An image shared on Facebook purports to show 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wearing blackface. Verdict: False The image does not show Walz but actor Jon Hamm as Don Draper during an episode of the HBO series, “Mad Men.” Images of Hamm wearing blackface on the show were featured in […]

Movies & TV Batman Shadow of the Bat: Novelty Meets Nostalgia in Batman: Caped Crusader Relying on the aesthetic of Batman: The Animated Series, Caped Crusader never quite ascends to the same heights. By Marc Singer | Published on August 29, 2024 Comment 1 Share New Share More than thirty years after its debut, Batman: The Animated Series still sets the gold standard for Batman cartoons. Just how gold that standard is can be seen in Batman: Caped Crusader, the new animated series on Amazon Prime. Batman: The Animated Series debuted in 1992 in the wake of the highly successful Tim Burton films, but part of its particular genius was that it looked back to earlier inspirations. Under the direction of creators Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, the series conjured a retro-futuristic world of Art Deco skyscrapers and streamlined roadsters, landing somewhere between the Fleischer brothers Superman cartoons and the New York World’s Fair. The result was a series that seemed to be looking back to Batman’s origins and forward towards a future that never quite arrived. Bruce Timm has returned with Batman: Caped Crusader, which takes Batman back to his roots in the comics of the 1930s and the pulps, films, and Gothic novels that inspired them. The series also draws liberally from the BTAS production design, though the characters have been updated to feature a racially diverse cast better suited for modern audiences. As changes go, though, that’s the easy one. Caped Crusader presents a bold, stylish, completely consistent vision of Batman’s retro past, but in hewing so close to its predecessor, the series courts the inevitable problems of comparison. Hamish Linklater is given the unenviable task of following Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman for more than 25 years. That hasn’t been a problem for other animated adaptations, which varied sufficiently in tone and style that viewers knew they were watching something different. But hearing a Bruce Timm-designed Batman speaking in someone else’s voice triggers an uncanny valley response, a sense that something isn’t quite right. Linklater adopts Conroy’s trick of varying his voice when he’s playing Batman and Bruce Wayne, but that’s where the similarity ends. His Wayne has something of Conroy’s lilt, but his Batman speaks in a monotone of flattened affect. The script backs him up, suggesting this is not just one actor’s choice but part of the series’ larger take on the character. Caped Crusader is deeply invested in portraying Batman as a trauma survivor who walls himself off from other people, someone so stunned by tragedy that he refers to Alfred, his faithful butler and surrogate father, as “Pennyworth.” It’s a far cry from BTAS, where Batman’s emotional investment was never in doubt. Conroy’s performance could go over the top— “I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!” became a meme for good reason—but beneath the theatrics, he always understood that Batman was the most caring person in Gotham City. The result was a hero who could actually go toe to toe with his rogues’ gallery of two-faced attorneys and killer clowns and not come away diminished. Linklater’s Batman too often seems to be a bystander in his own series. Caped Crusader struggles most when it tries hardest to escape the shadow of its predecessor. The first episode lays down its marker by introducing a gender-flipped version of the Penguin, but without any further attention to how that would change the character, the revamp feels gratuitous. A series that already features Barbara Gordon, Renee Montoya, Selina Kyle, and Harley Quinn cannot be said to lack complex female roles, and yet this new Penguin misses what made the character work in the first place. Penguin as cabaret owner? Inspired. Penguin as cabaret performer? Another trip to the uncanny valley. Oswald Cobblepot might have craved the approval of Gotham’s high society, but he knew better than to get it by singing and dancing. The boldest and most troublesome departure comes in the decision to revamp Harley Quinn. Created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in 1992 as a sidekick and love interest for the Joker, Harley is easily the most popular Batman character created in the last fifty years. When Dini and Timm collaborated to tell her origin in the comic Batman: Mad Love, they made Harley a scheming, ambitious psychiatrist who fell in love with her most notorious patient. The story added just the right amount of pathos, propelling Harley to a stature that few comic book characters attain. Caped Crusader starts out strong by introducing Harley in her pre-villainous career as a therapist—and making Bruce Wayne one of her patients, a situation rife with possibilities that is abandoned far too quickly. Things take a turn as the episode reveals that she already has a costumed identity and a criminal career completely independent of the Joker. (Her shtick, kidnapping and brainwashing her rich clients, is lifted straight from Dr. Hugo Strange, an early villain from the comics who would be absolutely perfect for this series if Harley hadn’t stolen his bit.) Cutting Harley loose from the Joker could be read as an emancipation of a character who has long since outgrown her sidekick status. But shorn of that origin, this Harley has no motivation, no history, no tragedy—none of the things that made her character so memorable. She doesn’t even have a straight man to play against (part of the genius of the original Harley was that she made the Joker her straight man). The new Harley is little more than a name and a costume design, a hollow reminder of a better character. If Harley Quinn is deflated by the series’ desire for novelty, then Two-Face is flattened by its obsession with psychological realism. Caped Crusader does an admirable job of establishing District Attorney Harvey Dent’s simmering temper and his penchant for corruption prior to the acid attack that sends him over the edge, but once it happens, both actor and script are reluctant to lean into the character’s signature duality. Diedrich Bader’s Dent is self-pitying and his Two-Face (who is never called by that name) is violent, but the personalities just don’t seem like they’re in conflict. Batman villains deal in extremes, but both Bader and Caped Crusader hold back where they are most needed. The series even provides a perfect (if probably unwitting) metaphor for its reticence. Two-Face is infamous for deciding his victims’ fate with the flip of a double-headed coin, one side scarred, the other not. But in Caped Crusader, the coin is unscarred on both sides. Maybe this is meant to convey some deep psychological insight into Harvey Dent—acid burns or not, he is ultimately responsible for his own problems—but it’s hard to shake the impression that sometimes the series is afraid to commit to its source material. Caped Crusader does have certain advantages over its predecessor. The series draws on an expanded cast of characters and ranges freely across genres, mingling gritty crime drama with Gothic horror. Unencumbered by the Standards and Practices board of any broadcast network, it can indulge in grim, unflinching violence without ever becoming gory. But the show is strongest when it capitalizes on its retro setting to take the characters back to basics. The best episodes are even more faithful to the original Batman comics than BTAS was, beating the master at its own game. The second episode, “…And Be a Villain,” introduces viewers to Clayface—not the shapeshifting blob of later comics and cartoons but Basil Karlo, a frustrated actor who uses an experimental treatment to become a man of a thousand faces. As he pursues his vendetta against the film industry that marginalized him, Karlo leaves a trail of bodies in his wake but he never loses his flair for the dramatic: he’s the sort of villain who ruthlessly murders his rivals but tosses Batman a sword out of a sense of chivalry. The episode recalls the finest moments of BTAS, revealing its villain’s humanity without lessening the severity of his crimes. The next episode, “Kiss of the Catwoman,” is another standout. Most of the great Batman villains serve as dark reflections of some aspect of his character, but this version of Catwoman bases her entire criminal persona around him, even to the point of acquiring a souped-up car and a long-suffering servant. Turning to crime for thrills as much as cash, she shows us what Batman might be like without any moral compass. The interpretation is faithful to the character while still providing something we haven’t seen in animation before: BTAS never gave Catwoman an origin story since the producers assumed everybody knew who she was from the Burton movies. But even in the best episodes, something important is missing. When Catwoman kisses Batman, there’s no spark—nor is there ever any doubt that he’s going to bring her in at the first opportunity. Conroy’s Batman, like Michael Keaton’s, was clearly attracted to Catwoman, tapping into a transgressive charge that has kept this cop-and-robber relationship going for more than eighty years. Linklater’s Batman gives her nothing. No attraction, no spark, not even a catch in his voice. His numbed take on the character might speak to television’s current vogue for trauma and character study, but it leaves a hole in the heart of the series. Batman: Caped Crusader’s Gotham City is still a place of big emotions, operatic villains, grand drama in the classic style. It would be nice if the hero were part of it.[end-mark] The post Shadow of the Bat: Novelty Meets Nostalgia in <i>Batman: Caped Crusader</i> appeared first on Reactor.

News Never Let Go Never Let Go Trailer Will Have You Clinging to Your Theater Seat By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 29, 2024 Screenshot: Lionsgate Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Lionsgate Lionsgate has a post-apocalyptic movie coming out that stars Halle Berry as a woman trying to keep her children safe in a world that includes possessed people (maybe?) as well as a giant snake, which may or may not be real. The film is called Never Let Go and comes from director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Crawl). And as the recently released trailer shows, it looks equal parts disturbing and creepy. It also looks like it plays with audience expectations of what is real and what may be a delusion (though I’d lean more toward those half-decayed humans being real within the universe of the movie). Here’s Never Let Go’s official synopsis: In this new psychological thriller/horror, as an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother (Halle Berry) and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond. Needing to stay connected at all times—even tethering themselves with ropes—they cling to one another, urging each other to never let go. But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival. In addition to Berry, the movie stars Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins. It’s written by KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby. Never Let Go premieres in theaters on September 20, 2024. Check out the trailer below. [end-mark] The post <i>Never Let Go</i> Trailer Will Have You Clinging to Your Theater Seat appeared first on Reactor.

Books book review A Winning Hand in a Korean Space Opera: Ocean’s Godori by Elaine U. Cho A review of Elaine U. Cho’s new science fiction novel By Helen Rhee | Published on August 29, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Godori is a winning hand in the popular Korean card game called Go-Stop. Played with flower cards called “hwatu”, the basic concept of the game is to take cards from the center deck and pair them with similar picture cards in your hand for points. When you find the special set of three bird cards known as godori, you win the hand and can stop the game to collect your winnings. There are basic rules, but also a myriad of ways to play. The variations are endless and each household has their own rules, but godori is always a winning hand. This game is fast-paced and usually won through strategic moves, some risk-taking, and of course, a little bit of luck—all of which you will see in Ocean’s Godori. In the 23rd century, a reunified Korea is the powerful leading nation; its space agency, Alliance, dominates the solar system. Ocean Yoon just might be the best pilot in Alliance or maybe even the entire solar system, but after a fall from grace, Ocean has been relegated to the Ohneul, a low-ranking class 4 ship with an eclectic, motley crew that includes an algae-loving but loyal xenobotanist, a mechanic who loves to cook, a selfish captain with questionable priorities, and a new Mortemian medic from Prometheus. While seemingly content with this new life of hers on the Ohneul, trouble is on the horizon when she finds out her best friend, Teo—the second son of the uber-wealthy Anand family and founders of the Anand tech empire— is being framed for murdering his family. This leads Ocean, Teo and the rest of the crew on a quest to clear Teo’s name—one that is filled with space chases, raiders, and mysterious but technologically advanced enemies.  It’s undeniable that Cho has created a unique world. For a member of the Korean diaspora like myself, seeing a reunified Korea become the dominant power in our solar system was fascinating. With so many Korean cultural references from the crew’s skincare routine to the different Korean snacks, as well as the usage of Korean words without explanation, this book felt like a warm hug from a dear chingoo. The exploration of Ocean not feeling “Korean” enough (a feeling so many of us can relate to) despite her long lineage to the Jeju haenyo made it clear to me that this book was written for the Korean diaspora. For that reason alone, this book is special.  Buy the Book Ocean’s Godori Elaine U. Cho Buy Book Ocean's Godori Elaine U. Cho Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget With descriptions of car-like spaceships set against the vast solar system, Cho has created a world that, for a ‘90s Korean kid like me, was both futuristic and retro. And it’s not just spaceships. There are hoverbikes with manual mechanics built even for the “drift car fanatics”—another vehicle Ocean excelled at riding thanks to her sensitive feet and to her brother, Hajoon, a car expert who’s even rebuilt a Nissan 240SX (a model that was popular for drifting in the ‘90s). This world is in the future, but it also felt like my childhood. Some might find the descriptions of spaceships with manual mechanics like having a clutch confusing and even annoying, but for me it was giving Initial D vibes and I was all for the nostalgia. The world-building and character setup does take up a good portion of the book, but even with it I did feel confused at times, especially with the robust ensemble of characters. From the Ohneul crew to the Anand Family to the raiders, there are a lot of names, both first and last and sometimes even nicknames, to keep track of. I found myself flipping back pages to keep them all straight, which was at first frustrating, but I soon realized my frustration came out of concern. I cared about them. Cho has an ability to lure you into each character with… nuance. There are the usual, broad strokes of personalities that fit and fill certain character roles, but it’s the small shading and textures she imbues into the interactions and dialogue between them that give this book so much heart. I was expecting the action, the high-stakes political and strategic play, and even the violence, thanks to the hwatu allusion in the title, but I was not expecting to be moved by the relationships and found family in the book, which are, in my opinion, the true stars. I grew to love the characters, as many as there were, and found myself invested—a testament to the care and time Cho spent on them.  The world that Cho starts to build in Ocean’s Godori is special and feels expansive, but it is unexplored. This, coupled with the cliffhanger ending, would no doubt leave the reader craving for more. When this book was released back in April, the question of a second book was still up in the air. I’m happy to report now that the much-needed sequel to Ocean’s Godori has been confirmed (actual release date to be determined). Like many other readers, I want more of this world. I want to know why the Mortemians are shunned for practicing death rights. I want to know how the Anand Tech Empire came to be and at what cost. I want to know what happens to all the characters that captivated me. But most of all, I want to know if Ocean truly ends up with a godori—a winning hand in her life—and what that looks like. I am truly excited for what’s to come.[end-mark] Ocean’s Godori is published by Hillman Grad Books. The post A Winning Hand in a Korean Space Opera: <i>Ocean’s Godori</i> by Elaine U. Cho appeared first on Reactor.

New School Year Means New Approach to Pro-Palestinian Activists

Take a Fresh Look at Ford's 2024 DEI Escape!

PolitiFact writers Grace Abels and Loreben Tuquero took after Sen. J.D. Vance on Tuesday, with a subhead claiming he "misrepresents Minnesota law on kids seeking "gender-affirming care." The fact-defying term appears 18 times in the PolitiFact copy (include the subhead and a caption). Their "Truth-o-Meter" ruling was "False." But it's not as False as claiming breast and genital amputations and hormone-blockers and the like are "gender-affirming." This was the bulletin-board Vance quote. as he mocked what Minnesota Democrats called the "Trans Refuge Act." "I think it’s pretty weird to try to take children away from their parents if the parents don’t want to consent to sex changes," Vance said Aug. 7 at a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. "That’s something that Tim Walz did." PolitiFact conceded, yes, "Walz has taken action to support access to gender-affirming care in Minnesota. But Vance’s claim mischaracterizes the reach of the Walz-approved law on parental custody." The writers go on an elaborate argument into the law's language about competing child-custody claims. They summarized at the end:  Having jurisdiction over a custody case doesn’t mean the state takes custody of a child. It also does not mean a court definitely will rule against a parent who objects to the child seeking gender-affirming care. Courts award custody based on evidence presented about what is in a child’s best interests. When it comes to conservatives and Republicans, they will dive into the legal mumbo-jumbo to throw their "False" flag. The clip Vance was talking about the weird ideological tics of Democrats, not giving a law-school lecture.  =He was making a quick rhetorical point about how the Democrats shouldn't throw around the word "weird" like they're pushing intentional harm to children's bodies because someone's confused about their gender. PolitiFact offered Team Vance a rebuttal:  When PolitiFact contacted Vance’s team for comment, spokesperson Luke Schroeder said, "The letter of this law is clear: a parent who dissents from their child receiving so-called 'gender-affirming care' can lose custody." When the bill passed last year, local critics were pointing out what they found by reading the legal lingo: talk of creating "temporary emergency jurisdiction" -- for the express purposes of providing "transition" surgeries and therapies, potentially against the wishes of parents of minors. Opposition to the trans agenda is equated with "abuse" and "abandonment."  This language from the HF 146 Trans Refuge Act applies to parents both inside and outside of Minnesota. https://t.co/7gBt2FRsCS — Bill Glahn (@billglahn) March 26, 2023 So their hope is the state of Minnesota takes custody of the child just for the temporary purpose of a permanent "sex change." Abels, the LGBTQ-issues "fact checker," is funded by the Gill Foundation, a radical LGBTQ philanthropy. Last October, she worried out loud about "incarcerated trans people" being denied the "gender-affirming" stuff.  Last May, Tuquero defended Minnesota Democrats when they took expressly anti-pedophile language out of an "anti-discrimination" bill. 

After one news cycle staying out of the left’s manufactured scandal of former President Trump’s Monday visit to Arlington National Cemetery with some of the families of the 13 Americans killed at the Kabul airport (as they were busy drooling over Vice President Harris’s bus tour), ABC joined the fake hubbub on Thursday’s Good Morning America about Trump “politiciz[ing] the military” and running mate JD Vance’s “charged language” telling Harris to “go to hell.” After a piece celebrating Harris’s Georgia bus tour seeking “to expand the map”, unofficial Biden-Harris spokesperson Mary Bruce huffed about “video show[ing] [Trump] visiting some of the grave sites of some of the 13 service members who were killed in that attack on Afghanistan” in order “to highlight Harris and this administration’s handling of that chaotic troop withdrawal”, but that was beneath the dignity of all that is good. State-run media on ABC with Mary Bruce channeling her inner North Korean news lady as, after giddily touting the Harris-Walz bus tour, turning her ire on JD Vance for "using some charged language" against Harris over Afghanistan and that Trump's trying to "politicize the miltary" pic.twitter.com/98bbpakvN9 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 29, 2024 “But filming is prohibited just for this reason, to not politicize the military. Now, some families like that of Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss said they gave Trump permission. They said it’s sad to restrict how the fallen are honored,” Bruce kvetched. Of course, the liberal media went running and found a Gold Star family whose loved one is buried nearby the soldier whose grave Trump visited and took pictures at as a way of thumbing their noses at Trump: But overnight, we heard from another Gold Star family, the sister of Sergeant Andrew Marckasano. who died by suicide in 2020 after eight tours of combat. His grave is also shown in this video. And she said, “we hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and they are honored and respected accordingly.” Bruce closed with hushed tones about Vance: “[B]ut JD Vance firing back at that criticism, using some charged language, saying that Kamala Harris, the sitting Vice President, ‘can go to hell’”. CBS Mornings kept focused on the partisan narratives. Co-host Tony Dokoupil proclaimed Trump was “fac[ing] backlash” and “a growing controversy” in the form of “an altercation that occurred on the grounds” of Arlington. Like Bruce, chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes celebrated the Harris-Walz bus tour: “Southeastern Georgia is Republican territory, but Vice President Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are rolling through anyway.” Fact-check: Misleading. Biden-Harris won the county containing Savannah, Chatham County, by roughly 20 points (58.6 percent to 39.9 percent) as well as one across the Ogeechee and Little Ogeechee Rivers by almost 25 points (61.3 percent to 37.2 percent). Cordes largely reracked her partisan spin from Wednesday’s CBS Evening News (click “expand”): CORDES: So far, she has stayed mum on the controversy over her opponent’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. Defense officials tell CBS News that some Trump staffers got, “aggressive, both verbally and physically”, when a cemetery official tried to prevent them from bringing a campaign photographer onto the grounds. Federal law prohibits election-related activity in the cemetery. The Trump team insists their cameraman was invited by the family members of Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover, and Hoover’s family agrees. They also posed with Trump at Hoover’s grave site Monday. But there was another headstone in the picture, belonging to Master Sergeant Andrew Marckasano, who died in 2020. In a statement to CBS News, Marckasano’s sister said her understanding was that the Trump campaign staffer did not adhere to the rules. “We hope that those visiting this sacred site,” she said, “understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom.” VANCE: The altercation at Arlington cemetery is the media creating a story where I don’t think there is one. CORDES: In Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump’s VP nominee J.D. Vance sought to shift the focus to Harris. VANCE: And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up, she can — she can go to hell. CORDES: That is pretty unusual language for the campaign trail, and the fact is that Harris hasn’t yelled at trump for going to Arlington. She hasn’t said anything about the situation at all. The Kamala Harris campaign spokesperson said the situation is pretty sad, and he said it’s not unusual for a Trump campaign.  NBC’s Today only offered a smidge of respite.  Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez acknowledging “[f]our military family members praised their interactions at the ceremony with staff and Mr. Trump, telling NBC News they did not witness an altercation” and played sound of Kelly Barnett — who lost her son, Marine Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover, on that horrible day — praising Trump. He did, however, remove the part that aired on NBC Nightly News where she blamed the Biden-Harris regime for her son’s death. That’s where the fairness ended as NBC repeatedly played a clip of veteran Paul Rieckhoff blasting Trump as “disrespectful” for treating Arlington like “Disney World”. For the uninitiated, Rieckhoff is a liberal operative and a long favored guest of MSNBC, specifically Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace. In July 2021, he argued January 6 was worse than 9/11 since “Osama bin Laden never took over the Capitol”. Rewinding all the way back to March 2004, he was selected by Democrats to deliver the party’s weekly radio address. Co-host Craig Melvin falsely claimed Trump was “taking heat for taking his campaign to one of the most sacred landmarks in the country” and insisted “some veterans groups are slamming as disrespectful.” Gutierrez was also syrupy about Harris-Walz in contrast to claiming Trump “spark[ed] new controversy over his visit to what many consider hallowed ground” and “politicizing” it. To see the relevant transcripts from August 29, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

A Clinton-appointed federal judge has ruled that the U.S. military cannot bar HIV-positive individuals from enlisting if they've temporarily rendered their viral loads undetectable through the use of costly antiretroviral drugs, which usually require daily use. Judge Leonie Brikema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia previously handled two consequential cases in which she ruled against certain military service restrictions on HIV-compromised individuals — persons who if left unmedicated could possibly succumb to opportunistic infections and/or infect their comrades. Citing her own opinions in those cases, Brikema asserted in her Aug. 20 ruling that the Pentagon's "policies prohibiting the accession of asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads into the military are irrational, arbitrary, and capricious." "Even worse, they contribute to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military's own recruitment goals," continued Brikema. 'HIV is an infectious, incurable, bloodborne disease with several possible ways in which the disease could be transmitted to other service members.' The lawsuit that precipitated Brikema's ruling was brought on behalf of three HIV-positive individuals and a leftist advocacy group. The first, Isaiah Wilkins, is an HIV-positive 24-year-old homosexual who receives HIV-related health care from the VA Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He has to take pills to suppress his viral load. Wilkins seeks to enlist in the Army. According to a 2023 Congressional Research report, the Pentagon's Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division estimated that between January 2017 and June 2022, 1,581 service members were newly diagnosed with HIV. The second plaintiff is Carol Coe, a 33-year-old transvestite living in Washington, D.C. He contracted HIV while serving in the military, then left the military in 2013 to get a sex change. Coe attempted to re-enlist in 2022 but was unsuccessful on account of his infectious disorder. The third plaintiff is Natalie Noe, an Australian now living as a permanent resident in California. She was similarly told that her HIV positivity was a negative where recruiters were concerned. To manage her HIV, Noe takes pills daily and is injected with an antiretroviral therapeutic every three to six months. The trio were joined in their action by Minority Veterans of America — a leftist advocacy group committed to "social and structural change" that has worked to guarantee access to "abortion and contraception, and gender confirmation surgery through VA for veterans." 'We are pleased the court has eliminated the last discriminatory policy that barred people living with HIV from seeking enlistment or appointment to the military.' The suit was filed against the Department of Defense in November 2022. According to the original complaint, medical advances in HIV treatments "should have led to an overhaul of military policies related to people living with HIV. Instead, the Department of Defense and the Army — and all military departments — have maintained the bar to enlistment and appointment of people living with HIV." The suit claimed that policies barring HIV-positive prospects from enlisting violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause and the Administrative Procedure Act. Court documents indicate that the Pentagon argued that: the military's HIV policies are rationally related to promoting the health and readiness of the armed forces. For example, defendants continue to argue that asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads may not take their daily medications properly, which would result in their viral loads rising; that HIV is an infectious, incurable, bloodborne disease with several possible ways in which the disease could be transmitted to other service members, such as through battlefield blood spatter or transfusions; and that HIV is associated with various comorbidities and side effects that could harm a service member's health. The Pentagon further suggested that: the science is clear about the meaningful risk of infection that comes with blood-to-blood transmission "even for individuals with an undetectable viral load"; restrictions on HIV-positive enlistees is "rationally related to the goal of ensuring that safe blood supplies are available for use in combat medical care"; "'deployment may make it more likely that' HIV-positive individuals 'could experience viral rebound' due to the 'increase[d] ... risk that [they] will not maintain strict adherence to their' HIV medications"; "recruiting HIV-compromised individuals would impose disproportionately higher financial costs on the military compared to individuals without HIV," given antiretroviral therapy costs between $1,800 and $4,500 monthly; and that it is rational to preclude incurable disease-compromised persons from joining to "ensur[e] a healthy military." Brikema, evidently unpersuaded by these arguments, has enjoined the Pentagon from barring HIV-compromised individuals with undetectable viral loads from joining the military. "We are pleased the court has eliminated the last discriminatory policy that barred people living with HIV from seeking enlistment or appointment to the military," stated Gregory Nevons, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, an outfit that helped file the case. "Americans living with HIV no longer face categorical barriers to service careers — discharge, bans on commissioning, bans on deployment and finally bans on enlisting." "This is a victory not only for me but for other people living with HIV who want to serve," said plaintiff Isaiah Wilkins. The Military Times indicated that the Pentagon declined to comment on the ruling. While HIV-compromised candidates have been given the green light to enlist, the Pentagon still has prohibitions on the recruitment or retention of persons with certain maladies, such as Crohn's disease, kidney abnormalities, asthma, anemia, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, various sleep disorders, and excessive sweating. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A Florida judge sentenced a Filipino national to 30 years in federal prison for recording child porn by planting multiple hidden cameras in guest rooms on a major cruise ship, according to authorities. Some of the victims who were secretly recorded were reportedly children as young as 2 years old. Arvin Joseph Mirasol — a 34-year-old citizen of the Philippines — had worked as a stateroom attendant aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Symphony of the Seas, a cruise ship that can accommodate a maximum capacity of 6,680 guests. 'I want to control it, but I can't.' A cruise ship passenger reached under the sink to get a roll of toilet paper and discovered a hidden camera attached to the counter under the sink in the guest's bathroom. The guest notified the cruise ship's security regarding the hidden camera on Feb. 25. Cruise ship security detained Mirasol until the Symphony of the Seas cruise ship docked at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on March 3. Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection officials boarded the ship and launched an investigation. Law enforcement seized Mirasol’s electronics, including his cell phone and a USB stick. Investigators discovered that Mirasol’s electronics "contained numerous videos of children in various stages of undress," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. The press release added, "The focus of the videos was on the children’s genital areas." Homeland Security Investigations agents were able to identify the children seen in the videos. The children ranged in age from 2 to 17. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida stated that one of the videos on the recording devices showed Mirasol installing a camera in a guest's bathroom. Investigators noted that Mirasol had been placing cameras in passenger cabins since December 2023. According to prosecutors, Mirasol would also enter the guests' rooms while they were showering, hide under their beds, and secretly record them exiting the shower with his cell phone. "I want to control it, but I can't," Mirasol told investigators while being questioned, according to the affidavit. When asked how he decides which rooms to place cameras in, Mirasol allegedly told investigators, "If I like who is in that room, I place it." He informed investigators that he would target teenage girls ages 16 and over, the affidavit read. Mirasol was arrested in March by Broward County deputies. Mirasol pleaded guilty to producing child pornography. On Wednesday, Mirasol was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Melissa Damian. Royal Caribbean said in a statement released in March, "We have zero tolerance for this unacceptable behavior. We immediately reported this to law enforcement and terminated the crew member, and we will continue to fully cooperate with authorities." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here! Broward County Sheriff's Office