'Conspiracy to commit smuggling'

The photo actually shows a business editor for The Times, not Murphy

He sounded off about the recent crime wave in Los Angeles

He said he wanted to break the bank, and he did just that

Trial on federal gun charges began Monday

News Outlander Outlander’s Seventh Season Returns in November Time-travel romance can go on forever, right? By Molly Templeton | Published on June 3, 2024 Screenshot: Starz Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Starz Is it really two halves of one season if you have to wait more than a year between them? Outlander’s seventh season came to a midway stopping point back in August of last year, and finally, Starz has set a premiere date for the rest of the season. June 1st was apparently World Outlander Day—so what better time to announce that the series return in November? The synopsis for the upcoming half-season reads: Coming off of the first half of Outlander season seven, viewers find Claire (Caitríona Balfe), Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Young Ian (John Bell) leaving the colonies and arriving in their beloved homeland: Scotland. The perils of the Revolutionary War force them to choose between standing by those they love and fighting for the land they have made their new home. Meanwhile, Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) face new enemies across time, and must battle the forces that threaten to pull their family apart. As loyalties change and painful secrets come to light, Jamie and Claire’s marriage is tested like never before. With their love binding them over oceans and centuries, can the MacKenzies and Frasers find their way back to each other? Three new characters will be along for the journey this time: Kieran Bew (House of the Dragon) as Captain Charles Cunningham; Frances Tomelty (The Woman in the Wall) as his mother, Elspeth; and Carla Woodcock (Tell Me Everything) as Amaranthus Grey. A brief teaser for the rest of the seventh season promises drama and battles, which seems about right. Outlander, which is of course based on the books by Diana Gabaldon, returns at midnight Friday, November 22 (if you watch on streaming) or at 8 pm that evening for cable viewers.[end-mark] The post <i>Outlander</i>’s Seventh Season Returns in November appeared first on Reactor.

News Venom: The Last Dance Venom: The Last Dance Promises Some Good Times Before the End But we need like six more of these movies By Molly Templeton | Published on June 3, 2024 Screenshot: Sony Pictures Entertainment Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Sony Pictures Entertainment It was pretty clear already, in the Venom cinematic universe, that humanity is not alone among the stars. But for the third and final Venom film, they’re making that a bit more explicit. Which is to say: somebody’s relatives are coming to visit, and they don’t seem very nice. The thing about a Venom movie is that the plot is kind of irrelevant; the important part is watching Tom Hardy play off himself, as both hapless Eddie Brock and gooey symbiote Venom. (Their buddy routine needs a bit of work, though.) This time around, they’ve got new supporting cast in the mix: Keely Hawes is some sort of scientist, and Chiwetel Ejiofor some sort of military man. Both are invested in keeping regular folks from knowing about aliens. They’ve more than got their work cut out for them once Venom’s home planet finds Earth. The Last Dance trailer is really, really leaning hard on the possibility of a tragic ending for these two, but I’m hoping it’s a misdirect; it feels like too normal, too ordinary an ending for this delightfully chaotic series. But if it does end, at least it does so after giving us Hardy dressed up like he’s auditioning to play James Bond. Also: Venom horse! Venom: The Last Dance is directed by Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the first Venom film and singlehandedly scripted the second. As with that film, the story is a collaboration between Marcel and Tom Hardy. No one, clearly, understands the Eddie/Venom relationship better. Venom: The Last Dance is in theaters October 25th.[end-mark] The post <i>Venom: The Last Dance</i> Promises Some Good Times Before the End appeared first on Reactor.

Column SFF Bestiary The Softer Side of Chupacabra: Chupa (2023) What Harry and the Hendersons is to Bigfoot, Chupa is to the chupacabra. By Judith Tarr | Published on June 3, 2024 Credit: Netflix Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Netflix Take any legendary monster, and sooner or later someone smooths the horror out and turns it into a fuzzy friend. Just look at Harry and the Hendersons. What Harry is to Bigfoot, Chupa is to the chupacabra. The film was released on Netflix in 2023, but it’s set in 1996. There’s good reason for that. The Latin American chupacabra sightings began the year before and were still going in the spring, when disaffected American teen Alex grudgingly travels to Mexico to spend spring break with his grandfather and his two cousins. Alex is mourning his father who recently died of cancer, and he’s had a lifelong resistance to learning Spanish. He’s been subjected to racist hazing in school. In the time-honored tradition of After-School Specials, he’s in San Javier to learn Important Life Lessons and get over his problem with embracing his heritage. It’s not nearly as preachy as it sounds. Alex’s abuelo is suitably folksy and wise, but he was also a great luchador, until a traumatic brain injury ended his career. The cousins tease Alex, but gently, and sweep him up in their adventures. And there’s the chupacabra. That’s the other plot, the one that leads off the film and makes Alex’s whole trip worthwhile. Monster hunter/researcher Quinn has been seeking the cryptid for fame and fortune, and in hopes of using its blood for medical research. His expedition finds a young cub hidden in a cave, but before he can capture it, its mother comes literally roaring to the rescue. This is not the man-sized, vaguely reptilian, kangaroo-like creature of Latin American lore, nor is it the hairless, coyote-sized canine that will turn up in Texas in another decade. Filmmaker Jonás Cuarón has created his own variation on the theme. Chupa, as Alex names it (it’s never exactly gendered, though people default to “he,” including when referring to the one who must be Chupa’s mother), is roughly coyote-sized. Thirty to fifty pounds, Quinn judges. Its basic shape is koala, but with catlike fur and a lion’s tail. There are spines down its back. It howls like a wolf or a Sasquatch. And it has wings. It’s a koala-lion-gryphon with vaguely canine overtones. Chupacabra wing feathers are a running theme. They turn up at key points in the plot. When we see a blue feather with white accents, we know a chupacabra has been here. Chupa is very young, probably not much older than newborn. The adult form is huge. 500 to 800 pounds, says Quinn. Big enough to do serious damage to a human or a vehicle. They’re not as dangerous as they look. They feed on blood, leaving dual puncture wounds. They are a threat to livestock but not to humans unless provoked. Chupa’s mother doesn’t harm the humans who try to capture her cub; she takes the cub and runs, until she finds a place to hide it and lures the hunters away. They do much more damage to her than she does to them. Mostly chupacabras live in the mountains, well away from humans. The cub ends up on Abuelo’s ranch after he accidentally hits its mother while driving down the road at night. Abuelo tames it with music and goats’ blood, and the kids quickly discover what he’s up to. Alex actually wakes up to find the cub in his bed, sucking on his arm. He isn’t horrified by the creature’s vampiric tendencies. It’s only doing what it needs to do to stay alive. Blood-sucking aside, it’s terribly cute, and it’s sweet and cuddly. The whole family comes together to save it from Quinn and return it to its own family. It’s much the same plot as Harry and the Hendersons, with bonus lucha libre, and significantly less property damage. The chupacabras are downright adorable. I want one. I’d even settle for a nice soft stuffie. There is a bit of an issue with the title. Chupa means “sucker,” which is a little weird and slightly off-key. Alex actually comments on this in the film. I suspect it plays better for English viewers, who just see it as a cute nickname. In a way it reflects Alex’s own ambivalence about his heritage. He learns to be proud of it, and he becomes a strong friend and ally to the chupacabras. I wonder if he ever tells anyone back in Kansas City what he did on his spring vacation, or if he’s content to just smile mysteriously and go on about his business.[end-mark] The post The Softer Side of Chupacabra: <i>Chupa</i> (2023) appeared first on Reactor.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The European Union is eager to pull Telegram into the realm of its online censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), by declaring that it has enough users to be considered a very large online platform (VLOP) – which DSA can then regulate. The messaging app’s numbers from February said that it had 41 million monthly active users in the EU’s 27 member countries. But if the EU could find a way to officially push that statistic up to 45 million, then it could subject Telegram to a host of strict DSA rules. And to this end, an “investigation” has reportedly been launched. The bloc is “in discussion” with those behind the app, unnamed sources have told Bloomberg. What exactly they might be discussing isn’t clear at this time, but Telegram no longer mentions the DSA on its ToS pages, while the one that provided the 41 million figure has been removed from the site. Telegram has long been a thorn in the side of censorship-prone authorities around the world, and the EU – some of its member countries more so than others – is no different. Although not as large and influential as Facebook, Google, or even X, unlike these platforms, it remains “unmoderated” and “unaccountable” – i.e., governments who like to suppress online speech on a whim have a hard time trying to achieve this on apps like Telegram. The EU’s main concern seems to be to fully control the narrative around the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and be able to block content published by Russian channels as “disinformation” – having long since censored traditional media and platforms based in that country. The EU appears to be trying to now control Telegram’s reach by “investigating” the number of users it has, and if it finds (or decides) that there are more than 45 million of them in the bloc, the next step would be to try and impose DSA rules on the app. EU’s punishment for those found in violation of those rules ranges from fines amounting to 6 percent of revenue, to the banning of a platform. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post EU Targets Telegram: Could the Messaging App Face New Censorship Orders? appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

"Too Little, Too Late": Biden Expected to Announce Border Executive Action This Week as AMNESTY Begins