It was exposed that night that he's really an asshole

'How many other terrorists are out there?'

A post shared on social media purports that Pittsburg Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin told players not to participate in Pride Month. In a move that shocked both the sports community and society, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin directed his team not to participate in a Pride Month activities, Tomlin said: “We’re here to play football, not to […]

Such a news report cannot be found anywhere online.

News The Talamasca Anne Rice’s Talamasca Gets Its Own Series Did you say “supernatural spy procedural”??? By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on June 12, 2024 Credit: Larry Horricks/AMC Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Larry Horricks/AMC The Anne Rice Immortal Universe, as AMC has dubbed it, is getting a third installment. Yesterday, the network broke the news that they’ve greenlit a new drama set in the secretive world of the Talamasca. The show will join Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches in the expanding universe based on the stories of Anne Rice. We’ve seen glimpses of The Talamasca in both of the existing shows. And according to Dan McDermott, AMC Networks president of entertainment, creating a series centered on the organization has always been part of the plan. “This is a story we’ve been developing and wanting to tell from the earliest moments of this franchise, focused on a fascinating and compelling secret society that has already appeared in both of our existing Anne Rice series, The Talamasca,” he said in a statement. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and Mark Lafferty (The Right Stuff, Halt and Catch Fire) are writers, co-showrunners and executive producers of the new series. Hancock will also direct. Mark Johnson, who oversees all things Anne Rice for AMC, will be producing and said the new show “marries the procedural spy thriller with the supernatural and expands the thrills and the pleasures of our franchise’s ambitions.” “I was intrigued by the idea of an organization that, to me, had more than a passing resemblance to the CIA or MI6, which are necessary but not always necessarily transparent. An organization with its own secrets,” Johnson said in the same statement. Lafferty added, “When John told me about a clandestine organization in the Immortal Universe with its own hidden agendas, I was immediately hooked. I’ve admired his writing and directing for so long, and to be working with him is a true honor and thrill.” Season One will have six episodes, premiering on AMC and AMC+ in late 2025. The series is set to go into production this fall and will shoot in Manchester, England. [end-mark] The post Anne Rice’s Talamasca Gets Its Own Series appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Star Wars: The Acolyte Flashback Takes the Wheel in The Acolyte’s “Destiny” A full episode flashback, to get us all up to speed about that fire… By Emmet Asher-Perrin | Published on June 12, 2024 Image: Disney+ Comment 0 Share New Share Image: Disney+ The power of one, the power of two, the power of many… Recap Osha (Lauren Brady) is hiding under a beautiful willow as a child on the planet Brendok, when Mae (Leah Brady) comes to find her. They are both about to complete the “Ascension” ceremony of their people. Mae is excited, but Osha is not, and resents being forced to do everything the same as Mae. They are found by Mother Koril (Margarita Levieva), who reprimands them for going outside the walls; she worries they will be found. Hidden behind a tree, Sol sees the girls. The girls are brought back to the safety of a fortress where their coven resides, and are greeted by Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith), who wants them to attend their lessons later. Aniseya talks with Koril, who believes she’s too lenient with the girls, as they are not ordinary children. At their lessons, Aniseya teaches the girls about the Force, though their people do not call it that—they think of it as a thread that weaves the universe together. The girls bicker during the lesson, prompting Aniseya to do a demonstration against them, but only Mae fights back, earning praise. Later on, the girls are still fighting about their future, but Aniseya has them hold hands to remind them of their bond. She wants them to stay in the coven to keep them safe. As the girls get their hair done for the ceremony, they argue agains, with Osha desperate to have Mae understand that she doesn’t want to share everything with her sister, that they are different people. At the Ascension ceremony, the girls are brought forward and asked to vow their lives in service of the coven, to protect its way from this day forward. Mae makes her vow, but before Osha’s can be complete, word arrives that there are Jedi at their fortress. The girls hide behind the women of the coven as Indara, Sol, Torbin and Kalnecca appear. Indara claims that they believed this world to be uninhabited, and that they were concerned to find that the women here seem to be training children. Osha reveals herself to the Jedi by peeking out from behind the women and Sol calls to her, showing her his lightsaber and asking if she’d like to become a Jedi. Aniseya takes over Torbin’s body and commands the Jedi to leave, but Osha wants to take the Jedi test. Aniseya agrees, and Sol insists that it must be both girls. Later, the coven argues about what to do, because they know that if the girls pass the test, they will be taken away to become Jedi. Aniseya instructs both girls to lie on their test, but Osha doesn’t want to, prompting the girls to fight again. They bring the girls to the Jedi camp the next morning. Mae takes her test and lies, as she’s instructed, but Sol is ready for Osha. He keeps telling her that she’s getting answers right, to prompt her to admit she knows it’s wrong because she’s lying. He asks her what she truly wants, and also tells her about his own recruitment, and that the Jedi Temple is full of other children like her—she will no longer be alone. Osha passes the test, and Mae is furious with her for it. The coven knows they’ll have to decide what to do about this, if they want to fight the Jedi to keep her. Aniseya talks to Osha, who tells her mother that she’s certain she wants to be a Jedi. She promises to take her daughter’s desires into account as she talks with the other witches. Osha packs to leave, and Mae comes in, adamant that she won’t allow it. She steals Osha’s notebook and sets it on fire outside her door. Osha goes to a ventilation shaft in the wall to escape as the fire suddenly blooms and rages out of control. She escapes into a back corridors and finds the fortress falling apart around her. Sol finds her and Mae, and attempts to save them both, but Mae falls into a chasm. Sol grabs hold of Osha and speeds her out of the fortress, past all the bodies of her dead coven, Aniseya included. Osha wakes on a Jedi ship and Sol tells her what happened. He promises that she will train to become a Jedi as his Padawan, and that she will never feel like this again. Commentary Can someone tell me why we seem to be moving into the realm of entire flashback episodes, rather than seeding flashback throughout a story? Because it’s one of my least favorite things. It’s bad for momentum! Also, you’ve just introduced us to all these characters and then you immediately take half of them away from us for a whole week. There’s a lot of fascinating stuff going on here, but it’s weird to just have the whole backstory dumped in one go, without so much as a lead-up scene. There are two primary things at war here, it seems: bad governance and bad parenting. Do I absolutely love that we now have confirmation of lesbians being able to make themselves kids if they’re Force-wielders? Oh, I do. I love it so much. This is my favorite thing. Between this and the recent reveal of Mystique being Nightcrawler’s dad in the X-Men comics, it’s been a big win for queer sci-fi families of late. A lot of information is being omitted here, which is realistic and frustrating at the same time, so I’ll be making assumptions in a few places. But one of my favorite aspects to this episode is watching characters make choices that are right and wrong at once. It’s understandable that this coven is protective of itself because according to what we’re seeing here, the Jedi are proprietary over the Force within the boundaries of the Republic. This is bananas, but does explain a few things that have long been assumed, namely that the conceit that certain species are less Force-attuned—as evidenced by fewer of them being Jedi—is probably bullshit. Oh, Wookiees don’t become Jedi that regularly? Mandalorians don’t either? That’s totally because they’re less connected to the Force and not at all because their people are hiding the kids away every time the recruitment office shows up. Incredible how the Jedi just accept that, rather than question why so many cultures aren’t too keen to have their kids taken away. And I feel the need to point out that this is common occurrence here—between the Jedi, the Sith and the First Order, child-theft is kind of a given in this universe. A piece of the deeper conflict here is bound up in bad parenting choices, however—namely the insistence of framing Osha and Mae as halves of a whole rather than separate people. The coven’s understanding of the Force unfortunately plays into that, as the belief of interconnectivity reinforces the idea that the twins should not want to be separate. Psychologically, however, you’re really not supposed to do that to children, particularly not to identical twins: Much study has been put into the relationships between twins, and while closeness is a constant factor, the difficulty in asserting one’s individuality can become stressful for the child. Osha is blatantly unhappy with this part of her life and desperately yearns to be her own person. So we’ve got a deep conflict running through the center of this tragedy—the struggle between the unified whole and the individual. But what’s great about this struggle is that we’re seeing it flipped from its usual status; in Star Wars, the Sith are framed as selfish opportunists, while the Jedi are harmonious connectors. With Osha and Mae we’re seeing the reverse: Mae’s desire to jealously guard the connection with her sister contains whispers of the dark side. Her desire for that unity (with her sister and the coven) and pain at losing it has put her on a path of murder and rage. I hope they keep playing with this because discussions around the Force can become aggravatingly binary in terms of what is good and evil. Being more flexible in their definitions pulls the Force further away from a more Christian-aligned morality. Sol continues to be a gorgeous character in every respect, but particularly in his tenderness and in his mistakes. Certain Jedi are far more “parent forward” in the way they train Padawans, and his desire to train Osha the moment he sees her is fully paternal, but I want to understand it better: Is this impulse new for him? Has he ever trained anyone before, or wanted to? But he is also busy making parenting mistakes, right from the jump. His instinct to comfort Osha on waking has him assuring her that he’ll take her on as his Padawan (which he shouldn’t be able to guarantee), and then swearing that she’ll never feel this way again. Buddy, you absolutely cannot promise that. And as a Jedi, you shouldn’t even want to—it is antithetical to how your whole philosophical deal works! Too bad. Dad-mode too strong. This will not come back to haunt them both at all, and definitely hasn’t already. There’s plenty of good parenting in this episode too, which deserves acknowledgement as well, of course. Aniseya may be pushing those girls harder than they need right now, but she believes in their autonomy, loves them openly and fiercely, and acknowledges the importance of change in their growth. She still hopes that her lessons will convince Osha to agree with her, but the point that our desires often shift throughout our lives is an important one to internalize. And, of course, Osha cannot know that she’s asking to trade her family for an organization that isn’t truly much more allowing for the individuality she craves. Importantly, too, we know Mae didn’t set that entire place on fire: It spread much too quickly; we never see the key moment it begins to fan out from her perspective; and the coven deaths were curiously unexplained. So something else happened, and we’re in the dark so far as to how it transpired. Spanners and Sabers Image: Disney+ Mother Koril is a Zabrak, the same species as Darth Maul. I don’t think that a female Zabrak has ever been shown with the cranial horns, though? So that’s pretty cool. Kelnacca’s topknot action is sending me. It’s so much harder to maintain that as a choice if you’re covered in fur. There’s an argument here about whether or not Brendok is a part of the Republic, so… did they annex it? Is it just close enough to the border that they figured it was no big deal? Are they outside of their jurisdiction with a purpose? Indara said they thought the world was uninhabited, which could be a lie, but if not, why did they come here? Next week! Back with the crew, I assume! [end-mark] The post Flashback Takes the Wheel in <i>The Acolyte’</i>s “Destiny” appeared first on Reactor.

News Paddington in Peru Paddington in Peru Trailer Asks Where the Fudge is Aunt Lucy? Someone alert Javi Gutierrez By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on June 12, 2024 Screenshot: StudiocanalUK Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: StudiocanalUK We finally have a trailer for the third Paddington film! This one sees everyone’s favorite bear with a deep love for marmalade heading home to Peru to visit his dear Aunt Lucy. The trailer lays out the premise, which you can also see summarized in the official synopsis below: Paddington in Peru brings Paddington’s story to Peru as he returns to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru. After the newly released trailer sees Paddington struggling to get the perfect passport photo (something that will be relatable to anyone who has gotten a similar document), we see the bear, voiced as always by Ben Whishaw, traveling with the Browns and meeting an overeager nun (played by Olivia Colman) and a handsome boatman (Antonio Banderas) as they go to find Aunt Lucy. It looks like another heartfelt adventure, though the bar is high given that Paddington 2 is one of the best movies ever made. This latest installment will see the return of Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin. Paul King, who directed Paddington 2, left the third film and was replaced by Dougal Wilson, though King still co-wrote the story. Emily Mortimer is also new to Paddington-dom, and is taking over the role of Mrs. Brown from Sally Hawkins. Paddington in Peru premieres in U.S. theaters on January 17, 2025. Check out the trailer below. [end-mark] The post <i>Paddington in Peru</i> Trailer Asks Where the Fudge is Aunt Lucy? appeared first on Reactor.

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is urging Congress to prevent the State Department from working with foreign organizations that “encourage the harassment of Americans” after a Ukraine-based outlet listed U.S. organizations and individuals it accused of impeding assistance to Ukraine.  The Heritage Foundation, which founded The Daily Signal in 2014, appears among the organizations on the list, and so does its president, Kevin D. Roberts.  The Ukraine-based media outlet the DATA Journalism Agency, also known as TEXTY, published a report titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists.” The report lists forces in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it. The list includes 77 organizations and 388 individuals, including former President Donald Trump and 116 Republican House members. Two State Department agencies partnered with the DATA Journalism Agency, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.  “According to the report, the individuals on the list ‘oppose supporting Ukraine,’ and many ‘echo key messages of Russian propaganda aimed at depriving Ukrainians of the ability to defend themselves,’” Banks said in a letter Tuesday. He sent the letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Chair Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. Banks added that another Ukrainian organization partnering with the State Department, known as Myrotvorets, also maintained a database of alleged enemies of Ukraine.  “Federal bureaucrats should not support or partner with foreign groups that attempt to intimidate and silence U.S. citizens and lawmakers,” Banks wrote. “I am urging the Appropriations Committee majority to support efforts in the Fiscal Year 2025 SFOPS bill to force the State Department and USAID to end all relations with foreign NGOs like TEXTY that seek to silence the speech of Americans they dislike and to sway U.S. policymakers to serve their own interests.”  Banks also wrote to Roberts Tuesday as well as other individuals and entities that were on the list. “The Appropriations Committee’s markup of its bill to fund the State Department and USAID during Fiscal Year 2025 is scheduled to take place tomorrow,” Banks added. The post Two Groups Accuse Americans of Being Enemies of Ukraine. A House Republican Wants State to Stop Working With Them. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A leading conservative grassroots organization is putting its weight behind new legislation introduced Wednesday to eliminate all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and funding for them. Heritage Action for America issued a key vote urging lawmakers to cosponsor the Dismantle DEI Act, a bill championed by Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas. At least 20 other members of Congress have already signed on as cosponsors. “Contrary to President [Joe] Biden’s claims, DEI policies have nothing to do with equity or inclusion, and instead perpetuate the very discrimination and division the Left claims to be fighting,” Ryan Walker, executive vice president of Heritage Action, told The Daily Signal. “The American people have had enough of the political spin and DEI indoctrination that has made our country weaker and more divided than ever.” The legislation covers federal agencies, any contractors who receive federal funding, organizations that obtain federal grants, and educational accreditation entities. It requires the government’s personnel office to eliminate DEI policies and procedures, and affords an individual the right to sue. By urging members of Congress to support the bill, Heritage Action is attempting to build on its success with other legislative measures, including the recently passed Equal Representation Act. Following its decision to key vote cosponsorship of that bill, more than 135 lawmakers in both the House and Senate joined as supporters. Vance promised to “root out DEI” from the federal government by eliminating programs and cutting off funding. “The DEI agenda is a destructive ideology that breeds hatred and racial division,” he said in a statement. “It has no place in our federal government or anywhere else in our society.” DEI is racism, plain and simple. It’s time to outlaw it nationwide, starting with the federal government. https://t.co/IRog7RqONk— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) June 12, 2024 Cloud specifically cited examples of the Biden administration’s embrace of DEI as a reason for acting now: The Food and Drug Administration’s guidance in 2022 prompted some states to ration COVID-19 treatments based on race. The Defense Department authorized a $2 million contract for DEI programming and consulting at schools run by the military. “This bill is a necessary step to restore merit and equality, not equity, in America’s government institutions, and eliminate the DEI bureaucracy that sows division and wastes taxpayer money,” Cloud said. “It’s absurd to fund these divisive policies, especially using Americans’ tax dollars, and it’s time for Congress to put an end to them once and for all.” Dismantle-DEI-ActDownload Following the race riots in 2020, conservatives began sounding the alarm on the government’s role promoting DEI. In September 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling it a “destructive ideology.” Trump banned race and sex stereotyping and prohibited federal grants. Biden immediately reversed Trump’s order on his first day in office on Jan. 20, 2021. Other cosponsors of the bill include Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Rick Scott, R-Fla., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.; along with Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas; Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y.; Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz.; Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn.; Barry Moore, R-Ala.; Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.; Mary Miller, R-Ill.; Randy Weber, R-Texas; Keith Self, R-Texas; Alex Mooney, R-W.Va.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Clay Higgins, R-La.; Rudy Yakym, R-Ind.; Mike Collins, R-Ga.; Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. The Washington Free Beacon first reported the news of the Dismantle DEI Act. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, is sponsoring the Dismantle DEI Act. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images) The post Heritage Action Backs Bill to Eliminate Federal DEI Initiatives appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, have introduced the Dismantle DEI Act. The bill, S. 4516, is a necessary and important bill that would largely put an end to the racist policies being implemented throughout the federal government by the Biden administration under the rubric of diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI policies are typically overtly racist and sexist in that they mandate that government or businesses establish quotas or discriminate based on sex, skin color, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. DEI defines diversity entirely in terms of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex instead of the myriad other kinds of diversity, such as achievement, expertise, experience, approach to business or business philosophy, educational background, socioeconomic background, ethical or political views, integrity, geographic location, and so on. Morally, DEI represents a marked step backward. It is rejection of the principle that people should be judged on the content of their character and their individual achievement, rather than their sex, race, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. It’s a rejection of the principle that people should be judged as individuals rather than as members of a racial or sexual group. It’s also a rejection of the principle of equal protection under the law and a rejection of the principle that we are all created equal. Discrimination or quotas on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex should be a relic of the past. Most Americans agree. Because racism has become so widespread in the federal government, the 48-page Dismantle DEI Act necessarily contains many provisions. First, the bill defines a ‘prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice’ to mean: discriminating for or against any person on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin; or requiring as a condition of employment, promotion, advancement, speaking, making a presentation, or submitting written materials that an employee (a) undergo training, education, or coursework that asserts that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged or (b) sign or assent to a statement, code of conduct, work program, or plan that requires assent by the employee that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged. The federal government, including federal advisory committees, would be prohibited from engaging in prohibited DEI practices. A private cause of action would be created so that private litigants can sue to enforce these requirements. Various statutory DEI-oriented offices and chief diversity officers would be eliminated. The bill would rescind six of President Joe Biden’s executive orders and two Biden administration national security memorandums implementing racist DEI policies. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas—seen here walking down the steps of the U.S. Capitol on June 5—is the House sponsor of the bicameral Dismantle DEI Act. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images) The Cloud-Vance bill would also require the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget to revise all regulations, policies, procedures, manuals, circulars, courses, training, and guidance to comply with the act. It would require the closure of all DEI or similar offices throughout the federal government and would abolish the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council. It would prohibit a wide range of DEI actions and personnel practices by federal officials and prohibit the use of DEI factors in the federal performance appraisal process. Federal contractors and grant recipients would be prohibited from using federal funds to engage in prohibited DEI practices. Most federal contracts would be required to contain a provision specifying that no part of the services performed under the contract can be performed in buildings or surroundings, under working conditions or in a working environment, provided by or under the control or supervision of a contractor or any subcontractor who is subject to, or required to comply with, a prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice. Education accreditation organizations would be prohibited from requiring or coercing any institution of higher education to engage in prohibited diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Financial regulators, including so-called self-regulatory organizations, would be barred from engaging in prohibited [PP1] DEI practices or requiring that regulated entities or members do so. The Dismantle DEI Act would go a long way toward eliminating the pervasive racism that has taken hold of the federal government and restoring equal protection of the law. The post Dismantling DEI = Restoring Equal Protection of Law appeared first on The Daily Signal.