Social media allows for the darndest things: like this story from the UK where an art consultant and historian saw a post on X and noticed a lost work of art hanging in the background. It was in the judge’s room of the Shire Court in Warwickshire, England, where the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire was […] The post Art Historian Discovers Long-Lost Portrait of Henry VIII in Background of Social Media Post appeared first on Good News Network.

News Waiting For Godot Dude! Bill & Ted’s Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter to Star in Production of Waiting for Godot “Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It’s bogus.” By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 1, 2024 Credit: Orion Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Orion Pictures Here’s some totally awesome news for you: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter of Bill & Ted fame are heading to Broadway to act in a rendition of Waiting for Godot. The play will be directed by Jamie Lloyd and will premiere sometime in fall 2025. The idea for the two actors and friends to take on Godot, much like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen did in 2013, was apparently Reeves’ idea. It was an idea, however, that Winter and Lloyd immediately embraced. “Their instant chemistry and their shorthand and their friendship is going to be so valuable,” Lloyd said of Reeves and Winter in an interview with The New York Times. “This is a very deeply complex play, as we all know, but it’s also a very funny play, and they’re very witty people and their shared sense of humor in those movies and in real life is going to be very beneficial to the production.” Reeves will play Estragon and Winter will play Vladimir in the play by Samuel Beckett. “Those characters take solace in their companionship as they stumble toward the void,” Lloyd told The New York Times, adding, “that’s going to be the central thesis of the production, with Keanu and Alex’s own friendship.” “We’re incredibly excited to be on stage together and work with the great Jamie Lloyd in one of our favorite plays,” Reeves and Winter added in a joint statement. No news yet on the specific premiere date for the production other than fall 2025. It will play at one of the seven Broadway theaters owned by Lloyd’s company, ATG Productions. To keep apprised of developments, you can sign up for updates here. [end-mark] The post Dude! <i>Bill & Ted</i>’s Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter to Star in Production of <i>Waiting for Godot</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts Horror Read an Excerpt From Nicholas Belardes’s The Deading A harrowing dystopian novel about the downward spiral of a seaside town that becomes infected by a mysterious ocean-borne contagion. By Nicholas Belardes | Published on August 1, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from The Deading by Nicholas Belardes, a dystopian eco-horror novel available now from Erewhon Books. If you want to stay, you have to die.In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.Once infected, residents of Baywood start “deading”: collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected, including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.At points claustrophobic and haunting, soulful and melancholic, The Deading lyrically explores the disintegration of society, the horror of survival and adaptation, and the unexpected solace found through connections in nature and between humans. Katherine asks if Bernhard will be in their bed tonight. When he doesn’t answer, she slams the car door, starts the engine. Seconds later she makes a sharp turn onto Main Street, her haunting form a blur, taillights dwindling to pink dots. Bernhard watches her pass Windy Cove alongside Great Blue Heron silhouettes in a eucalyptus rookery, branches fingerlike over the bay. In them, giant shaggy birds, their plumage lined with ritual markings, long bills sharp and deadly. They’re haggard witches casting spells on the cars beneath them. He walks over to the marina, tries to forget his wife’s image, her voice, but sees nightmare images. Glimpses of her great-grandmother standing atop the night sea, slowly sinking, asking him to join her. He still sees the apparition while slipping into a dinghy and piloting toward the oyster farm’s floating dock. He ignores the ghost, really a tidal marker that he soon passes, tells himself he can sit in his office and crunch numbers. He’ll smell the sea, let the lull of the bay cradle him, and that will be that. The moonless boat ride makes him feel blind while he cuts across windless waters. Images of Mary fade, though his anxiety is replaced with a new reality. Magaña. Jotaro. The Goldilocks Zone. Poisoned streams. Large die-offs from estuarine organisms, microalgae, tainted plants, chemicals. He knows deep down there really may be a connection. Won’t stop him from growing shellfish. He’ll never cease production. He’ll keep those oysters right where they are, let them tumble and churn in muddy bay water. He doesn’t care. His oysters act like both filter and sponge. They’ll steal the bay’s nutrients until nothing is left. Other organisms can just leave the tidelands if they can’t find anything to eat, if they can’t handle the silt. Let them die if they must. Buy the Book The Deading Nicholas Belardes Buy Book The Deading Nicholas Belardes Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget A few dim lights on the floating dock guide him. Above those, the Milky Way shoots its arm along the bowl of night, looms like an open wound revealing the scintillating white-and-blue blood of starlight. Behind the boat, Morro Bay glitters, as does Baywood across to the south. Car lights east of the estuary move in a distant line along San Luis Bay Boulevard. Frigid air seeps into the bay while he moors the boat and climbs to the dock. Something about the cold feels comforting. He likes the slight breeze, the cold moisture settling on him, in his lungs. And right now he likes the chill and isolation. This aloneness reminds how he can be a forgotten thing trapped in darkness and seawater. He thinks how a lone sea lion might feel foraging in the protective harbor of the bay. No great white sharks here. No predatory whales. Walking across the dock, he sees something—another ghostly form, this one standing amid oyster bags. He shudders before realizing who it is. Deb should be leaving about now. Doesn’t matter. If she wants to rake bags he’ll pay. He knows she’s desperate like Chango, trying to save money to rent an apartment in Baywood. Bernhard is sure most of his workers have roommates—probably five or more in a two-bedroom unit. No one can afford to live alone on Bernhard’s shit pay. You can’t really make it around here unless you’re a business owner, lawyer, supervisor, manager of some kind, administrator, doctor or nurse practitioner. A simple home in Morro Bay or Baywood can easily cost a million. He knows Chango lives with his mother and brother, and she owns a salon. She’s not rich and probably needs him to help pay the mortgage. But what man wants to live with his mother forever? The rush of tidewater slips past the dim-lit dock. Salt tickles Bernhard’s nostrils. He waves to Deb’s dark form, calls out, “Any snails?” For a moment, he leans over the rail, admires the sound of his farm, the churn of oyster bags, seawater flushing them. He really does love the system he’s set up to take advantage of nature’s forces, the moon, and tidal movements. Ever since he was a boy he’s felt this way, that he needed to master nature’s forces. His father mastered waterways, built dams. Those obstructions destroyed diadromous spawning grounds until fish ladders were installed. Hell if Bernhard was ever going to help any bay fish. Let them gulp for air. Oyster bags placed more than a year ago have been covered by the incoming tide. Each bag contains 120 oysters, once merely larval seeds, now mounted in areas around the dock. Each shellfish needs air, needs to squeeze its muscles, needs to be tossed and turned, agitated while the tide washes in and out. Buoys tied to their rise and fall hold them steady. Fully grown oysters sell in bulk to seaside restaurants and markets in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Bakersfield, Fresno, even small towns like Delano, Arvin, and Hanford. He distributes quickly and efficiently. At harvest he has five hours to pull bags from the water and refrigerate them to prevent each oyster from sloughing into a warm mass of guts inside each shell. What really makes him proud is the demand for his shellfish. His oysters have developed a unique flavor from the quality of estuary water, from stabilized temperatures, from phytoplankton that Morro Bay oysters feed upon. He knows this one-of-a-kind bay turns over faster than others, leading to more nutrients for each shellfish. The fresh water flow from Chorro and Los Osos creeks shifts the taste to a sweet underpalate, a green melon rind, he calls it. This year he increased his oyster farm size. When he did, some of the local fish stopped migrating into the bay. Didn’t bother him. His worry has always been growth-stunted oysters rather than snails. Only a few bags have turned out smaller shells. He blames that on seed oysters bought from a hatchery in Kona, Hawaii. That won’t happen again, he’s told himself. He goes with a different supplier these days. He ignores whether Deb answers or not and slips into his office, wishing he hadn’t left that snail with Magaña. She’ll probably publish some related paper, make sure to blame his oyster farm for attracting the damn thing to the back bay. One snail. One stupid snail. He’ll deal with Magaña in his own way, in his own time. His profits will speak to that. Simple fact: He helps fuel tourism that pours money into oysters, not to mention all the taxes and permits. The entities that be? They need his money to pay their damn wages and pensions. The environmentalists can just deal with his oyster farm the way they deal with hunters shooting ducks and geese that flock to the bay every winter. The light in his office, dim and yellow, stares downward. Always something wrong with that bulb in the dock shack. He has his tablet, a beacon now popped open to his financial notes, illuminating him like a sea-ghost, and starts writing about farm expansion. Pulls numbers from last year’s profits, from multiple bank accounts, adding the new stock he wants in organics and storage. Has to feed the needs of his high-end clients. These aren’t all hard numbers, just estimations, how he free-forms his dream to make more and more. He realizes that in two years he can quadruple his oyster bed. Plenty of room in the bay to grow ten times larger. He can expand into that shoe size, sure he can. Slow growth, he tells himself. Play the long game. Speed it up if possible. A half hour passes when the silence hits him. Closing his eyes, mind washed from thoughts of snails, he feels this moment. His heart wants to slow. The salt fog and mist now creeping in feel so fresh in his lungs. The calmness of the bay. Just the creak of wood, that lick of bay water against the boats, the dock. No seal splashes in the tidewater. No otter squeals, random gull or cormorant calls. No tern cries in the night. Everything slipping into sleep, a sleep that never usually comes because the bay never tires, never stops making noise. This rare silence feels like the kind of break he needs. This peace lasts all of ten seconds because it finally hits him that Deb needs the floodlights or she might get stuck out on those bags. Hasn’t heard her singing to herself like she sometimes does. No rake sounds either. Wonders if he’s heard anything other than bags scraping against one another. He sure hasn’t heard her boat leave the dock. Bernhard grabs a broom, pokes the office light. The bulb buzzes, pops as if sound and light can mix, brightens the room. About to hit the switch for the floodlights, he sees something tiny and yellowish latched to the doorframe. It’s round. It slithers. Just like that, all of his insides reverse course, fire into a frenzy. “Goddam it, Deb.” He plucks the spiral onto his hand, its mucous foot pools a slithery mess. Even as he rages, he feels something. Pinpricks on his palm. Not too strong. Almost an electricity, a warmth. A strange sense of connection to the creature. Palm against foot. Mucus against skin. Hunger against hunger. He lowers his hand to the dock, rolls the shell off his palm. The snail hides its slithery eyes, seems to know what’s coming. Bernhard lowers his boot, smashes the snail into a paste. He turns on floodlights now, exposing the topmost layer of oysters in a bright glow. He’s ready to yell, to curse at Deb, at Magaña, at Jorato as if they’re the Blob, the 228 sextillion joules of heat bursting from an ocean trench. He feels the burn in his insides, this tremble, this fear of what might happen, this anger that this snail he’s crushed should have been found sooner, that Magaña’s report should have got to him at a more convenient time. That’s when he sees her. Deb stiff in her orange bibs, covered in sea muck and gastropods, an ungodly terror in her eyes. Creatures slither across Deb’s face, into her open mouth, on her exposed hands and arms. “Move,” Bernhard wills her to stop just standing there. “Get over here.” He can hear the desperation in his voice, but somehow knows she can’t move, somehow knows that fear, or something else, has plastered her feet to this unknown, frozen her to the bay. She needs to be rescued from the bags, from the snails. He’s instantly aware of this. He just doesn’t know if he’s the one to do it. Then he realizes it’s not just her. Every exposed bag wriggles with snails. Thousands of yellow stars have crashed onto the oyster farm. If only he could have seen them creeping in their knobby, coiled shells, slipping into the bay, the result of a distant swelling, a mass proliferation beyond explanation that in its inevitable wake expanded toward the coastline, pulled to the scent of his oyster farm as if by the moon, and something else driving the snails, something in them that they’re carrying, that they need to pass on. The ochre gastropods have slithered on tiny singular yellow feet, crawling, siphons pulsing, drawing water into their gills, searching through interconnecting sea currents, and like their own ravenous tide of hunger, have found their way to the same estuary as their brethren’s remains. Thirty years into the great ocean warming, they’ve finally arrived to feast. Bernhard is in disbelief that so many gastropods can take over so quickly. Something has seriously gone wrong for this kind of plague to consume so much so fast. If he’d only had that damn warning, he might have pulled every bag from the bay. An early harvest means smaller oysters, but something could have been done. Theoretically, he could have moved them all. The snail discovered earlier should have been warning enough to try something, anything. A wash of guilt smashes Bernhard. He’s failed Deb. But he’s failed his oysters too. His eyes meet hers with a kind of helplessness and terror while a snail crawls out of her mouth. He doesn’t know what to do. Snails shouldn’t be able to do this to her. He can’t even say her name. Just knows he’s faced with two choices, one that means entering this area swarming with gastropods, or something else, something that can maybe save his farm. The horror in her eyes locks on his, begs him to leap onto the bags and kick his way through that slithering mess. Adrenaline screams through his body. He knows he’s her boss. He’d be happy to rescue her from a burning boat. But this. She’s not your friend, he tells himself. She’s not going anywhere, wouldn’t have done anything special with her life. She can be consumed. Even then, he twitches, pauses. Then it really hits him. You don’t have to do anything. She’s not your responsibility. Not now. Not when this happens. He feels a throbbing deep in his gut, a kind of pain mixed with anger and fear. “Goddam,” he says. “Think, think.” Another option smashes him like a lead weight. Molluscicide. He could try saving the oysters with chemicals. Right now that alternative is waiting for him like some kind of shadow at the end of the dock. A promise. Yes, a promise to himself, his clients, his family for godsakes. Something in him doesn’t want to quit them, doesn’t want to give up on all of this. In the end, Bernhard knows everything always boils down to two choices: fight one fire or fight another. His eyes peel away from Deb. He runs into his office, opens a closet, pries open a sealed container. Packed inside, several jugs and a barrel labeled HAWLEY’S MOLLUSCICIDE B that he experimented with more than a year ago. Fish started popping to the surface that day, choking to death. He scooped them up, said nothing. Made Deb and Chango swear to secrecy. They’ve been really good to him keeping that one. He gave each a big Christmas bonus. Neither said a word to Magaña. Bernhard hooks the barrel to a sprayer that dilutes the chemical with seawater and sprays the bags closest to him. He looks to Deb again. She’s gone. Nothing but dark waves. No floating body. No seals or otters. No night birds. Nothing. She’s slipped off the oyster bags into the tide. He feels sick but doesn’t have time to worry, not about her. He’s made his decision and is sticking with it, he’s made the right call. He sprays and sprays without a glance to where Deb stood. He’ll douse them, he thinks, get the other jugs, douse some more, then get the hell out. That’s what he’ll do, he tells himself. Get the hell out, come back in the morning, report Deb missing. He’ll tell the authorities she must have had an epic battle trying to save his oysters. He owes her that much. He owes her family. That’s what he’ll do. He owes them. Then he realizes a sensation, a feeling of numbness where the snail mucous touched his palm. A stiffness extends into his fingers. The other snail didn’t do this, he thinks, why this one? His breathing grows rapid though he figures he may be having a panic attack. He sets down the hose, lets the mixture shoot over the dock, then grabs a jug, dumps it straight into the tidewaters. He does this with two other jugs—pours chemicals straight into the bay. No dilution. Nothing. He knows it’s pure insanity to dump any toxin, let alone this much, but doesn’t have a choice. He starts to feel dizzy by the time he has one jug left, the sprayer still shooting It’s time to get away, he tells himself. He’ll leave this dock, get some help. Maybe he’ll change his plan, tell the authorities he tried to save Deb, that she was helping fight the oysters. His hand now feels like a lump of flesh. A dull pain shoots up his arm. He struggles to remove the last lid then moves down the dock, pours chemicals along the dinghy. Snails dislodge, fall into the sea. A sickness enters his stomach followed by a lightheadedness from inhaling chemicals. Climbing down now, he tries to grab a rung with his numb hand and falls into the boat with the jug. Toxins splash and pour. He wipes at his face and burning lips. Blisters form, parts of him turn to slick paper. At the same time he splashes more poison along the boat, killing snails. Makes his way to the motor feeling like he’s on fire. He pumps the primer bulb. When he does, a snail latches to his good hand. “Goddam it,” he cries, knocking it off. He turns the throttle to the right then presses the electric start. The engine fires up. He realizes in the dim light and panic that he hasn’t unmoored, grabs the jug, dumps chemicals along the rubber hull, tries to kill snails already slithering up the sides. While he fumbles to untie the boat, the shaking of its high idle kicks the engine into gear. He hasn’t checked if it’s completely in neutral. The dinghy lurches forward. When it does, Bernhard finds himself midair, boat slipping away. For the slightest second he reaches for an invisible hand along the Milky Way’s spiral arm. But nothing, not even begging the universe just then, can stop his momentum. His ass hits the side of the boat first, then his legs. He tries to grab hold, but the boat squirts from under him. He falls into the toxic, snail-filled sea. When he comes up for air he roars and cries an empty wailing, one he knows no one will hear, one that seabirds and seals will ignore, just as their deaths have always been ignored by humans. A slithering mass comes for Bernhard, countless snails fill the tideland waters around his arms, legs, mouth, and nose. He swims through them, mostly with one arm, reaches toward the dock ladder. He doesn’t get far. Snails have latched to his burning skin with their sticky primordial glue. He feels his body going numb, can smell chemicals in the water, on his neck, face, and hands. Though many of the creatures float dead or dying, there are too many. The dock becomes a blur by the time he reaches the ladder. He can’t grab it. His good hand has gone stiff while the other hangs as if broken. Managing an elbow over a rung, he can’t hold on, feels himself going, and lets out a cry, slipping back into the waves. He loses sight while he treads water, and in this moment time slows. His thoughts jump to the creatures themselves, wonders how they propel themselves through seawater, how they could arrive in such numbers, why they didn’t attack some other farm up or down the coast. Tens of thousands, possibly more, swimming, tumbling through currents, undetected. He imagines the ocean Blob, all the snails caught in its heat, his hatred for them burns. He sees Katherine’s pale cheeks in his mind, her watching from the dock, her feet lifting from boards. She hovers out over the water, above him in a white dress, eyes black as space. She bores into him, watches him start to sink. Slowly she transforms into someone else, her ghostly grandmother who watches from hallway photos, and sometimes from atop the sea. A cold terror rises in his spine and stomach. Snails enter Bernhard’s mouth, slip down his throat. He can no longer swallow. He can only slip beneath these waves, where pain of another consciousness burns and tears into his mind. Somehow he doesn’t die though he gulps water into his lungs. Drifting near the bottom, he feels himself transforming. Images break and fail. Two women in the deep, heads tilted near his, mouths open, gulping, eyes black pits, hair flowing in deathly spirals. He breathes the muck in and out. He sees darkness until even the women fade away. He feels alone. So alone. So cold. Until a new terror comes. Something in him. Around him. It’s here in the murk. Bernhard feels set adrift in his own skull. Facing nothing, surrounded by darkness, eyes open, seeing nothing, no light, no shape. Only the numb feeling of this murk. The cold. In a way, this helps him. It reveals the truth. Finally. He is alone. No one to help. All his life he has run from this thing he’s been born to do, to help the sea. Why didn’t he listen? Is something with him now? What’s that? What’s here? He’s always wondered what would happen if he stopped fighting, if he just let go. He’s been afraid of how far he might fall. This is the place he’s always feared. The bottom. The depths. The bay. This presence. The sea. Excerpted from The Deading, copyright © 2024 by Nicholas Belardes. The post Read an Excerpt From Nicholas Belardes’s <i>The Deading</i> appeared first on Reactor.

News Sweetpea Ella Purnell Is Murderously Forgettable in Sweetpea Teaser Trailer A murderous wallflower By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 1, 2024 Credit: Starz Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Starz There’s a violently dark comedy coming to Starz. The show is called Sweetpea and features Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets, Fallout) as Rhiannon, who is apparently “a quiet wallflower who develops a vengeful and intoxicatingly liberating taste for murder.” As you do. The teaser the network released today is very much that, but we do see everyone overlooking Rhiannon and a glimpse of her covered in blood screaming, Carrie style. Here’s the synopsis: Rhiannon Lewis doesn’t make much of an impression—people walk past her in the street without a second glance. She’s continually overlooked for a promotion at work, the guy she likes won’t commit, and her dad is really, really sick. Then everything in her life turns upside down. Rhiannon is pushed over the edge and loses control. Suddenly the wallflower is gone, and in its place is a young woman capable of anything… Rhiannon’s life transforms as she steps into a new, intoxicating power, but can she keep her killer secret? “I truly cannot wait for the world to meet Sweetpea!” said Purnell, who is also an executive producer on the project. “I’ve loved exploring this incredibly complex character, as well as working alongside our dynamic cast and powerhouses Ella Jones, Kristie Swain, and Patrick Walters. This has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my career so far. At its core, the series is about a woman finally finding her voice, told through a uniquely dark and comedic lens. I hope audiences have as much fun going on Rhiannon Lewis’ wild, coming-of-rage journey as we did bringing it to life.” The series was adapted from C.J. Skuse’s novel of the same name by writer Kirstie Swain (Pure), alongside Krissie Ducker (Killing Eve), Laura Jayne Tunbridge, and Selina Lim (Sex Education, Hanna). In addition to Purnell, the ensemble cast includes Nicôle Lecky (Sense8) as Julia, Jon Pointing (Big Boys) as Craig, Calam Lynch (Bridgerton) as AJ, Leah Harvey (Foundation) as Marina, Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso) as Norman, and Dustin Demri-Burns (Slow Horses) as Jeff. The six-part series is set to premiere on Starz sometime in October 2024. Check out the teaser below. [end-mark] The post Ella Purnell Is Murderously Forgettable in <i>Sweetpea</i> Teaser Trailer appeared first on Reactor.

Get Ready For the Democrats' 'No Kings Act'

Minutes after word began trickling out Thursday morning that a major prisoner swap between the United States, Russia, and five other countries was underway that’d bring home The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, CBS Mornings immediately went political and went right to speculating about what this will mean for President Biden’s “legacy” while Trump’s “hype factor” promising to get Gershkovich out has been “silenced.” Fill-in co-host Kristine Johnson took it in a political direction with this ask of chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes: “I’m also thinking about the Biden administration as a whole, the President’s decision to drop out of the race and now this news. I know it was a major priority for his administration. How does this look then for his legacy?” Not even five minutes after news broke of Russia releasing Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, 'CBS Mornings' celebrated this as a “major feather in [Joe Biden's] cap” and touchstone of his “legacy”.... Kristine Johnson: “As I think of these families and the news and the relief… pic.twitter.com/7lT0eeEFkl — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 1, 2024 Cordes eventually focused things back on the difficulty of negotiating with these hostile regimes, but briefly entertained the political angel: This would be a major feather in his cap because it has been so difficult negotiating with Russia, Kristine. President Biden has long said that it is a top priority for him to bring Evan Gershkovich home, to bring Paul Whelan home. Obviously, they secured the release of basketball star Brittney Griner last year and she came home to much fanfare, but these deals are controversial.  Also serving as a fill-in co-host, chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett took a pot shot at Trump: CBS’s Major Garrett: “One thing that is interesting about the Evan Gershkovich part of this, former President Trump has been saying without any provocation, without any underlying justification, that anyone can find out, oh, if I'm elected, I'll get Evan out. Well, guess what,… pic.twitter.com/SWsgzP4GMp — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 1, 2024 “And to Kristine’s point, now Biden puts this on his legacy as he is on his way out of office,” Burleson reiterated. To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 1, click “expand.” CBS Mornings August 1, 2024 8:32 a.m. Eastern [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; U.S. Prisoner Swap Underway] KRISTINE JOHNSON: Nancy, Kristine Johnson here. As I think of these families and the news and the relief they must be feeling, I’m also thinking about the Biden administration as a whole, the President’s decision to drop out of the race and now this news. I know it was a major priority for his administration. NANCY CORDES: Yeah. JOHNSON: How does this look then for his legacy? CORDES: This would be a major feather in his cap because it has been so difficult negotiating with Russia, Kristine. President Biden has long said that it is a top priority for him to bring Evan Gershkovich home, to bring Paul Whelan home. Obviously, they secured the release of basketball star Brittney Griner last year and she came home to much fanfare, but these deals are controversial. There are some who argue that any time we negotiate the release of an American who has been wrongfully detained, it simply makes bad actors like Vladimir Putin around the world more likely to take Americans prisoner in the first place. And so, you know, these are very delicate, complicated negotiations. Sometimes, there are months that go by where U.S. officials simply get no response from the Russians. For example, we know that part of the reason that talks over Gershkovich’s release were delayed for so long was because the Russians were likely not going to be willing to seriously engage in talks until he was convicted. Now, obviously, U.S. officials say this is a sham trial. He never did anything wrong in the first place. He was simply reporting from Russia as U.S. reporters have done for decades. But nevertheless, that is how these — how these talks ten to go, that the Russians simply won’t engage until they have convicted someone and sometimes in the case of Paul Whelan who was convicted years ago, even then they are unwilling to release them. NATE BURLESON: Nancy, thank you. Major, this is major. MAJOR GARRRETT: So, there will be political repercussions as Nancy described. BURLESON: Yeah. GARRETT: Sometimes these deals are viewed harshly. The information that we have leads us to believe that the person that the Russians sought is in German custody, not U.S. custody. We’ll have to wait for confirmation on that. BURLESON Right. GARRETT: One thing that is interesting about the Evan Gershkovich part of this, former President Trump has been saying without any provocation, without any underlying justification, that anyone can find out, oh, if I’m elected, I’ll get Evan out. Well, guess what, that’s now off the table. BURLESON: Mmmmm! GARRETT: Whether that was politically relevant or not to voters in this country, we don’t know, but for reasons known only to former President Trump, he was hyping this. Well, that hype factor has now been silenced. BURLESON: Yeah. And to Kristine’s point, now Biden puts this on his legacy as he is on his way out of office. JOHNSON: Yeah, exactly. And we’ll be hearing from him shortly, as well.

Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame member Terrell Davis accused United Airlines of "mistreatment" after he was removed from a flight in mid-July.Davis told reporters he was stripped of his dignity when he was arrested on a flight in front of his wife and children."I was powerless. I couldn't do anything," he told CNN.'I believe if I were not a black man, I wouldn't have been in handcuffs.'The incident occurred during a flight from Denver to Orange County, California, when Davis said that he gave a simple "tap" on a flight attendant's shoulder after the airline employee "either didn’t hear or ignored his request" for some ice and "continued past our row," Davis recalled. "I calmly reached behind me and lightly tapped [the attendant's] arm to get his attention to again ask for a cup of ice for my son,” Davis wrote on Instagram July 15. "He shouted, 'Don’t hit me,' and left the cart to hurriedly approach the front of the plane. I was confused, as were the passengers in front of me who witnessed the exchange. I thought nothing of it other than this particular employee was incredibly rude and blatantly wrong in his accusations of me hitting him."Davis went on to say that he thought that was the end of the incident until he was handcuffed and taken off the flight in front of his family after the plane landed. He later claimed he would not have received the same treatment if he were not black."I believe if I were not a black man, I wouldn't have been in handcuffs until they found out exactly what happened," Davis said, according to NBC News.The news network also said the FBI confirmed that agents responded to "an allegation of a violent assault" on the United flight. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Terrell Davis (@therealterrelldavis)United Airlines told CNN that the flight attendant had been "removed" from duty while the company closely reviewed the matter."This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide, and we have reached out to Mr. Davis' team to apologize," the airline said.Nearly two weeks later, Davis revealed he had received a letter from United Airlines banning him from using the airline during its investigation.The letter from United Airlines was posted to Davis' Instagram account Tuesday, and the letter said the airline's policy is to "delay or refuse any passenger whose conduct or condition threatens the safety of the employees and passengers."The statement added, "Based on the nature of the reported incident that occurred on UA1061 on July 13, 2024, this shall serve as a notice that you are not permitted to fly on United Airlines or any regional carrier operating as United Express until a review of the incident by United's Passenger Incident Review Committee has occurred."Davis added in the caption of the Instagram post that he was placed on United's "No Fly List after it was determined I did nothing wrong and was released."He added, "While my family and I continue to have difficult conversations with our children, I will continue to fight for what is right for all passengers of [United]."'We have apologized to Mr. Davis for his experience and continue to review our handling of incidents like this.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Terrell Davis (@therealterrelldavis)NBC News also reported that on Tuesday — the same day Davis' follow-up Instagram post went live — United rescinded its travel ban on Davis and fired the flight attendant: "Mr. Davis received this letter the day after the incident. It was generated due to the report of the flight attendant — who is no longer employed by United. The day after the letter was sent, we discussed with Mr. Davis' team that it had been rescinded. We have apologized to Mr. Davis for his experience and continue to review our handling of incidents like this to protect our highest priority — the safety of our customers and crew."However, the ordeal is still not finished, according to Davis' legal team at Stinar, Gould, Grieco, and Hensley. The law firm made its own post on Instagram alleging that United didn't contact the firm regarding any removal of Davis from the temporary ban list."United has claimed that this information was already communicated to the Davis Family through his lawyers. This is blatantly false," the statement read. "We continue to be disappointed by the inappropriate and disrespectful handling of this horrific incident by United's communication and legal teams."The statement also called for an "overhaul" of the United Airlines "leadership" while alleging that United has attempted to "discredit the timeline of events."United Airlines told Blaze News that the day after the letter was sent to Davis, airline officials discussed with Davis' legal team that the ban had been rescinded."We have apologized to Mr. Davis for his experience and continue to review our handling of incidents like this to protect our highest priority — the safety of our customers and crew," an unnamed spokesperson said.According to United's own timeline, not only did the airline communicate to Davis' legal team the day after the initial letter was sent, it "communicated again" with Davis' legal team the next day about the letter being rescinded.Lynn Smith — a public relations representative for Stinar, Gould, Grieco, and Hensley — provided Blaze News with the same statement from the firm's Instagram page. However, the spokeswoman added that United made "false claims" that "Mr. Stinar was informed of the travel ban being rescinded."Parker Stinar is the founding and managing partner of the law firm.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Joe Biden may have dropped out of the 2024 presidential race — but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to take the country down with him on his way out. In a speech on Monday at the LBJ Presidential Library in Texas, Biden outlined his plan to get back at Trump and “reform” the Supreme Court, and he railed against the “extreme positions” he believes some of the justices hold. “I’m calling for a constitutional amendment, called ‘No one is above the law amendment,’” Biden mumbled. “No immunity for crimes former president committed while in office.” “That already exists. They can’t actually commit crimes on purpose,” Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” comments. “If the president, if he was about to go strangle one of the reporters there and kill them, he would be held responsible and accountable for that.” Biden continued his barely intelligible speech, telling the audience that he believes “we should have term limits for Supreme Court Justices of the United States as well.” “The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats in their high court. Term limits would help ensure that the court membership changes with some regularity,” Biden said, proposing an 18-year-term limit. “That would help ensure the country would not have what it has now, an extreme court,” he continued, noting that those on the court have “an extreme agenda.” “They’re always following the playbook of socialists and Nazis and fascists,” Gray says, after Keith Malinak notes that Cuban American congressmen and women said the first thing Nicholas Maduro did in Venezuela was change the Supreme Court. However, Speaker Mike Johnson claims that the plan would be “dead on arrival.” When reporters asked Biden about Johnson’s claim, Biden retorted with “he is,” as in Johnson is “dead on arrival.” “Isn’t that violent rhetoric? Is that a threat?” Gray asks, shocked. Want more from Pat Gray?To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Joe Rogan took the Democratic Party to task on a recent podcast episode, where he also declared who he believes would be a superior presidential candidate over Vice President Kamala Harris. Rogan also made his 2024 presidential election prediction and warned of another presidential assassination attempt. On an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" released this week, the prolific podcaster was joined by Michael Malice – an author, podcaster, and anarchist political commentator. The duo discussed a myriad of political topics, including the 180-degree flip of the portrayal of Harris by the legacy media, the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, how the Democratic Party forgoes democracy by propping up Kamala without holding any primary elections, and so-called "gender-affirming care" for children.'It's not real democracy. It’s controlled parties.'Malice remarked that it is the "gaslighting" regarding Harris that bothers him the most. Rogan pointed out how Harris was the least popular vice president of all time, and now she is a media darling. "And then in a moment, a moment in time, all of a sudden, she’s our solution," Rogan declared. "She's our hero. Everybody’s with her, all these social media posts about her. Try Googling a negative story on her, you won’t find one. Ta-da!”An NBC News poll published in June 2023 showed that only 32% of registered voters have a positive view of Harris, compared to 49% with a negative view, including 39% with a "very negative view." Harris had a net -17 rating, which was the lowest for any vice president in the poll’s history.Social media users have contended that influential internet search engines are suppressing news about Trump while elevating positive news about Harris. Malice said the media has been covering for Harris for years. Malice recalled the second 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate when then-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard obliterated Harris. Malice said, "So in 2019, our pal Tulsi absolutely nuked her [Harris] in that second debate."Following Kamala's disastrous debate at the hands of Gabbard, she plummeted to single digits in the polls and dropped out of the race in December 2019. Meanwhile, Gabbard was the most Googled candidate after the first, second, and fourth 2020 Democratic debates. Gabbard ended her presidential campaign in March 2020. Rogan then bashed the Democratic Party for not embracing Gabbard as a presidential candidate because it has an agenda. "Well, it just shows you that what they’re looking for is not what they say they’re looking for,” Rogan stated. “Because she [Tulsi] is a strong woman. She is a person who served overseas twice in a medical unit. So she got to see people blown up by the war. She was a congresswoman for eight years.”Rogan continued, "She is a person of color. She’s everything you want, all those things you want, and yet you don’t want her."Malice theorized that the Democratic Party brushed aside Gabbard because she's "not for war."Rogan added, "Yes, well, she’s also just not willing to play ball. There’s a game that’s being played, and if you’re like, 'Hey, you’re not supposed to f***ing move the ball.' 'Like, oh, look at this b***h over here. Like, get out of here. You’re gonna f*** up our game.' It’s not real democracy. It’s controlled parties.”Despite knocking Harris, Rogan proclaimed that Harris would defeat Trump in the 2024 presidential election. “She’s gonna win,” Rogan said of Kamala. Malice disagreed and said Harris would not win November's election because "the more she talks" the worse she would perform with voters.He pointed to Kamala's failed 2020 presidential campaign: "How bad do you have to be that you can’t even make Iowa? She couldn't even compete with the mayor of South Bend."Malice also questioned Kamala's intelligence and cited her 2020 quote about Ukraine and Russia. "So, Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia," she said. "Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong, and it goes against everything that we stand for."Malice also believed that Harris would not get the black male vote in the way that Biden did. He added that anyone not voting for Harris would be labeled a racist and a sexist. Rogan noted that Harris could win the election not necessarily on her merits but rather by the overwhelming propaganda supporting Kamala. "I feel like we are in this very bizarre time where people are giving into the bulls**t in a way that I never suspected people would before," Rogan said. "They just want no Trump no matter what, and they're willing to gaslight themselves." Rogan admitted that he thought the assassination attempt on Trump would have galvanized his presidential chances. However, he highlighted how the corporate media "memory-holed" the assassination attempt on the former president. The podcasters discussed how Google’s auto-complete search feature did not generate an autogenerated suggestion when typing in “Trump assassination attempt.”Google contended, "There was no manual action taken. Our systems have protections against Autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event."Rogan and Malice both agreed that there would be another assassination attempt on Trump. Rogan asked, "Do you think they're gonna try to take him [Trump] out again?"Malice replied, “Yes.” Rogan agreed, "Yeah, I do too. I think if they did that, this is not the only time they're gonna do that. And then also, that one was so Lee Harvey Oswald, it was so perfect lone gunman, take him out." You can watch the entire "The Joe Rogan Experience" episode with Michael Malice here. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) announced Thursday his plan to introduce new legislation that would undercut the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling.The act, if passed, would make clear that Congress has the authority to decide "to whom federal criminal laws may be applied," instead of the Supreme Court, according to the proposed legislation, NBC News reported.In response to a motion filed by Donald Trump's legal counsel, the Supreme Court ruled last month that the former president is entitled to "absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority." He also has "at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts," the high court found.As a result of the Supreme Court's ruling, a federal case against Trump that alleged he unlawfully maintained classified documents after his presidency — one of the four cases lodged against Trump — was recently dismissed by United States District Judge Eileen Cannon, who determined that special counsel Jack Smith's "appointment and funding" were "unlawful."The judge's decision to toss the case sparked outrage from Trump's Democratic opponents. In the days following the ruling, Schumer wrote on X, "We were all taught in grade school that there are no kings here in America. But what the MAGA Justices have done is effectively place a crown on Trump's head."He announced lawmakers were working on a bill to classify Trump's actions listed in the cases as "unofficial acts." As part of the Supreme Court's ruling, it determined that current and former presidents are not entitled to immunity for unofficial acts; however, it did not define what constitutes an official or unofficial act.On Thursday, one month after the high court's decision, Schumer stated that he plans to propose the No Kings Act to undo the "disastrous immunity ruling" by the "MAGA Supreme Court.""The Founders were explicit: no man in America shall be a king. But the MAGA Supreme Court threw out centuries of precedent and anointed Trump and subsequent presidents as kings above the law. That's why I'm introducing the No Kings Act to crack down on this dangerous precedent," Schumer wrote in a post on X.In a separate social media post, he stated, "This bill would reaffirm that the President is not immune to legal accountability and remove the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear appeals related to presidential immunity."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!