We have some new beauty pageant winners to announce, perhaps you’ve heard? I want to be very clear that I’m going to do my best in this article to be respectful and fair to the winners of these contests, while also striving to simply follow common sense and promote true health and wellness. So I’ll just say it upfront: I do not think obesity is healthy or should be celebrated.  Sorry, promoting obesity is not loving or “kind”. I also don’t believe encouraging and rewarding people who change the gender/sex that God gave them is healthy or should be encouraged at scale. Speaking of “at scale”, let’s go to Alabama where Sara Milliken was recently crowned the Alabama winner of the National American Miss pageant. Here’s Miss Milliken: The winner of Miss Alabama. She promotes inclusivity and representation of all bodies. We need to stop glorifying obesity. Obesity isn’t healthy. pic.twitter.com/kQfkudqOyR — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 7, 2024 Of course….we need to promote inclusivity, which means all body sizes! Brenden Dilley of the Dilley Meme Team wrote: “Miss Alabama is the size of a Buick”: The woman who won Miss Alabama is the size of a Buick. I thought she won an FFA event, but nope… they called it a beauty pageant. pic.twitter.com/1VNjLbgleD — Brenden Dilley (@WarlordDilley) June 6, 2024 Note, those are Brenden’s words, not mine. If you have issues with comparing Miss Milliken to a Buick, take that up with Brenden, don’t bring it to me. It should be noted that this is not Miss America, this is the National American Miss pageant, which is a separate and distinct competition. National American Miss (NAM) is a separate organization from Miss America. While both are beauty pageants, they differ in their focus and criteria. National American Miss is known for teaching girls life skills, and it is not the same as Miss America, which is a scholarship-based organization, nor is it related to Miss USA or Miss Universe. I found this next one right on point: If you don’t think Miss Alabama won this fair & square, you’re a far-right extremist pic.twitter.com/MwdJTI6d7I — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 6, 2024 Definitely square, just not sure it was fair. Leave it to the satire account of “Dr. Jebra Faushay” to have the funniest Tweet I’ve seen: I’m finding a lot of inspiration from Miss Alabama. She was consumed by her goal until it was too big to ignore. She then went on to crush the competition. pic.twitter.com/zaSzQcxJ0X — Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) June 9, 2024 But it’s not really a laughing matter. As I said at the top of the article, I don’t think it’s a funny topic or anything that should be promoted as healthy. I think Matt Walsh is spot on with this analysis: Sorry Miss Alabama, obesity is nothing to celebrate. pic.twitter.com/5j04bu7Uwe — The Matt Walsh Show (@MattWalshShow) June 7, 2024 It’s also not just my opinion….let’s go to an expert, shall we? Below is a Tweet from Leilani Dowding who won Miss Great Britain in 1998 and represented the U.K. in Miss Universe in 1998. She posted this stunning tweet below mocking Miss Alabama as an “aspirational role model” and sarcastically pointing out that in her mid-40s now she is clearly an “unhealthy antivaxxer and granny killer”. Oh my, the sarcasm is so thick you can cut it with a knife! She goes on to say it’s a good thing she won in 1998 because she’d “have to have a dick or be 3x the size to have a shot now”. Once again, her words not mine, but as a former Miss Universe contestant, perhaps she has some standing for her opinion? On the left 23 year old healthy aspirational role model Miss Alabama On the (Far right) is me. Mid 40s UNHEALTHY antivaxxer, granny killer . Thank god I won Miss GB in 1998 when Trump owned Miss Universe. I’d have to have a dick or be 3x the size to have half a shot now pic.twitter.com/Phl4ACWS2a — leilani dowding (@LeilaniDowding) June 8, 2024 But then we move from Miss Alabama to Miss Maryland who…..is a man — at least according to some on Twitter. Is a man or was a man? Or still is a man? Or is a transvestite? Or is a transgender woman? I think the correct term here is transgender woman? I’m sorry I can’t keep up with all of it. Take a look: Miss Alabama is fat, and Miss Maryland is a man We are living in a strange time pic.twitter.com/rCidWg0r0z — Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) June 8, 2024 Growing up, I never heard the term “transgender”. Now of course it’s everywhere. I did occasionally hear about transvestites. Does that still exist? Or did that go away so we could focus on transgender? Help!  It’s all so confusing! Go ahead and take a look at this video to see your new winner: A man just won Miss Maryland 2024. Are you paying attention?pic.twitter.com/7hHHCw7FKx — Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) June 6, 2024 Here’s what Fox News reported: A transgender woman crowned Miss Maryland expressed joy at the celebration of women “no matter their gender.” Transgender contestant Bailey Anne Kennedy won Miss Maryland USA this past Saturday. According to the official Miss Maryland account’s post on Instagram, Kennedy’s victory marked multiple firsts, the first transgender contestant, the first Asian American contestant, the first to win the crown at age 31, the first married contestant to win and the first military officer’s spouse to win the state-level competition in 67 years. In an interview shared in the same post, Kennedy said the victory on the first day of Pride Month “symbolizes everything” because the Miss Universe Organization “has now celebrated ‘woman’ universally, no matter their age, no matter their gender or their marital status.” “As a military spouse and as a proud trans woman, I hope to display this in a positive light and as an immigrant myself – the immigrant tenacity, I hope to showcase that to people, and hopefully inspire somebody along the way,” Kennedy added. When speaking with DC News Now, Kennedy said the moment of victory was like “a whirlwind, because I knew it was bigger than me, Cory. I know that it’s gonna mean a lot for all the LGBT kids out there who might have felt different and might feel like they don’t belong in a box, like me growing up, so I hope that my win will be a delicious invitation for them to be themselves.” So there you go, Fox News says it’s a “transgender woman” so that’s the term we will use. I still don’t think either situation is healthy nor do I believe either should be promoted or applauded or rewarded. So there’s a reason I put “Miss” in quotes in the title of this article….because I actually believe it’s so appropriate here. While the term ostensibly means Miss as in the title for a young woman, I think it more aptly means a “Swing and a Miss” here.  Twice. Congratulations on the crowns….

Noah here… Have you heard of the Consumer Goods Cartel? I didn’t come up with that name, but I saw it and I thought it was very appropriate. Check out this pie below…. See all the different brands? Think you’re buying from all these different companies when you shop at the store? Supporting the little guy? You’re not. You’re really buying from the same 11 companies aisle after aisle: Even the brands you think are independent have mostly all sold out to the “Big 11″… Do you drink Honest Tea? Think it’s owned by a tea company or surely an organic, wholesome, independent company? It’s not. It’s owned by Coca-Cola, but only 30% of people successfully identified that in a recent survey: How about Annie’s Homegrown? Think you’re feeding your kids the healthier Mac-N-Cheese alternative? It’s all owned by General Mills. And how about that Earthy, granola Kashi? Must be a “granola” startup right? Nah, it’s owned by Kellogg’s: And all 11 of these companies push DEI big time… You know what that is, right? Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Except…they don’t seem to have much tolerance for including White Christians by my estimation.  Anything else goes, but not White Christians. Oh and their products aren’t always all that safe either. Have you seen this? Johnson & Johnson Mulls Historic THIRD Bankruptcy Over Baby Powder Cancer Claims [DETAILS] So what do you do? It's time for a SOLUTION! A real solution... A solution that will last. Because changing what store you shop at isn't going to do it -- they all have the same products. Wouldn't it be nice if there was an American-made, family-owned, American Manufacturer that controlled the entire supply chain? There is. And you've probably never heard of them because 1️⃣ they don't do ANY advertising and 2️⃣ it's invite-only to join them. The good news? I've got the invites! That's right, I have partnered with an American made, family and patriot owned manufacturer that supplies us with our everyday essentials and actually cares about its customers and freedom in this country. If you go to their 300,000 s.f. home office in Idaho (I did a few months ago) the first thing you'll see when you enter their lobby is life-size statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Why? Because this company LOVES America! Imagine that! It's super simple, easy and FREE -- just join me this coming Tuesday (tomorrow!), June 11th at 8:30pm EDT / 7:30pm CDT. You can register using this link right here or directly in the window right below: It's totally FREE to join me but you do have to register to save your spot. REGISTER HERE. I'll give you all the details on the Webinar, plus I'll dish out the invites. I look forward to seeing you there! - Noah

Twenty years into a career as one of British prog’s most prolific underground bands, The Tangent are focusing on long-form songs on their 12th album, Songs From The Hard Shoulder.

As part of its "historically friendly relations," a number of Russian naval ships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, will visit Cuba this week, the country's administration announced last week.

Authoritarian EU chief Ursula von der Leyen claims carbon is a pollutant, and Europeans must pay for it, so they can’t afford to pollute. This would affect US air travel. “We all know if we want to keep global warming below the tipping point of 1.5°, we need to cut global emissions, and there’s a […] The post Authoritarian EU Chief Demands Carbon Taxes appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” made waves at the box office over the weekend after a fairly slow start to the summer movie season.  The film beat revenue projections, bringing in $104 million globally, which includes $48.6 million at the international box office. That number is 58% higher than Memorial Day weekend’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Story,” per Deadline. “Ride or Die” is the fourth installment in the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence-led franchise. It was released by Sony Pictures, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. This is Smith’s first major release since the infamous slapping incident at the 2022 Oscars, which tarnished the actor’s reputation in Hollywood. “Ride or Die” was already in production at the time of the slap and ultimately went on with a $100 million production budget.  It was made public ahead of time that the film would reference the Oscars debacle. Smith’s character, Mike Lowrey, gets slapped repeatedly by Martin Lawrence’s character, Marcus Burnett. Lowrey is having a panic attack, and Burnett smacks him in the face multiple times to snap him out of it. Arbi and Fallah acknowledged that the slapping was intentional.  “Well, I think you know, if you watch the movie, you see that there are some parallels between what’s happening in the movie and real life,” they told UNILAD in an interview. “You know, there’s — it’s almost like a meta experience that that Will in the character of Mike Lowrey goes through with some themes.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “So obviously, it had something, there is a connection between real life and the story of the movie in the movie itself,” the pair went on.  The critics seemed to appreciate the addition, too. Variety reviewer Owen Gleiberman called the slapping scene a “direct reference” to the Oscars, further describing it as “a kind of pop exorcism.”  “It’s ‘punishing’ Smith, making cruel fun of his transgression, and just maybe, in the process, allowing him to crawl out from under the image of it,” Gleiberman wrote.  New York Post reviewer Johnny Oleksinski wrote, “The best part of ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ arrives near the end of the film when Martin Lawrence slaps Will Smith in the face and yells ‘bad boy!’ What a shame that it’s fake.” Smith was banned from the Oscars for ten years after storming onto the stage and slapping host Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

NBC reporter Gabe Gutierrez voiced some concern on Monday that the Israeli Special Forces mission — which resulted in the rescue of four hostages — could stall ceasefire negotiations between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. Gutierrez joined “The Today Show” host Hoda Kotb during Monday’s broadcast — just two days after Israel announced that they had liberated four of the hostages that Hamas had taken from the Nova music festival on October 7th — to discuss what, if any, involvement the United States had had in the operation. WATCH: NBC via reporter Gabe Gutierrez DECRIES the rescue of Israeli hostages from Hamas because it HURTS Biden’s ability to negotiate with terrorists: “Still, there are concerns that Saturday’s rescue may hurt efforts to reach a ceasefire and free the remaining hostages.” pic.twitter.com/hmXE12xDNu — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 10, 2024 Gutierrez explained that the U.S. had not been involved in executing the mission, but had offered intelligence to assist the Israelis. “The Biden administration confirmed the U.S. did not participate militarily in the rescue operation but the U.S. provided intelligence in support of it,” Gutierrez said, before pointing to the fact that the civilian casualties — 274 by Hamas’ “count” — could make it harder to get the terrorist group to agree to a ceasefire. “Still, there are concerns that Saturday’s rescue may hurt efforts to reach a ceasefire and free the remaining hostages, including the eight Americans – three of which are believed to have been killed,” he said, adding that the United States had considered negotiating with Hamas directly in order to get the remaining American hostages back. “Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region today to try and secure a deal, but the rescue will likely make his efforts even more difficult and that’s why the administration may negotiate directly with Hamas to release the remaining American hostages if the current proposal fails, according to U.S. officials,” Gutierrez continued. “They say this latest rescue only strengthened Netanyahu’s determination to keep pushing for military operations in Gaza instead of pursuing a ceasefire. One senior administration official calling this a very real option, citing the fact that Hamas could have an incentive to deal directly with the Americans because it would strain relations between the U.S. and Israel and possibly put even more pressure on Netanyahu.”

Suggestions of treason rocked Canada last week after a report said members of its Parliament were “witting” accomplices in foreign election meddling efforts. The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), composed of lawmakers given top-level security clearance to conduct a sensitive investigation into foreign influence, released a report last week suggesting that some Canadian lawmakers worked with foreign agents in potentially treasonous ways, according to POLITICO. The report says that the lawmakers involved are unlikely to be found guilty of a crime over what the investigation uncovered because of the difficulty of producing classified information in criminal courts for prosecution. NSICOP found that certain Canadian lawmakers were or are “‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in Canadian politics.” The allegations against the lawmakers include accepting financial or community support mobilized on behalf of foreign missions, providing foreign agents with information on Canadian lawmakers, and sharing privileged information with foreign agents. “[T]he most prolific actor” among foreign influencers was China, according to The New York Times. India was the next most influential actor. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government have come under heavy criticism in the wake of the report. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the main opposition to Trudeau, called for the unnamed lawmakers at the center of the report’s allegations to be made known to the Canadian people. “The national security committee indicates there are members of this House that have knowingly worked for foreign hostile governments,” Poilievre said last week, according to POLITICO. “Canadians have a right to know who and what is the information — who are they?” Government officials have resisted calls to make public the names of lawmakers facing accusations. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that such a move would be irresponsible and a violation of the Security of Information Act. “My colleague knows full well that no responsible government would disclose names involved in specific intelligence situations,” LeBlanc said last week in response to a Conservative lawmaker. “It is not entirely accurate of him to claim that a responsible government, one that focuses on the security of Canada and our democratic institutions, would do such a thing.”