'Driving Jewish life and religious expression underground'

'Trump will reply with great force'

'am very pleased with this initial outcome'

'Terminations were directed by Mr. Trump'

Books new releases All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in February 2025 Lake monsters, starbreakers, and dryadologists feature in February’s new fantasy releases. By Reactor | Published on February 4, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Here’s the full list of fantasy titles heading your way in February! Keep track of all the new SFF releases here. All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher. Release dates are subject to change. February 4 Heart of the Mountain (Forgotten Warrior #6) — Larry Correia (Baen)What happens after the War of the Gods? The answer lies in the Heart of the Mountain… Ashok Vadal was chosen by a powerful weapon to be its bearer. As a Protector, an elite roving law-enforcer, his path to leader of the Sons of the Black Sword has been anything but straight. Thera Vane, a child of privilege, has become the reluctant prophet of an illegal and forgotten god—whose prophecies are proving all too correct, if frustratingly unclear about the war between demon and man. Ashok’s erstwhile sword brother, Lord Protector Devedas, was meant to be a puppet king, but he and his wife, a court scholar, have other plans. And possibly even access to the lore that will let them triumph. Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan is a man of ambition. He’s set in motion all that was necessary to destroy the current order and install Lord Protector Devedas as a tyrant. But Vokkan has a vision beyond control of the continent. He would challenge even the gods… It seems the time of prophecy and the Age of Law is over: it is time the prophecies will be fulfilled. The Bones Beneath My Skin — TJ Klune (Tor Books)In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he’s been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family’s summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It’s not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn’t exactly as she appears. Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her. Aurelia (Pendragon #0) — Stephen Lawhead (Baen)Last witness of an elder time, handmaid of the age to come. It was a time of the end of empire. The world was in turmoil. The Romans were abandoning Britain, leaving the remaining servants of empire to try to stem the tide of chaos. Aurelia was one such, the child of a Magistrate, and wife of a Legate. The entire world was changing around her. How could she raise her sons to thrive in such a world? Everywhere, it seemed, the old, well-ordered realm she had been born into was passing away to be replaced by… what? It was that question her sons, Aurelius and Uther—with the help of Merlin—were born to answer. Grave Empire (Great Silence #1) — Richard Swan (Orbit)A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and the Empire of the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await. But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, the Empire’s proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse.  Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days—the Great Silence.  It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and the Empire on the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save…  February 11 The Moonlight Healers — Elizabeth Becker (Graydon House)For generations, the Winston women have possessed an unspoken magical gift: they can heal with the touch of a hand. It’s a tradition they’ve always had to practice in secret, in the moonlight hours, when the fireflies dance and the whippoorwill birds sing. But not every healer has rightfully passed on this knowledge to her descendants, and for young Louise Winston, the discovery of her abilities comes in less-than-ideal circumstances—she brings her best friend back from death following an accident, the day after he professed his long-held feelings for her, five days before she’s supposed to move away. Desperate for answers, and to avoid this new reality between them, Louise escapes to her grandmother’s lush Appalachian orchard. There, she uncovers her family’s hidden history in a tattered journal, stemming back to her brave great-grandmother who illicitly healed Allied soldiers in war-torn France. But just as Louise begins to embrace her unique legacy, she learns that it can also come with a mysterious cost. And with a life hanging in the balance, she’ll be forced to make the most impossible of choices… Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales — Heather Fawcett (Del Rey)Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen. Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures. Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world: How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear. Sanctum of the Soul (Shroud of Prophecy #3) — Kel Kade (Tor Books)The chosen one is dead, the powerful have abandoned their subjects, and Death has come for them all. Aaslo, the reluctant new Chosen One, and Teza, a failed magus healer, lead a small group of broken people who continue to hold back the tide of a war between the gods. They gather what forces they can scrape together for a final battle. Their band of unlikely warriors’ grit and bravery in the face of staggering odds, however, has strengthened all of them as they come into their power and their destiny. Aaslo stands at a crossroad where he must embrace all of what he has become even in the face of losing the war, his friends, and his world. The Desert Talon (Crowns of Ishia #2) — Karin Lowachee (Solaris)Sephihalé ele Janan sits in a prison cell in the southern island of Mazemoor, dreaming of escape. After months in a provisional prison for fighting for the imperial Kattakans, Janan is sponsored by another refugee who was once a part of his scattered family. Yearning to build a life on his sister’s land with the dragons their people revere, the peace Janan seeks is threatened by a ruthless dragon baron who covets both Janan’s connection to the earth and the battle dragon to which he is covenanted. The conflict may drive Janan to acts of violence he hoped to leave behind in the war, and bring more death to the land Janan now calls home. The Crimson Road — A.G. Slatter (Titan)Violet Zennor has had a peculiar upbringing. Training as a fighter in underground arenas, honing her skills against the worst scum, murderers and thieves her father could pit her against, she has learned to be ruthless. To kill. Until the day Hedrek Zennor dies. Violet thinks she’s free—then she learns that her father planned to send her into the Darklands, where the Leech Lords reign. Where Violet’s still-born brother was taken years ago. Violet steadfastly refuses. Until one night two assassins attempt to slaughter her—and it becomes clear: she’s going to have to clean up the mess her father made. By turns gripping and bewitching, sharp and audacious, this mesmerising story takes you on a journey into the dark heart of Slatter’s sinister and compelling fantasy world in a tale of vampires, assassins, ancient witches and broken promises. The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall — J. Ann Thomas (Alcove Press)At Thorne Hall, a grand estate nestled in the Berkshires, fifteen restless spirits roam, bound within the mansion’s walls since the Gilded Age. Elegy Thorne bears the weight of her family’s curse to preserve the mansion as it was in the 1890s, using ancient folk songs to keep the spirits secret and silent in order to avoid deadly consequences. When a mischievous child spirit wreaks havoc on the manor, the Thorne family calls upon their trusted preservationist to restore the mansion. He brings along his son, Atticus—a vibrant man full of life and ideas of modernization—and Elegy is captivated by him, igniting a longing for freedom she’s never dared to embrace. Torn between her desire to follow her heart and her duty to her family and its legacy, Elegy begins searching for a way to release the spirit collection back to the afterlife and set both herself and the ghosts free. With century-old secrets, peculiar magic, and spirits both whimsical and deadly, Thorne Hall will haunt and enrapture readers—and you might just not want to leave. February 18 Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf (A League of Legends: Arcane Novel) — C. L. Clark (Orbit)Ambessa Medarda: Warrior, general, mother. She is a woman to be feared, and the Medardas are unrivaled in their pursuit of glory. She has led conquests and armies. She has slain legendary beasts. She has made grave sacrifices in her ascent up the ranks. And for this she was rewarded: She entered the realm of death and was granted a vision of herself upon the throne of the vast Noxian empire. But before she can lead her empire, she must become head of her own clan. Yet the title is contested by her cousin and former confidante, Ta’Fik. He knows the bloody sins of Ambessa’s past. And he knows he cannot allow her to rise. They will fight a war for the very soul of the Medardas. But the war won’t be fought on battlefields alone. Ambessa’s daughter, Mel, can deftly break through the walls around anyone’s heart, and she’ll put her talents to use for her mother. Yet despite Mel’s strength, Ambessa sees only a child who lacks her killer instincts. Mel knows she can be the leader Ambessa wants her to be, if only she gives her time. With her family betraying her, enemies closing in on all sides, and unseen forces moving in the shadows, every day proves more dangerous than the last. But Ambessa will not bow. She will burn the world down to claim her place in it. The Antlered King (Raven’s Trade #2) — Marianne Gordon (Harper Voyager)Hellevir’s gift to raise the dead once thrust her into the center of a court filled with backstabbing and treason, where she became duty bound to protect Princess Sullivain, the sole heir to the kingdom’s throne and target of many rivals eager for the crown. But the more Hellevir risked to keep Sullivain alive, and the more deeply she fell in love with the princess, the greater the cost became—for Hellevir’s power can only be granted by the strange figure who rules the afterlife, and there is always a price to pay. Now Hellevir may have risked too much, and Sullivain has become obsessed with consolidating power to vanquish her foes once and for all—by whatever means necessary. Cast out to the fringes of a country on the verge of civil war, Hellevir is torn between protecting her heart or giving what little she has left to finish what she started. Yet, her connection with Sullivain runs deeper than the mortal world, and saving her friends and family might mean risking the woman she is still bound to by soul and blood. They Played Their Role (Glintchasers #3) — Elijah Menchaca (CamCat)Fifteen years ago, the Starbreakers made a name for themselves when they took down the Cult of Stars. They were the greatest glintchasers in the kingdom, until they fell from grace. Years later, they’re back and better than ever, but the past isn’t done with them yet. The Cult of Stars has returned with an army of an army of the disillusioned, dishonored, and insane, the support of some of the most powerful people in Corsar, and a plan to finish what they started. To stop them once and for all, the Starbreakers will have to call in every favor they have, and return to the place where it all went wrong: Relgen, the city they failed to save. A Dragon of Black Glass (Moonfall #3) — James Rollins (Tor Books)With the apocalyptic threat of moonfall looming ever closer, Nyx and her allies must venture into the eternally sunblasted lands to search for an ancient weapon buried untold millennia ago. All the while, enemies close upon her flanks, and a greater danger lurks ahead. For beneath a desert turned to glass, hidden from the scorching heat, life thrives—both wondrous and monstrous. But a more fearsome menace lies even deeper, where an ancient army has been seeded to protect a secret from any who dare seek it out. Yet, can Nyx truly trust those at her side? Or even herself? For while her gifts grow ever stronger, so does the danger of losing herself to a dark madness. Worst yet, the same afflicts Bashaliia, her winged and bonded brother. Elsewhere, a looming war explodes across the Crown, forging new alliances and greater enmities, as lands around the globe are drawn into fiery conflict. Prince Kanthe—now consort to the newly crowned Empress of the Southern Klashe—recognizes a hard truth: to save the world, he must destroy all that he once loved. Beyond such struggles, a new cunning peril smolders at the heart of a kingdom. Hidden in the Shrivenkeep of the Iflelen, an ancient bronze weapon has been awoken. Fed by blood, fueled by hatred, it has only one purpose: to end all life on Urth. But in this goal, will Nyx prove to be its ally or foe? The Witch of Whispervale (DemonWars: The Buccaneers #2) — R. A. Salvatore (Saga)Treaties are discarded as the full invasion of the Xoncai has begun and war returns to Corona. Consolidating resistance on land in Behren and within the abbeys as a last stand against the golden warriors is the catalyst for the return of the most powerful gem-wielding witch the world has ever known. Yet, as the rumor of a witch of gemstone magic reaches the Xoconai they send a hunter, so brutal he is known as the Coyote, to find her. Upon a Starlit Tide — Kell Woods (Tor Books)Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758. To Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of a wealthy French shipowner, the high walls of Saint-Malo are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are busy trying to secure advantageous marriages, Luce spends her days secretly being taught to sail by Samuel, her best friend—and an English smuggler. Only he understands how the waves call to her. Then one stormy morning, Luce rescues a drowning man from the sea. Immediately drawn in by the stranger’s charm, Luce is plunged into a world of glittering balls and faerie magic, seduction and brutality. Secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface, but as Luce wrestles with warring desires, she finds that her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper. Or the scales of a sea-maid’s tail. February 25 Dance of Shadows (Raag of Rta #2) — Gourav Mohanty (Head of Zeus)A fragile armistice may hold in the West, but everyone knows it cannot last. In the Tree Cities of the East, a Conclave of Peace has assembled to secure the future of the realm. But the delegates—deaf swordswomen and exiled snakelings, spoilt heroes and lovesick princes, immortal assassins and their apprentices—will find no sun to light their path. After all, the season of peace is the finest time to plant the seeds of war. For the Son of Darkness rises, boiling over with a wrath that all the oracles in the world cannot hope to stop. After all, seeing the future is one thing, changing it is quite another. But who is to say that there isn’t a way? Greenteeth — Molly O’Neill (Orbit)Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce. Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she’s worth saving. Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor. Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family, as well as the very soul of Britain. The Dark Mirror (Bone Season #5) — Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury)Everything is about to change. Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade-but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory. Her journey back to the revolution soon takes her to Venice, where the Domino Programme has uncovered evidence of a secret Scion plan. Before Paige can return to London, she must help the network unravel the sinister Operation Ventriloquist, which threatens to bring Europe to its knees in weeks. And it soon becomes clear that the one person who could recover her memories—Arcturus Mesarthim—might also hold the key to thwarting Scion, allowing the revolution to strike an unprecedented blow… The post All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in February 2025 appeared first on Reactor.

Returning to a balanced budget is feasible if the United States would return to pre-COVID-19-era spending levels, said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the Senate Budget Committee.  He cited spending levels under President Bill Clinton and has said the rate of increase should be based on population and the rate of inflation, barring a national emergency.  Johnson’s plan uses President Joe Biden’s 2025 amounts for spending on Social Security and Medicare, since there is no appetite in either party to tackle entitlement spending. The plan uses fiscal year 1998 as a base, which is the first time the United States had a balanced budget since 1969. In 1998, the $1.7 trillion of spending would be about $5.5 trillion when factoring both inflation and population growth, while leaving Social Security and Medicare alone. Balance the budget chart 1.2.25Download That takes the fiscal year 2025 budget to $5.5 trillion. That was the Biden administration revenue projection for the year—which means a balanced budget.  “What’s interesting about that number is, that’s the revenue projection of the Biden administration,” Johnson said. “That’s how feasible a balanced budget is, but if that’s too reasonable for you, you know, take Clinton or take Obama in 2014. Do the same thing—increase based on population, inflation, [and] slot in today’s Medicare, Social Security, and interest, we’d be at $6.2 trillion right now.” He later added, “I’m not approaching it from a grotesquely unreasonable $7 trillion base. I’m saying I don’t think Bill Clinton spent too little.”  Johnson added, “I will guarantee that nobody who voted for President [Donald] Trump, or virtually no one who voted for President Trump, thought we’d be spending at President Biden’s grotesque spending levels.”  In fiscal year 2019, federal spending was $4.4 trillion, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fiscal year 2020, it was $6.5 trillion because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson has noted.   “If your family and you have a major medical problem, and you have to borrow $50,000 to pay for medical bills, once your family member is well, you don’t keep borrowing $50,000 and keep spending at that level,” Johnson told The Daily Signal.  “You stop borrowing, you return to a pre-illness level. Well, that’s what the government should do,” Johnson said. “You know, in 2019, we spent $4.4 trillion during the pandemic. We shot up, you know, spending speed, $6.6 trillion. Last five years, we’ve averaged $6.5 trillion. Last year, we spent $6.9 [trillion]. I mean, there’s no justification for that. It’s grotesque.”  Pre-Pandemic vs. Post Pandemic Spending Chart—1.15.25Download Johnson said the emergency COVID-19 spending has become the new baseline, at about $6.9 trillion. Biden’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget was for $7.3 trillion, which would be 63.3% higher than fiscal year 2019 spending, when spending increased by 2.2% from the previous year. “We have to return to some type of pre-pandemic, reasonable level of spending. I’ve proposed a couple options that we could go back, for example, to Bill Clinton’s 1998 budget. That’s where we actually had a surplus,” Johnson said “And if you take that budget and increase it based on population growth and inflation, plus you exempt Social Security, Medicare, and interest you spend at 2025 levels there.” 2021 PROJECTIONS for FY2025 (005)Download That’s a plan that Congress will have to examine for fiscal year 2026, Johnson said, since fiscal year 2025 already began, back in October, adding that he has talked to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about the proposal.  “For 2026, if we’re not down to something close to a $6 trillion baseline plus whatever inflation is for 2025 to 2026, shame on us,” Johnson said.  The post By the Numbers: Sen. Ron Johnson Outlines Balanced Budget Proposal appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Donald Trump knows exactly what he’s doing with tariffs. Everyone else is baffled: Why did the president announce heavy taxes on imports from Canada as well as Mexico and China? America has an obvious interest in economic decoupling from China, a great-power rival. And by first imposing and then suspending tariffs on Mexican imports, Trump was able to bring Mexico’s government to the negotiating table on his terms. That’s won immediate results in the fight against illegal immigration and traffic in fentanyl and other drugs into our country: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is now sending 10,000 troops to secure Mexico’s side of the border. She has one month to get the job done and strike a bigger, long-term deal with the United States—or tariffs snap back in March. Then there are those Yukon cartels and the Canadian Communist Party, and … wait, what? What trouble could America possibly have with Canada that justifies a 25% tariff on the goods it sells us? Like Mexico, Canada has been given a 30-day reprieve to work things out. There’s more to talk about than just the northern border. Trump needles Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about turning Canada into our 51st state. It’s hard to imagine tariffs high enough to accomplish what a couple of invasions couldn’t achieve over the last 200-odd years, though: America tried to take Canada by force in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, both times hoping Canadians would spontaneously turn against their government and demand the rights and liberties of American citizens. A core component of Canada’s national identity, however, comes from the pro-British Tories who fled the American colonies rather than join our revolution. Even Canadian conservatives, including the man with the best hope of beating the Liberal Party at the next election, Pierre Poilievre, don’t want to become Americans. They’re patriotically outraged by the tariff threat, and they’re in political danger if Canadians rally to the Liberal government as defender of their sovereignty and national honor. But Trump knows all that. He’s using tariffs to set expectations with our northern neighbor, just as he has with China and Mexico. Sometimes the best thing a person or a nation can do for a friend is get tough. Canada has long been unserious about meeting its security obligations to its own people and NATO allies alike. NATO members are supposed to contribute at least 2% of their gross domestic product to defense. Canada spent a meager 1.37% last year, with Trudeau promising his country would reach the 2% threshold by 2032. That’s not the pledge of a leader who feels any urgency about providing for his nation’s security, let alone helping friends when there’s a war near their borders. Until now, Canadian prime ministers have been content to let America foot the security bill—which is what leads Trump to ask why we should pay for it if the land isn’t ours. His tough treatment of Trudeau sends a message to Europe, where more NATO states are beginning to meet their 2% minimum contributions, but just barely: Germany, for example, spent 1.3% on defense in 2023 and only brought that up to a little more than 2% last year, despite NATO facing its greatest challenge since the end of the Cold War with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the 21st century, America can’t afford to be ripped off by friends any more than it can afford to be unwary about Chinese power or Mexican disorder. Trump is using peaceful—if painful—methods to change the behavior of friend and foe alike. To be sure, he thinks “tariff” is the most beautiful word in the English language: Trump is unabashedly a tariff man. But he’s a dealmaker first and foremost, and the tariffs can be avoided if the other side is willing to reach a deal that better serves America’s interests. After all, trade with America is in the best interest of everyone else from China to Mexico to Canada—we’re providing something, yet not getting enough in return. Trump means to change that, and tariffs are a powerful tool for doing so. The president’s strategy can even help bring jobs and supply chains back to America without the tariffs having to go into effect. Businesses terrified by the prospect of tariffs have an incentive to get ahead of them by moving production back to America and devoting greater attention to the home market. And American companies dependent on foreign imports have every reason to start breaking free of their dependence right now by finding substitute components that won’t be subject to tariffs. Trump knows how to win trade wars before the first shot, so to speak, is fired. 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 Can Trump Win Trade Wars Before They Start? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A review of the UK’s policy on extremism, dubbed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper a “Rapid Analytical Sprint” was announced last summer, shortly after the Southport stabbings. And now, the paper it produced has been leaked to the Policy Exchange think tank. The results of the analysis and the recommendations revealed in the leak show that the UK government’s policy may be headed toward more free speech crackdowns, through a number of new measures. They include introducing new criminal offenses and a new definition of “extremism” itself; in the first instance, it is “harmful online communications” that should be criminalized. The paper recommends redefining extremism in very broad terms: instead of referring to a particular ideology, it would now cover “behaviors or activity of concern” – like whatever is considered misinformation or a conspiracy theory; misogyny, violence against women and girls – but also involvement in “an online subculture called the manosphere.” The think tank’s reading of the paper is that it aims to de-emphasize ideologies in general, and Islamism in particular, and instead focus on “behaviors and activity of concern.” In addition to those already mentioned, some others are the “fixture on gore and violence without adherence to an extremist ideology,” “preventing integration,” and, “influencing racism and intolerance.” When it comes to existing laws concerning hate crimes – that are, as it is, vague – the idea is to introduce longer prison sentences for people convicted on those charges. The leaked paper also seeks to reverse the decision to limit the number of “non-crime hate incidents,” NCHIs, that the police record, by reopening the floodgates for these complaints that are often frivolous and waste police time and resources. The intention was to only log NCHIs that represent real risk of significant harm to individuals or groups “with a particular characteristic” – or that this might happen in the future. Reacting to reports based on the leak, Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis denied that NCHI reporting would be expanded – other, that is, than when it concerns “Islamophobia” and “anti-Semitism.” But the authorities admitted they plan to introduce longer sentences for those whose “hate crimes” target LGB and T persons. Regarding “the sprint” itself, a spokesperson for the Home Office said that the contents of the document have not been formalized and that ministers are how “considering a wide range of potential next steps arising from that work.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Leaked UK “Extremism” Policy Review Suggests Expanded Speech Restrictions appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A British woman has been sentenced to a community order after sending videos of herself passing gas to her boyfriend’s ex-partner — an unusual case that raises serious questions about the criminalization of speech and personal expression. Rhiannon Evans, 25, a shopworker from Mountain Street in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment after sending multiple videos via WhatsApp to Deborah Prytherch. The case, however, highlights the growing tendency to treat unpleasant or immature behavior as a legal matter rather than a personal dispute. Prosecutors described how Evans sent an initial “inappropriate” video in which she “proceeds to pass gas by placing the camera on her bottom and passing the gas.” Over the following days, she sent more, some showing her grinning at the camera. While certainly juvenile and potentially annoying, the decision to prosecute such behavior raises concerns about the extent to which the legal system is being used to police interpersonal conflicts. Despite receiving a police warning, Evans continued to send messages, leading to her arrest. She admitted to her actions and was sentenced to a 12-month community order, along with fines and restrictions on her personal freedoms. Prosecutor Diane Williams framed Evans’ actions as malicious, saying, “She suggested she wanted to send videos because she felt her partner was being treated unfairly. It was purely malicious. She was smirking throughout, found it hilarious, but the victim didn’t.” The alleged victim, Prytherch, stated, “I would like to feel safe in my home.” But the question remains: should feeling uncomfortable because of crude messages justify state intervention? This case highlights a concerning trend where offensive or immature digital communication is increasingly met with legal consequences. The court heard that Evans had a difficult upbringing and struggles with mental health issues, with a probation officer noting ongoing hostility between her and her boyfriend’s ex-partner. Her defense lawyer, Harriet Gorst, argued that the videos were not intended to cause harm, stating, “She sent them, understanding now this has caused the victim some distress. She sent them without malicious intent.” Nonetheless, magistrates imposed 15 rehabilitation sessions, 60 days of alcohol abstinence monitoring, a two-year restraining order, and financial penalties totaling nearly £300. This case raises a crucial debate about whether the justice system should be involved in cases like this at all. Evans’ behavior, while immature, involved no threats, violence, or credible danger. Instead of handling the situation through personal boundaries or blocking unwanted messages, the state has stepped in to criminalize crude humor, setting a troubling precedent for free expression in digital spaces. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post British Woman Sentenced for Fart Videos in “Harassment” Case appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Forget DEI, Democrats Are Desperate to Save Government Spending by Any Means Necessary