'We expect hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected'

'Slave labor and yeah'

This incredible Christmas tree was designed and manufactured by incredible women in India’s state of Goa who felt another fake plastic Christmas tree was something the world didn’t need. Made entirely of crocheted yarn, the community tree was designed to help revive a fading craft, feature women’s labor, and offer a sustainable alternative to plastic-heavy […] The post Stunning Crocheted Christmas Tree Helped Knit Together a Community of Extraordinary Women – LOOK appeared first on Good News Network.

Lists Best of 2025 Readers Pick Their Favorite SFF of 2025 What an excellent year for speculative fiction — in all its many forms! By Reactor | Published on December 19, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share What an excellent year for science fiction, fantasy, and horror! For the first time, we asked for your favorite genre books, TV shows, movies, video games, and more from 2025. A book cover that caught your eye. A short story you couldn’t get out of your head. That movie you saw two, three, maybe even four times in theaters!  We received over 600 responses, even beating out our previous readers’ poll on the Most Iconic Speculative Fiction of the 21st Century. Among your responses, we recognized some stories and media the Reactor team already adores, and found a few new ones as well.  At the end of the day, we love celebrating genre fiction. But we love it more when you celebrate it with us! Favorite Books of 2025 The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit) A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey) The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor Books) Favorite Movies of 2025 Sinners dir. by Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros. Pictures) KPop Demon Hunters dir. by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans (Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix) Superman dir. by James Gunn (Warner Bros. Pictures) Favorite TV Series of 2025 Murderbot (Apple TV) Andor Season Two (Disney+) Pluribus (Apple TV) Favorite Short Stories of 2025 “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor) “The Emergency Contact” by Arendse Lund (Analog) “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor) “The Knight and the Butcherbird” by Alix E. Harrow (Amazon Original Stories) Favorite Video Games of 2025 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive) Hades II (Supergiant Games) Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry) Favorite SFF Podcasts of 2025 Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow Starship Alexandria by Emma Newman and Adrian Tchaikovsky Worlds Beyond Number by Erika Ishii, Aabria Iyengar, Taylor Moore, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Lou Wilson Favorite Video Creator/Channels of 2025 Critical Role NewlyNova BooksandLala Elliot Brooks  Jacob Geller Literature Science Alliance My Name is Marines Quinn’s Ideas Favorite Book Covers of 2025 Katabasis by RF Kuang (Harper Voyager; cover art by Patrick Arrasmith) Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom Publishing; cover art by Eric Nyquist) The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling (Harper Voyager; cover design by Owen Corrigan) The post Readers Pick Their Favorite SFF of 2025 appeared first on Reactor.

Adam and Will meet in their cubicles to talk about the laughs and legacy of The Drew Carey Show, exploring Drew’s many girlfriends, co-workers, friends and family who brought the outrageous sitcom to life for CONTINUE READING... The post Remember That Show? Ep. 42: The Drew Carey Show (1995) appeared first on The Retro Network.

It’s a hard hitting, side-splitting, ninja stomping episode of Remember That Show? as Adam and Will enter the arena to discuss WMAC Masters, the scripted competition series from 1995 that brought real martial artists into CONTINUE READING... The post Remember That Show? Ep. 41: WMAC Masters (1995) appeared first on The Retro Network.

The House of Representatives passed a bill to make it a felony to facilitate transgender procedures on minors Wednesday, but does it have any shot of becoming law? The bill, titled the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, passed by a 216-to-211 margin. Three Democrats, Reps. Don Davis of North Carolina, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, and Henry Cuellar of Texas, joined 213 Republicans in support of the legislation introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. But 4 Republicans joined 207 Democrats in opposition: Reps. Mike Lawler of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Kennedy of Utah, and Gabe Evans of Colorado. What could the opposition of a small number of House GOP moderates bode for the bill that now heads to the Senate? A First for This Congress Greene’s bill would make performing transgender surgeries or procedures on minors a felony. The House vote on Wednesday was the first time this Congress Republicans had brought a ban on transgender procedures and surgeries for minors to the floor despite the fact that President Donald Trump had issued an executive order on the matter in January. Offenders would face a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison, with fines on the table, as well. The bill expands the definition of chemical castration and genital or bodily mutilation in the federal code to a variety of transgender chemical and surgical procedures. It also provides exemptions for treatment of rare conditions and medical emergencies. There are no exemptions for mental health-related issues. What Could Happen in the Senate? The bill would need to reach the 60-vote threshold for ending debate in order to come to a final vote in the Senate. Unfortunately for Republicans, there’s no guarantee Democrats will get on board. In January, zero Democrats voted to end debate on a bill introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to deny federal funding to schools that allow transgender-identifying male athletes to compete against females. Greene’s bill likely falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate judiciary committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether they were interested in advancing the bill. But while Democrats are likely to prevent the law from passing, a vote on Greene’s legislation on the Senate could be worthwhile for Republicans heading into a midterm election. Vulnerable Senate Democrats are looking to appear as moderates heading into the 2026 midterm elections, but recorded votes on refusing to ban transgender surgeries for minors are one of the ways Republicans could look to dispel that narrative. Other Ways to Ban Trans for Minors? It comes to the Senate amid a continued debate over health care premium affordability, which has intersected with the transgender issue.  Last week, 51 Republicans voted to advance a bill from Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mike Crapo of Idaho to provide an alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits, which included provisions to prevent taxpayer funds from going to transgender procedures. It was nine votes shy of the threshold needed to come to a vote. Cassidy is the chair of the Senate health, education, labor, and pensions (HELP) committee, which handles most matters related to health care, and told The Daily Signal he wishes to prevent transgender treatments for minors. “President Trump and I are committed to protecting children from chemical and surgical castration,” the Senator, who is also a practicing physician, told The Daily Signal. “I look forward to reviewing the bill, and will continue working with President Trump and Republican colleagues to protect children from irreversible harm.” Trump Administration Moves to Ban Federal Funds for Trans-ing Kids Cassidy was in attendance at a Thursday Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) event, in which secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new policy preventing federal taxpayer funds from going to the procedures. Just left HHS, where it was announced federal tax dollars will NOT pay for sex-change surgeries for children. I've pushed for this in the Senate. It’s wrong, and it’s stopping now. Thank you, @POTUS & @SecKennedy!! pic.twitter.com/vxPLeMUG81— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) December 18, 2025 “It’s wrong. It’s stopping now,” Cassidy said in a video posted to X. “I’ve been pushing this as the chairman of the [HELP committee]. I’m glad to see the administration agrees with me.” The post What’s Next for MTG’s Bill Ending Trans Surgeries for Minors? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The late Rush Limbaugh posited in 2012 that it would be very difficult to win an election over Santa Claus. Meaning that someone who is just seen as bringing gifts will always be popular, and—with apologies to New York newspaper editor Francis Church—yes, Virginia. You just elected Santa Claus.  Both Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger and Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi have spoken since the election of their plans to lower the costs of things like electricity and housing on Virginians. However, as is often the case, details are sketchy.  For example, she told WUSA in Washington, D.C., “I think people will see a common theme on getting things done and improving on people’s lives,” which is hard to find in the Virginia Constitution.   “Lowering the cost” is most frequently code for subsidizing. This is a bipartisan truism. Republicans will often acquiesce to subsidy rather than try to make the case for free-market solutions. If you are explaining, you are losing, they say.   Subsidies increase the cost of goods or services because the provider no longer is under pressure to consider the ability of the end-user to pay what it would reasonably cost. This frequently causes the provider to choose more expensive ways of creating the product often to prove to the subsidizer that they are worthy of continued receipt.   The losers in this are the consumers that did not qualify for the subsidy, often only by a small margin leaving them well short of being able to afford the “full freight” cost.  The incoming administration will have two primary choices in how to accomplish this subsidization, supply-side or consumer-side. The latter is simpler but less common because the subsidy comes from the government, and if the consumer fails to keep their qualification, it will be on the government to tell them they are out of luck.   Think of SNAP benefits as a recent example. You can imagine that a new governor wouldn’t want to take that hit.   Supply side is more convoluted but because it insulates the elected official from being directly blamed for the loss of benefits it is more frequently how it works. Think of most Section 8 housing or how most of the current electric cost subsidies work. The provider trades the position of having to play the “bad guy” for a predictable stream of semi-paid bills. The phrase “some money is better than no money” applies here.  In either event, this will require tax-paying Virginians to carry more of this burden through higher taxes, fees and, of course, in the prices of the things that the governor will try and “lower the cost of.”   The secondary effect of this campaign often manifests in job losses and that will further strain Virginia’s economy, which has been on the recovery trail for the past four years.  Spanberger will likely try to stave this off with workforce subsidy, and now you are starting to sense how this becomes a self-fulfilling process. Support people in need with tax dollars, create economic damage with those taxes, then create more people that need assistance.  The incoming governor has said that she favors streamlining the regulations in the home-building process to create more inventory, but localities have balked at that in past administrations.  Here comes Santa Claus. At least we don’t need to leave her milk and cookies. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Yes, Virginia. You Elected Santa Claus. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

There Goes The Judge: Will Dugan Do Time For Felony Obstruction of ICE?