'That's exactly what I'm saying'

'Politically motivated manifesto'

'Heartbreaking'

Asia, one of the most prominent supergroups in rock history, was formed in 1981, bringing together members from some of the most legendary progressive rock bands of the era. The original lineup featured vocalist and bassist John Wetton (formerly of King Crimson), guitarist Steve Howe (from Yes), keyboardist Geoff Downes (also from Yes and The Buggles), and drummer Carl Palmer (from Emerson, Lake & Palmer). This fusion of talent was nothing short of remarkable, combining their collective experiences in progressive rock and merging it with a more accessible, radio-friendly sound that would dominate the early 1980s. Their self-titled debut album, The post Asia’s Best Song On Each Of Their Studio Albums appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—A coalition of parents sued the Bow School District in New Hampshire on Monday after being punished and threatened over a “silent protest” standing up for women’s sports. Multiple parents and one grandfather decided to wear pink wristbands during a soccer game to show support for protecting women’s sports, to which the school district threatened to have them arrested for trespassing, the complaint states. The New Hampshire Department of Education was preliminarily enjoined by the court in September from enforcing a state law that cracked down on biological males from participating in women’s sports. The parents claim that the district “conspired” with a referee and police officer to intimidate and prevent the group from expressing their First Amendment rights, the lawsuit states. After the soccer game, the school banned anyone speaking out from being on school property and attending future games. “Bow School District’s ban on demonstrations criticizing the decision to allow biological boys to play girls’ soccer—cloaked in the language of ‘disruption’ and ‘harassment’—is unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination,” the lawsuit states. “The First Amendment does not allow state-operated schools to become ‘enclaves of totalitarianism.’” The school district’s policy allows officials to monitor the behavior of anyone on school property or in attendance at a school event, which includes “any buildings, vehicles, property, land or facilities used for school purposes or school-sponsored events, whether public or private,” the complaint continues. The high school’s athletics handbook also states that it regulates the conduct and speech of individuals in attendance at games. Days before the soccer game, Nicole Foote, a mother of one of the players on Bow’s team, met with the athletic director to express concern regarding the potential risks of allowing a biological man to compete in women’s sports, to which the director said the court prevented the school from doing anything, the lawsuit states. The athletic director sent an email the night before the game stating that following the handbook, they would “impose obligations” on any actions from the sideline, noting that any “inappropriate signs, references or language” would not be allowed. The athletic director also claimed that some differentiating opinions regarding the game would be fine, according to the complaint. Some individuals who wore the pink wristbands wrote “XX” on them to support female athletes, and no parents on the sidelines wore them in the first half of the game. Besides the wristbands, there were no other indications of parents outwardly protesting, but the athletic director told one parent that he had to take off the wristbands, to which he then argued that First Amendment rights protect the use of the wristbands. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a bill in 2023 that banned transgender individuals from participating in women’s collegiate sports. Similar to Texas, West Virginia passed a law banning biological men from partaking in women’s athletics, but a court blocked the law in April. Bow High School did not immediately provide a comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post School District Sued After Punishing Parents for ‘Silent Protest’ Against Male Player on Girls Soccer Team appeared first on The Daily Signal.

THE CENTER SQUARE—U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman Rep. James Comer subpoenaed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for information about Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz’s alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party. Comer, R-Ky., on Monday subpoenaed Mayorkas after the committee received whistleblower disclosures, learning “of a nonclassified, Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees and additional intelligence reports that contain information regarding Governor Walz’s connections to the CCP,” the Kentucky lawmaker said. Comer’s letter to Mayorkas states: “The Committee has recently received whistleblower disclosures informing the Committee of serious concern among Department of Homeland personnel regarding a long-standing connection between the CCP and Minnesota Governor Timothy James Walz. Specifically, through whistleblower disclosures, the Committee has learned of a nonclassified, Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees—titled ‘NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync’—that contains information about Governor Walz that is relevant to the Committee’s investigation. The Committee has also learned that further relevant information regarding Governor Walz has been memorialized in both classified and unclassified documents in the control of DHS.” The subpoena requires DHS to “produce these documents and communications regarding Governor Walz’s connections with the CCP” and provide intelligence information reports and regional intelligence notes related to Walz. The committee has spent several years investigating CCP political warfare operations involving influencing “important figures in elite political circles to the benefit of the communist People’s Republic of China.” During briefings held with more than 20 federal agencies, it says it learned of CCP “efforts to influence subnational government leaders, including state governors.” “The Committee’s investigation of the CCP—begun long before Governor Walz was elevated to be the vice-presidential candidate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris—seeks to understand the extent of the CCP’s infiltration and influence campaign and to identify legislative reforms to combat CCP political warfare targeting prominent Americans for elite capture,” Comer wrote Mayorkas, adding: “If a state governor and major political party’s nominee for Vice President of the United States has been a witting or unwitting participant in the CCP’s efforts to weaken our nation, this would strongly suggest that there are alarming weaknesses in the federal government’s effort to defend the United States from the CCP’s political warfare that must be urgently addressed.” Obtaining the subpoenaed information will inform the committee about “how successful the CCP has been in waging political warfare in and against the United States, how effectively federal agencies are addressing the communist regime’s campaign, and what reforms are necessary to counter this threat,” he says. In August, Comer launched an investigation into Walz “following reports detailing the Governor’s long-standing connections to CCP entities and officials.” Two weeks ago, he requested information from FBI Director Christopher Wray on Walz’s alleged CCP connection. Walz says he’s visited China roughly 30 times after first teaching a year abroad there in 1989, and remains proud of his ties to China. In response, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the committee’s ranking member, said, “What do you know, it’s the eve of the vice presidential debate, and Chairman Comer has apparently been assigned another flotsam and jetsam errand from the GOP’s political smear barrel. The tarnished hero of the Biden impeachment investigation has just thrown out one of his classic boomerang ‘bombshell’ accusations, revealing to the world that employees at the Department of Homeland Security were actually chatting about Governor Tim Walz over Microsoft Teams message.” Raskin also said it was a “comically trivial, last-ditch attempt to smear Governor Walz” as another “embarrassing and strained attempt to curry favor with Donald Trump’s collapsing campaign” and a way to distract Americans from “Trump’s miserable record on China.” Raskin also said if Comer was “truly worried about elite capture by the CCP,” he would investigate former President Donald Trump; his daughter, Ivanka Trump; and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who Raskin claims financially profited from the CCP. The subpoena commands Mayorkas to appear before the committee on Oct. 7 at 10 a.m. Originally published by The Center Square The post Mayorkas Subpoenaed by House Panel on Walz’s Purported Connection to Chinese Communist Party appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Julian Assange, now a free man, reflected on his long struggle for justice, describing his choice as one between freedom and “unrealizable justice.” In a plea to European lawmakers, Assange called for stronger protection of freedom of expression amidst increasing “impunity, secrecy, and retaliation for telling the truth.” This marked his first public statement since a June plea deal ended nearly 14 years of imprisonment, confinement at an embassy, and house arrest in the UK. Assange’s message highlighted his disillusionment with the legal safeguards for journalists and whistleblowers, which he argued “only existed on paper” or failed to provide meaningful recourse. “I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice, after being detained for years and facing a 175-year sentence with no effective remedy,” he told the Council of Europe in Strasbourg today. He continued, “I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.” Assange was clear in his warning to European legislators that journalistic rights were under severe threat, saying, “The criminalization of news-gathering activities is a threat to investigative journalism everywhere.” Related: Assange’s Plea: A Controversial End to a 14-Year Legal Struggle and the Impact on Free Speech Assange became a figure of worldwide renown in 2010 after WikiLeaks published leaks from former soldier Chelsea Manning, revealing that US forces in Iraq had killed unarmed civilians, including Reuters employees. No one faced justice for these acts. Months later, Assange angered US authorities further by releasing 250,000 diplomatic cables, causing a diplomatic firestorm. After years of legal battles, Assange walked free from a US district court in Saipan in June, following a plea deal where he admitted guilt to conspiring to obtain and release classified national defense documents. He received a 62-month sentence, effectively covered by his time served at London’s Belmarsh Prison. The WikiLeaks founder spent five years in Belmarsh, preceded by seven years of refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy and more than a year under house arrest. British authorities arrested him in 2019 after Ecuador revoked his asylum, ending his nearly seven-year stay in their London embassy. Assange had initially taken refuge there in 2012, fearing extradition to the US via Sweden, where he faced allegations of sexual assault. Though Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2017, Assange remained in the embassy for two more years, worried about US extradition. Speaking to the committee, Assange pointed to a pivotal shift in his ordeal in February 2017, coinciding with Donald Trump’s administration. He described the appointment of Mike Pompeo and William Barr, labeling them “two wolves in MAGA hats,” as intensifying the US government’s hostility towards WikiLeaks while pretending to be populist. He also disclosed that his wife, Stella, and their then-infant son had suffered from US surveillance, including an alleged attempt to collect DNA from his baby’s diaper. Throughout the 90-minute address, seated beside his wife, Assange responded with composure, though he ultimately declined to answer a final question, citing exhaustion. Reflecting on his experience, Assange described it as “profound and surreal” to transition from a cell in Belmarsh to appearing before European lawmakers. He struggled to convey the harshness of his isolation, remarking, “The experience of isolation for years in a small cell is difficult to convey. It strips away one’s sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence.” The following day, European lawmakers were set to debate a draft resolution condemning the US’s actions. Drafted by Thórhildur Sunna Ӕvarsdóttir, an Icelandic MP with the Pirate Party, the resolution sharply criticized the misuse of the US Espionage Act, noting its “dangerous chilling effect” on publishers, journalists, and whistleblowers reporting governmental misconduct. It also criticized the UK for failing to defend Assange’s right to free expression. However, dissenting views arose, notably from British conservative peer Richard Keen. He argued that describing Assange as a political prisoner was “overly polemic” and imprecise, pointing out that Assange had been lawfully detained for violating bail conditions and posed a flight risk. Keen claimed that calling Assange a political prisoner “belittled the fate of true political prisoners” and added that while the proceedings took an exceptionally long time, Assange himself contributed to the delays. Assange’s case, entangled in legal and political disputes for years, remains a powerful symbol in the global struggle for press freedom and the rights of those who expose uncomfortable truths. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post After 14 Years of Confinement, Journalist Julian Assange Calls on Europe to Defend Freedom of Expression appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Trans Activist Who Attacked JK Rowling for Demanding Female Only Spaces Sentenced to Six Years for Rape

Online personality Taylor Lorenz faced brutal online mockery after announcing that she would be leaving the Washington Post in order to strike out on her own. The technology columnist was under investigation for an Instagram story in which she called President Joe Biden a "war criminal," ostensibly for supporting Israel in its military action against the Hamas terrorist group. On Tuesday, she announced her exit from the Post. "I'm going independent and launching my own media outlet on Substack called User Mag," she wrote. "Please consider buying a yearly subscription to help me continue my work." Ironically, Lorenz had previously criticized Substack as being a haven for "Nazis." “I just wanted to get out of legacy media. I feel like it’s just really, really difficult to do the kind of reporting that I want to do on the internet within these kind of older institutions as a primary job,” said Lorenz to the Hollywood Reporter. How are folks reacting?Many on social media mocked and ridiculed Lorenz over her unceremonious departure and demotion. "So Taylor Lorenz 'left' WaPo to start a Substack? Sure, because that doesn’t scream ‘got fired but make it sound trendy’ at all," replied Ariadna Jacob, who says in her X profile that she "survived a ... Taylor Lorenz hit job.""Taylor Lorenz's WaPo reporting served as a conduit for radical leftwing ideology rather than as a beacon of good journalism. Her bias colored her choice of subjects and the angle of her stories with a presentation designed to influence public opinion rather than to inform," said one detractor. "I’m sure it’ll do great, she’ll have literally dozens of readers," read another response. "Good riddance to bad rubbish. Let this Leftist propagandist banshee shrill scream into the void of her echo chamber (while triple masked, of course)," said another critic. Who is this person exactly?Lorenz is known for waging a rhetorical war against many on the right, most notably the "Libs of TikTok" account, which Lorenz has accused of inciting violence and terrorism. She has called on social media platforms to cancel many accounts on the right for refusing to parrot the politically correct narratives endorsed by the far left. She also continued to support coronavirus lockdown measures long after the end of the pandemic, including the wearing of face masks, even in the outdoors. "They are going to save a fortune on masks," joked one account after her exit from WaPo. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A heartbroken mother refused to accept the initial ruling that her daughter's death was a suicide because she believed it was something far more sinister. April Holt — a 29-year-old mother of two — was found by police almost lifeless at her apartment in Antioch, Tennessee, on July 31, 2023. Officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department said they found Holt in the bathroom with a plastic bag duct-taped tightly around her neck. 'And I'm curled up in a ball on a bench next to him, just hysterically crying and just calling out to God to save my child. Even though I knew in my gut that she was gone.' Holt left behind a 12-year-old daughter, an 8-year-old son, and her husband – 33-year-old Donovan Holt.The case was later closed after an autopsy officially ruled Holt’s death a suicide. However, Holt's mother believed her daughter's death was not by her own doing. Jamie Dickerson, Holt's mother, said April embodied positivity, and it was apparent in her TikTok with 200,000 followers. April previously had taught middle schoolers at Believers Faith Fellowship and recently had opened her own lash studio in Nashville.Dickerson recalled how she invited her daughter to the movies just before her death.“We were going to go see the Barbie movie,” Dickerson told WSMV-TV. “She said, ‘Donovan has to work, I can’t go to the movie, but I’ll meet you at church at the Blast classroom tomorrow.’”Dickerson never got a chance to respond to her daughter. The next day, she received the call that would wreck her world. “The phone rang, and it was Donovan, and he was upset — kind of like a panic upset,” Dickerson explained. “He was like, ‘We found April. She wasn’t breathing, and she’s in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.’”Dickerson told Fox News, "So I jumped in my car, but even right when I got the first phone call, I was like, 'Something's not right. April's in perfectly good health.' An hour and a half ago or so, she texted me perfectly fine. So something's not right. Like I thought maybe she had passed out. Maybe she hit her head because she passed out. I didn't know. I mean, like, why would she just not be breathing? I didn't know anything about it.""From that second on, when I got into the room at the hospital, he was just like rocking, like pacing," Dickerson continued. "And I'm curled up in a ball on a bench next to him, just hysterically crying and just calling out to God to save my child. Even though I knew in my gut that she was gone."April Holt died at the Southern Hills Hospital that same day.Once authorities ruled Holt's death a suicide, Dickerson launched her own investigation.“They closed April’s case. DA and everyone agreed to close it," Dickerson said. "I got up, marched out of that room and said, ‘I’m not done, I’m going to keep investigating.’”Dickerson would spend hours each day trying to determine who killed her daughter, but she had one suspect in mind. Dickerson recalled that April said two weeks before her death, "I'm getting a divorce."The mother said of her son-in-law, "He had an obsession with April. So the weird part is, is like you see these movies, and they love somebody so much that they're willing to do literally anything. I think that was him because she'd left him before, and he would sleep outside of her apartment. He would sleep in her car if it was unlocked." "And it's heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking. And so I'm just, I'm not shocked," she said. "I think that when she said that this time she was very serious."A few weeks after her daughter's death, Dickerson's grandson told her he witnessed a fight between his parents on the same day April died, according to the Independent. The outlet also reported that Donovan pawned his wedding ring the week prior to his wife's death. Dickerson told WZTV, "She had bruises on her wrists, her neck, her ankles, her thighs, and none of it was taken as evidence."The mother filed complaints and eventually convinced the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to investigate their own investigation. In the 47-page report, detectives said there were “two hits” of Donovan Holt’s fingerprints on the duct tape roll.Despite the new evidence, Dickerson claimed police told her, "They said they still didn't have enough evidence to convict him."Dickerson said when she saw that key piece of evidence, she confronted Donovan Holt. “I told him he had a choice,” she said. “He could tell me what happened, or I was going to go to the cold case department.”Dickerson said Donovan admitted that he strangled April, dragged her into the shower, and taped a bag over her face to make it appear that she had committed suicide. Dickerson reportedly recorded the conversation — and then she notified police.Last month, Donovan was arrested in San Antonio, Texas.Nashville Police said in a news release that Donovan confessed to detectives with the MNPD's Cold Case Unit in July that he had strangled his wife.On Sept. 19, a grand jury indicted Donovan Holt for reckless homicide, evidence tampering, and false reporting.Holt was extradited back to Nashville where he is being held on $75,000 bond in Davidson County Jail awaiting his Oct. 23 arraignment."The person you were supposed to love, you killed, and then you put a trash bag over her head and ate lunch? Like she wasn't in the other room dead? And then you sent your son in there to be traumatized for the rest of his life. It's just bizarre," Dickerson said.Despite her daughter's murder, Dickerson is praying that Donovon Holt's "heart gets right.""As a Christian woman, I pray that his heart gets right. That's what I would want for him. I know it's what April would want. And even after killing my daughter, that is what I'd want for him," Dickerson said. "And I would want anybody to be able to have everlasting life."Like Blaze News? Circumvent the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!