen, Greg Poland plays the guard, and the magnificent Musetta Vander plays Felicia. Trivial matters. Coletold Ivanova she was beautiful in “Shadow Dancing.” This episode reveals that she’s also eidetic, which might be a byproduct of her low-level telepathy. Lots of Greek mythology references in this one, from Ivanova taking on the Damocles to Sheridan taking command of the Agamemnon, named after the king who sacrificed his daughter in order to get strong winds for his fleet in the Trojan War. According to J. Michael Straczynski, the first few scenes with Garibaldi, Franklin, Number One, and Alexander on Mars were written for “Intersections in Real Time,” but that episode ran long and this one ran short, so the scenes were moved. (This made both episodes stronger, truly.) The echoes of all of our conversations. “Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova, commander, daughter of Andrei and Sofie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is gonna kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart. I am death incarnate and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.” —Ivanova’s rather dramatic answer to the EarthForce destroyer fleet’s request for her to identify herself. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “The truth speaks for itself—I’m just the messenger.” Anything would be a letdown after the intense brilliance of “Intersections in Real Time,” and while there are parts of this episode that are fabulous, other parts of it stumble pretty badly. It starts with the Garibaldi-Franklin-Alexander scenes, which are just a mess. Garibaldi’s self-centeredness is bad enough—he seems more concerned with what Bester did to him, not what Bester made him do to others, which is not a great way to get people to sympathize with you—but then we have total non-combat-trained Franklin and Alexander unconvincingly holding off the entire Mars Resistance with two weapons followed by the entire Mars Resistance even less convincingly trusting our heroes after Alexander telepathically dumps Garibaldi’s memories into her. Given the Resistance’s mistrust of teeps established pretty brutally two episodes ago, this willingness to go along with things is just not something I can buy at all. Then we have the gulping conversation, as we suddenly get a vaudeville routine about lying and drinking too much from the canteen in the middle of a rescue scene. Like far too many deliberate attempts at humor on this show, it falls completely and embarrassingly flat. And then we aren’t shown how they get off of Mars after springing Sheridan, which is the hardest part of the whole thing. Luckily, the awfulness of that spoke of the plot is leavened by the fabulousness of the other two spokes. First we’ve got the part of a B5 episode that almost always works: a scene with the alien ambassadors. Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Bill Mumy, and Stephen Furst bring the brilliance like they always do, and the scripting work is as strong for them as it is lousy for Garibaldi, Alexander, and Franklin. Second is Ivanova Being Awesome. The 1990s were a great time for kickass women in genre television, from Xena to Buffy Summers to Farscape’sAeryn Sun to DS9’s Kira Nerys, and Susan Ivanova was cut from the same fabulous cloth. This episode highlights that you underestimate her at your peril, and while her speech to the Earth fleet (quoted in “The echoes of all our conversations” above) is a bit over-the-top (okay, a lot over-the-top), it’s still a crowning moment of awesome for the character. More to the point, she backs up those words with actions. This episode is the culmination of a theme that has come up a few times, writ large in Ivanova’s kicking of multiple asses, and spoken specifically by Sinclair in “War Without End Part 2” and Ivanova two episodes ago: a person is expendable, but the mission isn’t. We’ve seen it in both the planned storylines (Sebastian’s interrogation of Delenn and Sheridan in “Comes the Inquisitor”) and in externally dictated story twists (Sheridan replacing Sinclair, the death of Hague). One person doesn’t matter. Clark and Edgars didn’t see that because they each believe themselves to be indispensable, so they assume that Sheridan must be as well. It’s great fun watching Ivanova prove them wrong—at least until she’s badly injured, which is annoying. But it sets up Sheridan’s final push next time… Next week: “Endgame.”[end-mark] The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Between the Darkness and the Light” appeared first on Reactor.

The following are remarks as prepared by Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill to the March for Life Action Breakfast on Jan. 23. Thank you for the invitation to be with you here today, and for your passionate commitment to this noble cause.  The March for Life brings together Americans who care deeply about human dignity, ethical medicine, and the responsibilities that come with scientific and governmental power. I’d like to use my time speaking with you today to explain how public policy can reflect those values—clearly, carefully, and faithfully—while upholding the dignity of human life.  At HHS, we are focused on aligning federal health policy with a simple principle: science should serve people, not the other way around. That principle guides our actions in biomedical research, global engagement, pediatric care, and organ procurement.  This week, the National Institutes of Health notified scientists and stakeholders that NIH funds may no longer be used for research involving human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions. The policy applies to research taking place within NIH, and to NIH-supported research at outside laboratories, including new grant awards, renewals, and ongoing projects that rely on such tissue.  In addition, HHS plans Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy issued a statement to extending the NIH fetal tissue prohibition across all HHS operating divisions. The action would apply consistent restrictions to grants, contracts, and programs administered across the Department.  NIH is also seeking public input on whether to suspend acceptance of new human embryonic stem cell lines into the NIH registry. Advances in science may have made embryonic stem cells unnecessary. The request for information will help inform a potential phaseout of reliance on embryonic stem cells while encouraging the use of alternative research methods. NIH is calling for public comment on this issue, and I invite you to bring your passionate voices to this important conversation.  This is about modernizing science. It is about directing taxpayer-funded research toward methods that reflect both innovation and respect for human life. And it is about making sure ethical guardrails keep pace with scientific progress.  HHS has also realigned with the Geneva Consensus Declaration. Once again, under the second Trump administration, the United States is linking arms with global allies who share the belief that every human life has inherent dignity, nations have a sovereign right to set their own health policies free of international coercion by entities such as the World Health Organization, and there is NO. HUMAN. RIGHT. TO. ABORTION.  Unlike the WHO, the United States and our partners in the Geneva Consensus Declaration do not seek to redefine human rights; we affirm them.  In global health, clarity matters. When international institutions blur lines between care and coercion, or between health support and political pressure, trust erodes. By realigning with the Geneva Consensus, the United States is signaling that we will support women and families through health systems that respect life, culture, and law.  HHS is also affirming human dignity in our approach to sex-rejecting procedures for minors.  Men are men; men can never become women. Women are women; women can never become men.  This simple truth is denied by the Left, and they preach their false gospel that sex can be changed to the most innocent and vulnerable in society: our children.  A report issued last year by HHS bolstered by hundreds of pages of peer reviews showed that sex-rejecting procedures for minors do not improve lives in any measurable way. HHS stopped recognizing transgender procedures for minors as sound science, and last month we announced that we would be pulling the plug on all federal funding for hospitals that continue to perform these barbaric procedures. Youth wrestling with gender dysphoria deserve love and compassion, not a lifetime of off-label prescription drugs, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible medical procedures they later regret as adults.  Affirming human dignity means recognizing that children are not experimental subjects, and that their futures should not be shaped by pressure, ideology, or myopic medical decisions. It also means ensuring that mental health support, counseling, and family-centered care remain central to treatment.  Separately, our Office of Refugee Resettlement plans to revise the Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule to address how abortion services are facilitated or funded for unaccompanied alien minors. The revision could eventually limit federal involvement in abortion for minors in government custody, particularly vulnerable children under federal care.   Our focus is straightforward: protect children from harm, support families with honest information, and ensure that medicine adheres to its first obligation: do no harm.  HHS is also reforming the nation’s organ procurement system. Organ donation saves lives, but the system that supports it must earn—and keep—the public’s trust.  In the past several months, HHS has advanced reforms to improve oversight, transparency, and performance across organ procurement organizations. These reforms aim to ensure that every potential donation is handled with solemn care, that outcomes are measured honestly, and that patients waiting for transplants are treated with urgency and respect.  This is policy based on honoring donors and their families—and it is about making sure that a system built on generosity operates with integrity.  Across all of these areas—research ethics, global engagement, pediatric care, and organ procurement—there is a common thread: respect for the value of human dignity and the divine worth found in every person, old or young, male or female, born or unborn.  The pro-life movement has long argued that respect for life must be reflected in institutions, not just beliefs. That argument resonates because it speaks to a broader concern many Americans share: that systems have drifted away from their moral foundations. Reforming them is not about turning back the clock; it is about applying modern tools to timeless principles.  In the Trump administration, HHS is committed to doing our work transparently, using gold-standard science, rooted in moral objectivity.  Thank you for your advocacy, for your engagement, and for holding institutions to account. I look forward to continuing this work together.  Thank you. The post ‘NO HUMAN RIGHT TO ABORTION’: What HHS Deputy Secretary told the March for Life appeared first on The Daily Signal.