Multiple people reportedly survived a U.S. strike on Thursday that targeted a boat carrying suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean. An American official told Fox News that there were two to three survivors after the U.S. carried out a strike targeting a “big” drug boat that was partially submerged under water. A search and rescue helicopter was sent out to the site of the strike in international waters, according to Fox News. Reuters first reported news of the survivors. No other details on the strike were immediately available. The Trump administration has ordered at least five strikes targeting suspected drug traffickers, but the others have left no known survivors. At least 27 suspected drug traffickers have been killed in the previous strikes, according to U.S. officials.  Thursday’s attack was the second this week, following another strike announced by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. “Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route,” Trump added. “The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!” Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. Last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that he had established a new counter-narcotics task force that was directed to “crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe.”  “The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold,” Hegseth warned.  The strikes have been opposed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who claims the Trump administration is targeting civilians. Trump has authorized the CIA to conduct lethal operations in Venezuela, claiming that President Nicolás Maduro has “emptied” his prisons into the United States and that “a lot of drugs are coming” from Venezuela. Trump has told Congress that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels that he has designated as terrorist organizations. That came after the State Department classified violent gangs like Tren de Aragua as foreign terrorist organizations.

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A creative solution from up north for how to stop crows and geese from leaving droppings all over a school playground has left several residents in a dreadful fright. The story comes from the city of Menlo Park in California, where a pair of “coyotes” are scarring these birds and the neighbors too. Local news […] The post Coyote Statues Are Guarding Local School Playgrounds Against Pests appeared first on Good News Network.

Books reading recommendations Five SFF Stories Featuring Blood Magic Blood is a primal source of both light and dark magic, protection and destruction… By Ratika Deshpande | Published on October 17, 2025 Photo by Calwyn Ace [via Unsplash] Comment 0 Share New Share Photo by Calwyn Ace [via Unsplash] Before there were wands and crystals, charms and mirrors, talismans and potions, or any other tool for magic, there was blood, both a resource and—if someone doesn’t particularly like you—a curse. It is perhaps the most primal form of sorcery, using lifeblood to weave spells of protection or to bring about death destruction, as we see in the following stories… “Blood, Ash, Braids” by Genevieve Valentine  Our narrator is one of the Night Witches, the nickname the Germans gave to the squadron of Russian women piloting the planes and carrying out bombing missions during WWII. Except, our narrator really is a witch, although the others don’t know it. Water (which needs tears), ash (which needs blood), and air (which needs breath) are the only kinds of magic that exist, gifts which are “designed to be spent.” Which also means that these are finite resources. When every flight is a risk, each mission a possible death for her and her comrades, how can our narrator make the best use of her limited gifts? “The Blood Portal” by Mary E. Lowd Hanna is using as much of her spatial magic as she can, to get herself and her son Owen away from her husband. Brison, who can work blood magic, has been using a leech to harvest their son’s blood—their genetic connection makes Owen a precious resource he can draw on. But it’s impossible to keep running forever without adequate gravity fields around—especially since Brison can track them down easily because of their blood. As her options run out, Hanna will have to think quickly, without making things difficult for her little son. “Season of Blood” by Brant Danay Every year, as a battle wages in Heaven, it rains blood for weeks in New Babel. Our narrator used to be an Avatar, one of the city’s superheroes. His expulsion, however, doesn’t prevent him from going out to stop some crime (mostly to save stupid teenagers who think the blood-filled streets would be fun to explore).  When he comes out of a heroin-induced coma—being an ex-superhero takes a toll—he finds that the Season of Blood has been going on for weeks longer than usual. Using his superpowers, he tries to investigate the situation, only to find the archangel Gabriel in mortal peril from morae spiders. In this he sees two things: the opportunity to save an archangel to regain his superhero status–and more importantly, his luxurious Tower suite, and the chance to find out why it hasn’t stopped raining blood. “Blood and Desert Dreams” by Y.M. Pang Kahna’s blood, she discovers as a child, can kill at a touch. Her Lady Darya uses this to further her own goals, and Kahna grows into a teenage assassin. Then one day, someone from her homeland finds her and tells her he’s like her. But the truth of Kahna’s blood must remain a secret. Despite her longing for connection and love—for the life of an assassin is lonely, and touching another is only a dream when her blood is so deadly—Kahna gets rid of the man. But the knowledge he shared with her lodges a dream in her head, and Kahna is forced to consider her identity and her place in the world. “Virgin Blood” by Ahmed A. Khan Stories about blood are usually dark and disturbing. If there’s humor, it’s often rather grim, and accompanied by plenty of gore. This story, on the other hand, was a refreshing change after all the disturbing tales of blood magic I’d been reading, ending on a nice little twist and a question that I hope will fuel a lot of retellings—saying anything more will spoil this short, sweet tale.[end-mark] The post Five SFF Stories Featuring Blood Magic appeared first on Reactor.

News What to Watch What to Watch and Read This Weekend: Reanimating Guillermo del Toro’s Greatest Hits Plus Dominic Cooper and Quan Barry takes us into the cold. By Molly Templeton | Published on October 17, 2025 Photo: Universal Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Universal Pictures I spent the last weekend in the sunshine of Las Vegas, which means I am struggling to remember that it’s fall. It’s two weeks to Halloween! We’ll be falling back in no time! And yet my brain says sunshine and also lightning storms and three days of concerts and I am so very tired. That last one, I guess, is a bit more of a fall-type of thought. Maybe a spooky watch or read—or two—will help with my (and your) sense of seasonal appropriateness? We can all probably fit something in around this weekend’s No Kings protest. Before Frankenstein, There Were a Whole Lot of Good del Toro Movies, Actually If you are lucky, you might live in a place where you’ll be able to see Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein in theaters this weekend. For some of us, it’s next weekend, or the weekend after. (Showings are already selling out!) But if you’re less lucky—or if you just want to go back in time—you can, of course, watch other del Toro films. Crimson Peak just had its 10th anniversary; it was released (in the US) on October 16, 2015. I am still worried that I’m too much of a baby to watch that one, though I love the style, the vibe, the whole existence of it. I just do all my admiring from a safe distance. With my hands over my eyes. But there’s something in the director’s oeuvre for just about everyone: The Shape of Water won Best Picture at the Oscars, or you might go all the way back to Cronos for the first del Toro/Ron Perlman collaboration. Pan’s Labyrinth is iconic for so many reasons, and, yes, Pacific Rim is extremely enjoyable. If I had time, I’d be starting a del Toro marathon right about now. Some Interviews Are Like the Best Eavesdropping Two confessions: I don’t garden, and I haven’t yet read Yiyun Li’s new memoir Things in Nature Merely Grow. And yet, I keep coming back to this Orion interview with Li, which Manjula Martin begins by writing, “I’m obsessed with Yiyun Li’s roses.” The piece is, as the header explains, “A conversation about gardening, loss, and the end of metaphor.” It’s gorgeous, intimate, funny, and feels like getting to listen to two very wise people having a conversation; it flows and turns naturally and movingly. Li’s memoir is about her son’s death by suicide, so the writers have not been brought together by a lightweight topic. But Martin’s wise questions allow for expansive answers; any curious reader, I think, might find something unexpected and valuable in this conversation. And you also might never look at backyard bunnies in quite the same way.  The Unveiling: Honestly All I Needed to Hear Was “Quan Barry” First: If you have not read We Ride Upon Sticks, Quan Barry’s novel about a team of high school hockey players who decide to use some unconventional means to win their games, please do that. Now is the season. It’s fall, it’s witches (sort of), it’s got a hairstyle called The Claw (and if you were alive in the ’80s, you will recognize it when you see it). Second, though, Barry has a new book out that is also seasonally appropriate, in that it sounds creepy and weird and also cold. Very cold, given that it’s set in Antarctica. The Unveiling follows a Black film scout named Striker as she travels to Antarctica to seek locations for a movie about Ernest Shackleton. The publisher’s description says, “Along the way, she finds private if cautious amusement in the behavior of both the native wildlife and the group of wealthy, mostly white tourists who have chosen to spend Christmas on the Weddell Sea.” I am already all in, but then there’s mention of a troubled kayak expedition, and the phrase “there are no such things as haunted places, only haunted people.” Yes. Yes, please.  The Last Frontier: If You Put Dominic Cooper in Your TV Show, I Will Probably Watch It Prior to today, I somehow missed every mention of the new Apple TV series The Last Frontier, which sounds kind of like someone put Con Air and Yellowjackets in a blender to see what would happen: a prison transport plane goes down in remote Alaska, and shit gets weird, and maybe the crash wasn’t an accident, too. Probably there’s no cannibalism here (probably), but there is a really solid cast: Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) stars as the U.S. marshal in the area; Preacher himself, Dominic Cooper, is the antagonist, and we’ve also got Simone Kessell (Yellowjackets), Dallas Goldtooth (Reservation Dogs), Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage), John Slattery (Spotlight), Clifton Collins Jr. (Westworld), and Johnny Knoxville. I mean, why not add Knoxville at that point? I can’t promise you this show is good—Variety called it “borderline camp” and said “there’s usually a ridiculous action set piece involving snowmobiles, horses, helicopters, or some combination thereof to make the viewer perk up and pay attention.” But Cooper has never been anything less than magnetic, going all the way back to 2006’s The History Boys, and I am probably not the only person primed by True Detective: Night Country for more Alaska-set adventures. So I’ll give it a try.[end-mark] The post What to Watch and Read This Weekend: Reanimating Guillermo del Toro’s Greatest Hits appeared first on Reactor.

The government is “shut down.” Media call this a “crisis.” A “crisis [with] no deal in sight,” says Fox News. Reuters says it’s a “key risk to U.S. stability.” But when I look around, I see business as usual—families raise children, workers work, people play music … The media act like government is the most important part of life. It isn’t. Fortunately, most of life, and the best of life, happens outside government. Yes, we need government. Limited government. Enough to keep us safe. But most of life doesn’t depend on what goes through D.C. Most of life thrives without government, often, despite government. During shutdowns, government tells “nonessential” workers not to come to work. But if they’re nonessential, why do we employ them? The shutdown is certainly a problem for the 1.4 million federal employees currently working without pay or furloughed. But they will likely get paid once government’s back in business. That’s what happened before. The media claim flights are delayed because of Air Traffic Control staffing shortages. CNN writes, “Delays spread to major airports across the country, as the government shutdown impacts travelers.” But many of these delays happen because government runs Air Traffic Control, and government management isn’t good. In other places (airports in Canada, the U.K., Germany, Australia), Air Traffic Control is privately run. A Government Accountability Office report found that private systems lead to fewer delays. Even security screenings work better when they’re private. At San Francisco’s airport, security lines move faster, and passengers told me, “The screeners are nicer!” They’re nicer and faster because in San Francisco (also Kansas City and some smaller airports), private companies handle security. The TSA even acknowledges that private screeners are better at finding contraband. So why does government do these things? It shouldn’t. Private operators are better because they must compete. Competition makes everybody sharper. Succeed, or you get fired. But government never fires itself. It’s why its incompetent government workers stay incompetent. It’s also why the Pentagon flunks audits and uses outdated computers. Shutdowns are supposed to show how vital government is. Instead, they show the opposite. Now, some farmers complain that they’re not getting government support checks. But why should farmers get taxpayer funding in the first place? Politicians said it was needed to “save family farms,” but it doesn’t. It mostly subsidizes big agribusiness. Some claim America needs government aid to “guarantee the food supply.” But we don’t. Fruit and vegetable growers get nothing from Washington. There’s no shortage of tomatoes, peaches or green beans … We should take a chain saw to much of government. Consider government inspections of foods. We’re told to be glad U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors are considered “essential” and will stay on the job to keep us safe. But meat is safe not because of bureaucratically mandated inspections but mostly because of competition. Food sellers have a reputation to uphold. If their food poisons us, people won’t buy from them. As a result, today’s food producers take more safety measures than government requires. One told me they employ a thousand more safety inspectors than the government demands. Stories like that rarely get coverage. Politicians, gathered in D.C., are easy to report on. Journalists lazily obsess about them because they’re easy to interview. It’s impossible to cover millions of individuals pursuing our own interests. But it’s we who make America work. Not bureaucrats bickering in D.C. Media pundits will continue to act as if shutdowns are a crisis, but they’re not. We’ve “survived” shutdowns before, and we’ll “survive” this one. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Shutdown! Do You Care? appeared first on The Daily Signal.