News Star Trek: Discovery The Final Season of Star Trek: Discovery Will Warp onto Paramount Plus in April Captain Burnham will only get to say “Let’s fly” so many more times By Molly Templeton | Published on February 14‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed It’s been a long‚ strange‚ occasionally baffling journey‚ and now it’s coming to an end: The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery will begin on April 4th with a two-episode premiere. The synopsis is mysterious! And vague! The fifth and final season will find Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it. In a recent TVLine interview‚ Sonequa Martin-Green‚ who plays Captain Burnham‚ teased a major twist in this final season‚ saying‚ “There’s a big thing. A biiiig thing in Season 5.” Along with Martin-Green‚ Discovery stars Doug Jones as Saru‚ Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets‚ Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber‚ David Ajala as Cleveland Booker‚ and Blu del Barrio as Adira. For the grand finale‚ Mary Wiseman will return as Sylvia Tilly‚ and Callum Keith Rennie joins the cast as Rayner. There are also two recurring stars: Elias Toufexis as L’ak and Eve Harlow as Moll. Star Trek: Discovery has Michelle Paradise and Trek mastermind Alex Kurtzman as showrunners. Its arrival on Paramount Plus in 2017 heralded the beginning of a new Trek era that now includes the now-concluded Star Trek: Picard‚ the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks‚ the beloved Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‚ and more. The USS Discovery sets off on her final mission on April 4th. [end-mark] The post The Final Season of <;i>;Star Trek: Discovery<;/i>; Will Warp onto Paramount Plus in April appeared first on Reactor.

Book Recommendations Max Gladstone Follow the Yellow Brick Road off a Cliff: Max Gladstone’s Last Exit (Part 14) You know the mutants were bad‚ because their leader had tentacles… By Ruthanna Emrys‚ Anne M. Pillsworth | Published on February 14‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed Welcome back to Reading the Weird‚ in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction‚ cosmic horror‚ and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches. This week‚ we continue Max Gladstone’s Last Exit with Chapters 27-28. The novel was first published in 2022. Spoilers ahead! “I’m happy to smoke my tautological weed in private.” Sarah said things would be bad in the Green Glass City. Aloud Zelda agreed‚ but she silently hoped that things had worked out. Sarah was right. The city they left on the mend‚ mutants exiled‚ Brigit and her people safe‚ is empty; its bottle-green skyscrapers have tarnished‚ and birds and overgrown vegetation are the only living things. Their robot-horses drag the Challenger through deathly silence. The alt-riders reach the labyrinthine palace at the city’s heart. Wealth and power built it‚ and generations of graft reaped obscene profit for its officials‚ until the last mayor fell and mutants replaced its statue heads with busts of their tentacled leader. The humanoid drones that Ish revived to serve Brigit remain‚ motionless except for their pulsing polymer hearts. There are no bomb-craters‚ no bloodstains or bones. No signs of rot‚ either. Unchallenged‚ the alt-riders find the palace’s underground garage. To their amazement‚ it remains perfectly stocked and maintained‚ no dust or cobwebs anywhere. Ramon expected the job to take two days; uneasy‚ he decides to do it overnight. Together the alt-riders repair the Challenger  – once again solving the “five-body problem” that is their fellowship. While the others sleep‚ Ramon tries to persuade Sarah to accept help warding off the cowboy. Sarah concludes she was wrong to try to exclude June from the fight they’re all in – she chose to be here‚ and chose again knowing what she was getting into. Back at their sleeping bags‚ June lies still enough that Sarah suspects she’s only pretending to sleep. Sarah whispers an apology‚ but a touch reveals that June’s “shoulder” is actually her knapsack‚ a trick. June is gone. Determined not to let Sarah face the cowboy alone again‚ June’s left the garage to search the palace. Her shadows go with her‚ murmuring. She loses her flashlight in a vast marble hall‚ but discovers she can see in the dark. The cowboy’s booted footsteps sound on the floor above‚ but retreat when she challenges him. June pursues‚ her shadows like sense-extending “whiskers.” He enters a room with no other exit‚ and she follows. Intense lights blind her. Something covers her face‚ steals her breath. She falls. And is lifted. * * * Sarah’s cry wakes the others. Ish’s knack tells him June’s alive‚ nearby. He runs into the palace‚ leading the chase. June wakes to a room whose walls‚ ceiling and floor shine with “pitiless artificial sun.” She sits in a metal “chair” made of drones who bind her with their hands. June’s right hand is bleeding‚ the work of a gaunt‚ ragged woman who circles into view‚ swaying as if drunk‚ holding a glass knife. June looks like Sal‚ the woman says. Never mind her friends: the would-be rescuers are lost in “the maze.” June realizes her captor is Brigit‚ though it’s hard to see the heroic leader in this skeleton. Brigit admits the alt-riders helped defeat the mutants. Then they left‚ and the shadows grew. They infected her people‚ urged them to abandon their hard-won safety. There are no shadows in the light-bathed room‚ June sees. When she tries to call some‚ Brigit stabs her thigh – she can see the rot in June‚ having traded her eyes for the metal threads stitched into her empty sockets. Meanwhile‚ Zelda and Ish figure out that the rooms they pass and repass are moving. Ramon slashes carpet to reveal a trapdoor. Underneath is a ladder. The alt-riders climb down into what Ish recognizes as the drone control center‚ brighter-lit than before‚ with more surveillance cameras. All this “scrutiny” is what’s quelling their knacks. They find the server room. Someone’s been living there‚ amid scalpels and pill bottles. On surveillance screens Ish accesses Brigit’s “interrogation room.” Zelda and Sarah go to find it‚ leaving Ish to turn off the drones immobilizing June. Brigit rants about her people’s desertion. Finally she found the rot’s source in this room‚ in that crack in the wall. June sees black appendages struggling out‚ only to be withered by the caustic light. Brigit wants June to bring her people back; she has become the knife that will cut June until she obeys. June pretends to try‚ while silently calling for the shadows‚ for Sal‚ to help her. Zelda’s arrival distracts Brigit. Brigit‚ too‚ is rot-infected‚ Zelda says. She has to let go and heal the crack‚ with Zelda’s help. Instead Brigit says she sees the rot in Zelda and must cut it out. As she attacks‚ Ish fails to shut down the drones choking June. Ramon cuts the cables that supply coolant and power to the palace-wide systems. In the interrogation room‚ the lights go out. Freed from their imprisonment‚ the shadows kill Brigit. The drones go inert‚ releasing June. Sarah and a wounded Zelda carry June through smoke-filled darkness as the disabled palace catches fire. The cowboy reappears‚ but Sarah banishes him again‚ and the restored Challenger and robot-horses speed the alt-riders from the conflagration. This Week’s Metrics What’s Cyclopean: The Green Glass City probably is cyclopean‚ but the descriptions invoke Oz as much as R’lyeh: bottle-green buildings‚ moss-colored windshields‚ emerald mirrors. The Degenerate Dutch: At Yale Ramon lived in Calhoun College‚ named after John C. Calhoun (“‘Slavery is a positive good’? That motherfucker?”) It’s since been renamed after Grace Hopper. Libronomicon: Sarah lists her kids’ favorite books: The Westing Game and the Dog Man series. Weirdbuilding: You know the mutants were bad‚ because their leader had tentacles. Anne’s Commentary Who could want to see Oz’s Emerald City descend into ruin‚ while flying monkeys desecrate its once-glittering halls‚ especially after saving the damn place once already? It’s a shock for the alt-riders to discover their Oz in worse shape than they found it the first time. In apocalyptic times‚ adventurers expect to encounter lawless gangs‚ and/or zombies‚ and/or mutants with or without tentacles. That’s fine‚ you can fight all of these with sentient muscle cars and might-as-well-be magical knacks. It’s what comes after the ultimate global (or here‚ civic) smackdown that must devastate: The emptiness and silence that follows the extinction of your species. In the Green Glass City‚ colonizing trees and weeds have crowded into the plazas‚ so they’re not actually empty. Birds still sing and chatter‚ so silent the city is not. But the people are missing‚ utterly‚ having left not even bones behind; for Zelda‚ that’s what renders the GGC dead. She tells herself she didn’t expect parades. She tells herself she’s always known that bad outcomes were the alt-road default. The crazy thing is that a decade of alt-hopping hasn’t killed her capacity for hope. She acknowledges that they hadn’t left Brigit’s people safe‚ because there was no “safe.” Mental-seconds later‚ she’s thinking that “there was still a chance this would all turn out okay.” It’s only momentarily that she can’t “deny the grinding force of history at work‚” instead of insisting she’s “a clearly outlined person with wants and goals and needs‚” the possession of which implies agency. Or not. There’s also the false agency of the music box monkey‚ convinced it’s banging those cymbals of its own accord. Next paragraph‚ Zelda obliquely compares herself to the cowboy. Would wearing his hat – say‚ wielding power for power’s sake – feel the way she felt when they reactivated the GGC drones? Do the White Hats have a truer agency‚ and could theirs last? Zelda’s a complicated character‚ all right. Not that any alt-rider’s a simple soul‚ or else the gravitational force of Zelda’s charisma couldn’t have pulled them in a five-body problem of ridiculous interpersonal complexity. Ramon‚ however‚ doesn’t despair of finding a solution to their “astronomical” conundrum. Anecdotal evidence: When the alt-riders have to‚ they “sort their shit out‚ cowboys or monsters or rot.” They are all fixers‚ Ramon of machines‚ Sarah of bodies‚ Ish of numbers‚ Zelda of rot. And June‚ ally of shadows‚ fixes things via the rot. A fix for one player in the cosmic game could break another player‚ perhaps a requirement for maintaining essential balance. For me‚ one puzzler Last Exit poses is: Are there absolute good guys and absolute bad guys? Put simply‚ or perhaps simplistically‚ are the alt-riders and their allies always Right‚ while the cowboy and the rot/Beyond-Sal are always Wrong? Initially it looked this way. Granted‚ Zelda’s always beating herself up for having failed Sal‚ the alt-riders‚ the whole of unrotted existence‚ but that might just be Zelda’s self-doubting way and worthy of sympathy rather than censure. On the other hand‚ what about Zelda’s bursts of “clarity” in Chapter 28? What if by groveling in self-condemnation‚ Zelda had not sought forgiveness but the denial of forgiveness‚ shifting the spotlight from her victims to herself. As she puts her insight: “Really it was about me the whole time. Like always.” Even during the desperate search for June‚ she catches herself making “the moment” about Zelda. Zelda‚ Zelda‚ Zelda! If “life was always going to skew in the worst possible way because she was ruined inside and spoiled what she touched‚” that meant some inscrutable Power mocked Zelda’s monkey-doll pretenses to autonomy‚ and “failure was not her fault.” But! If Zelda did have the agency to fail‚ she might also succeed:  “Then there was still a way. A chance.” “They have all gone into the world of light!” is the first line of a poem by 17th-century poet Henry Vaughan. Of those she’s lost‚ Brigit must cry out: “They have all gone into the world of darkness!” The rot has tricked them away‚ every citizen‚ every officer and confidant. All her people‚ the ones she saved with the alt-riders‚ the ones she tried to save again‚ alone. All the alt-riders have savior-complexes to one degree or another. Brigit has a savior complex too‚ but it’s grown pathological‚ shorn of the heroic and sunk into the egomaniacal. All her people‚ but culpable for their fate through their ingratitude. Seducible‚ they were seduced. Or – they went into the dark because it was beautiful‚ and they embraced it‚ as Sal did‚ as Zelda and June have been tempted to do. Is it rot that’s driven Brigit mad‚ as Zelda believes? Will June’s knack for the rot‚ however useful at the moment‚ finally corrupt her? All bad‚ the rot? All good? Like humanity‚ a mixed bag? I’ll have the mixed bag of rot for now. You can always pick out the really icky bits and give them to the squirrels. Or maybe not to the squirrels‚ that could get scary…. Ruthanna’s Commentary There’s a lot going on in this week’s chapters. Outside the chapters‚ however‚ I am dealing with eye trouble: did you know that “stye” is not just a crossword puzzle entry? It’s an annoying-yet-minor condition that requires poking ointment into my eye four times a day. Unfortunately‚ I have read way too much horror‚ and scenes with bad things happening to eyes stick with me. Thus‚ all-too-vivid images rear themselves in my memory every time I go through my care routine. Brigit appears at an inopportune time‚ and I’m not primed to like her even if she weren’t torturing June with a glass knife. The self-inflicted “fixed” eye sockets‚ staring hollowly into the void to pin it in place‚ are more than sufficient. Ow. June‚ please‚ please‚ don’t think about how she did it‚ and definitely don’t think about whether she used an ice cream scoop. I’m gonna take a break now and lie down with a warm compress over my eyes. Possibly an armored one. Brigit started as a hero: a scrappy fighter with bow and arrow‚ a perfect ally for the college-aged gang who needed a garage to fix their car‚ and who needed a fixable apocalypse. They helped her fight off tentacled mutants‚ gave her control over powerful humanoid drones… and left her and her people in a “good place”. Happy endings depend on when you leave the story behind and ride off into the sunset. Brigit’s people didn’t appreciate the good place left for them – maybe because‚ given any sort of power‚ she was determined to keep them safe‚ like it or not. She would exert as much force‚ as much control‚ as much close surveillance‚ as was required to stop them from choosing anything other than safety. And so she’s left with the trinity of pills‚ knives‚ and surgical equipment. Brigit reminds me unfortunately of Ish. Use the all-seeing‚ certainty-creating machine to hold back the rot‚ and you end up serving something else. On Earth it’s the cowboy. Brigit may not wear a white hat‚ though it shows up briefly in her computer system‚ but she’s sure got something on her head. “A monster at least had rules‚” says June. “A hero didn’t have any.” I’m not sure this is true‚ but it is often what makes for a facile story of beatable monsters. If you know the lore about vampires you can stake Carmilla sleeping‚ find the passage in the Necronomicon that lets you stop the ritual‚ walk the line that keeps you safe in the woods. A good hero has a code‚ has things she won’t do‚ principles that see her through the less-than-simple problems. But if you’re a hero just because you’re fighting mutants and have “Disney Princess eyes” (oh god the eyes)‚ you’ve got no brakes. And maybe no tolerance for people who don’t appreciate your obvious heroism. What kinds of heroes are our alt-riders? Sal certainly didn’t have brakes‚ nor does Zelda. Ish is all too much like Brigit. Ramon and Sarah‚ impure and tied to lovers and family‚ might at least stop and think. But they all want to save the world‚ and have little patience for the slow mundane work of‚ say‚ getting a university to take down celebrations of slavery. And they all love to play the solo martyr; on this count at least June fits right in. Someday these people are going to figure out how to ask for backup before riding out alone – if they all manage it at the same time‚ they might even find that grail. Assuming that heroes exist at all: Zelda considers the great man theory versus the cogs of historical force‚ herself as clockwork monkey atop a music box. If she hadn’t discovered alt-jumping‚ would someone else have figured it out? The gang and the princess working through the multiverse from opposite sides‚ just because it was steam engine apocalypse time? And now they’re riding out again‚ away from the palace as it finally collapses Usher-style. It’s not quite riding into the sunset‚ but riding out with your back to the fire is an equally tried-and-true album-cover image: sky the color of new possibilities dawning‚ or old ones collapsing‚ or the first night at the college where you’re going to invent interdimensional travel. Leave a new mess behind you or a tidily-wrapped happy ending: maybe there’s not so much difference after all. Next week‚ you’ve just bought a new house‚ but you used the wrong kind of inspector: buyer beware in Kiera Lesley’s “Concerning the Upstairs Bathroom.”[end-mark] The post Follow the Yellow Brick Road off a Cliff: Max Gladstone’s <;i>;Last Exit<;/i>; (Part 14) appeared first on Reactor.

We’re getting down with our BAD selves and bad guys‚ as we celebrate the villains of comic books through our examination of the Dark Book ’98 Wizard special publication. We explore the Top 10 Coolest CONTINUE READING... The post WIZARDS The Podcast Guide To Comics | Bonus: Dark Book ’98 appeared first on The Retro Network.

Families across the country are struggling with the high cost of gas‚ groceries‚ and rent. Now they can add one more financial hardship to the list: the cost of college. The Biden administration is doing everything it can to make college more expensive. President Joe Biden’s various schemes to cancel student loan debt are burdening working taxpayers who could not—or chose not to—go to college by forcing them to pay someone else’s loan. The “forgiveness” proposals are a boon to wealthy universities and graduate students‚ perhaps some of the most privileged people on the planet. Student loan cancellation has understandably drawn the ire of working Americans who are already struggling with inflation and are now being insulted and financially burdened with a bill for someone else’s gender studies degree. But a forthcoming change to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)—set in motion in late 2020 as a priority of then-Sen. Lamar Alexander‚ R-Tenn.—will hit families sooner. It’s a discrete change to something known as the “expected family contribution‚” which could balloon the price of college for families with more than one child. Starting next year (applications for the 2024-25 academic year)‚ families with more than one child in college could face significantly higher costs than in previous years. The expected family contribution dictates the size of Pell Grants for eligible students‚ is used to determine institutional aid and is the guideline for other subsidies a student might receive to offset the cost of college‚ such as subsidized student loans and work-study programs. Access to these subsidies is determined in part through the expected family contribution section of the FAFSA and is calculated as the difference between a student’s anticipated cost of attendance (tuition‚ living expenses‚ etc.) and what his family is likely to be able to contribute to help pay that cost. Notably‚ as Wellesley College’s Phillip Levine explains‚ the current expected family contribution formula “is reduced proportionally to the number of that student’s siblings who are enrolled in college.” But the new Student Affordability Index‚ as the expected family contribution will now be known‚ eliminates that sibling discount for families. In other words‚ if‚ based on the current expected family contribution‚ a family was estimated to be able to contribute $10‚000 per year to their child’s tuition‚ their expected contribution would be reduced to $5‚000 if that student also had a sibling in college at the same time—which makes sense. As any parent (or third grader who can add and subtract) knows‚ having to pay two college tuitions simultaneously likely means families have less to contribute to each individual child’s college costs. The Wall Street Journal reported on data calculated by the Brookings Institution‚ which found that “a family with $150‚000 in income with two children in college would see eligibility for aid at private colleges fall $12‚600 in a year.” The Journal continues: Iowa College Aid‚ a state agency‚ simulated the impact of this change on a dependent student from a family of four with $60‚000 in income and a farm net worth of $1 million. Under the new formula‚ the amount they would be expected to pay for the child’s college would increase to $41‚056 from $7‚626. As the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney put it‚ “The new system basically tells the second child‚ ‘Sorry‚ Bud.’” To compound the problem‚ the Biden administration’s rollout of the new FAFSA form has been a complete disaster. As higher education scholar Preston Cooper notes‚ the Department of Education was three months behind schedule with the launch‚ introduced an accounting error that undercounted the cost of student aid by $2 billion‚ and made the form available for as short as 30 minutes per day‚ during which time “students reported constant glitches and lockouts.” Cooper reports that‚ as a result‚ just 16% of high school seniors had submitted their FAFSA by January‚ compared with the roughly 40% that is typical. A combination of bad policies in recent years now means Americans are being forced to pay off other people’s student loans while getting hit at the same time with a forthcoming large-family penalty. And colleges rub salt in the wound through a leftist monoculture that mocks the very idea of strong nuclear families‚ branding the two-parents-married family as perpetrators of “white heteropatriarchal family supremacy.” It’s long past time for Congress to cut off the open spigot of federal aid to higher education. Recent moves go in the opposite direction‚ further burdening already overburdened taxpaying families. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Change to Financial Aid Formula Would Hurt Families With 2 Students in College at Same Time appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Never call PolitiFact an “independent fact-checker.” They are every bit as liberal and biased as their fans in the liberal media. Recently‚ they announced they had published their 1‚000th “fact-check” of former President Donald Trump. “American fact-checkers have never encountered a politician who shares Trump’s disregard for factual accuracy‚” they proclaimed. “Ever since he descended the escalator at Trump Tower in 2015‚ we have encountered a fire hose of claims.” In those 1‚000 checks‚ PolitiFact tagged Trump on their “Truth-O-Meter” as “Mostly False‚” “False” or “Pants on Fire” in 757 of them (75.7%). Trump was found “True” or “Mostly True” in only 121 checks (12.1%). Former President Barack Obama is currently in second in the “fact-check” count with 603. PolitiFact was founded in 2007‚ when Obama was running for president. Donald Trump was a real estate developer until 2015. But look at the difference in “Truth” ratings. Almost half of Obama’s checks were “True” or “Mostly True”—289 of them (48%). Only 143 (or 25%) were “Mostly False” or worse. Obama has been rated “Pants on Fire” nine times. Trump’s been found flammable 185 times. Hillary Rodham Clinton came in third with 301 checks. She has an even better “True” side percentage—148 out of 301 (49.1%). Only 83 (26.5%) landed on the “False” side‚ and only nine “Pants on Fire” warnings. President Joe Biden is fourth with 286 checks. He hasn’t been blessed with the magic that the other two top Democrats have. Since 2007‚ he was on the “True” side on 80 occasions (33.2%) and on the “False” side in 121 articles (42.3%). He has only seven “Pants on Fire” ratings over more than 16 years‚ and just one as president. Trump has drawn seven “Pants on Fire” ratings since last June. So‚ it was comical when Molly Olmstead at the leftist website Slate.com celebrated the Trump 1‚000 by wondering how a team “so diligently committed to the cause of fighting misinformation with data and passionless expertise‚ how it feels to operate in a world where objective truth seems to matter so little.” Objective? Passionless? That’s not what the numbers say. The numbers strongly suggest “selection bias.” PolitiFact senior correspondent Louis Jacobson deserves a “Mostly False” for claiming: “We’re not trying to push any kind of agenda. We just want to provide people who are open-minded enough with information that we think can be helpful for understanding politics.” When pressed‚ Jacobson will say their Truth-O-Meter isn’t like a scientific instrument. It runs on human opinion. He told the Texas Standard‚ “We do check things that we find significant‚ notable‚ interesting to us.” On that scale‚ Trump’s almost four times more “interesting” than Biden. The conservatives and Republicans are far more “interesting” than Democrats. Biden can say the Republicans are “Jim Crow 2.0″ segregationists‚ and PolitiFact naps. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas can pronounce “the border is secure‚” and it’s crickets. MSNBC host Ali Velshi can say Trump and the Republicans “want to let fewer brown people in‚” and they want immigration to be “the most painful process possible.” Free pass! Nothing “notable” in these statements. But when Elon Musk speculates Biden’s border strategy is to “get as many illegals in the country as possible” and “legalize them to create a permanent majority‚” he gets flagged as “False.” PolitiFact’s archives easily undermine their claims that they’re just here to help give citizens the “information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.” It’s more like they dole out the information Democrats need to stay in charge of the government. COPYRIGHT 2024 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY LLC Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post PolitiFact Celebrates ‘Fact-Checking’ Trump 1‚000 Times; Obama‚ Biden Not So Much appeared first on The Daily Signal.

San Francisco wants federal taxpayers to help cover the more than $423 million it spent housing approximately 5‚000 homeless people in hotels and other “non-congregate” facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The total cost per homeless person housed by San Francisco during the pandemic was $84‚600‚ according to data reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco city officials had expected the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the city $190 million for housing homeless people during COVID-19‚ however‚ due to a rule change‚ the city could be on the hook for the spending. San Francisco and other cities across California housed the homeless in hotels during the pandemic to aid with social distancing and reduce COVID-19 transmission. FEMA said in October 2023 that it would not reimburse local governments for many hotel stays that lasted more than 20 days between June 2021 and May 2023‚ the San Francisco Chronicle reported. City officials say FEMA’s move not to reimburse some hotel stays longer than 20 days “pose[s] a significant potential risk” to San Francisco’s budget. San Francisco Mayor London Breed‚ a Democrat‚ said the city’s budget deficit could reach $1 billion by the 2028 fiscal year‚ according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Some city officials have called FEMA’s policy change unfair. San Francisco City Controller Ben Rosenfield characterized FEMA’s actions as an “impermissible retroactive law” and claimed that the agency never mentioned its 20-day limit during the pandemic‚ the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “As the pandemic continued to evolve and health regulations per [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance changed‚ FEMA adjusted its policies to meet CDC guidance‚” a FEMA spokesperson told the Daily Caller New Foundation. “FEMA is committed to working with each impacted jurisdiction on all requests for federal funding to maximize reimbursement for the appropriate life saving measures they implemented to protect their citizens from COVID-19‚ while also ensuring the appropriate oversight of federal funds‚” the spokesperson continued. San Francisco officials are prepared to fight for federal reimbursements. “We intend to explore every option available to appeal any claims denied by FEMA Region 9 that we believe to be eligible for reimbursement‚ based on the guidance in effect at the time‚” Rosenfield said. Regardless of whether San Francisco succeeds in making FEMA reimburse its hotel spending‚ taxpayers will foot the bill. City taxpayers will be on the hook if San Francisco pays and federal taxpayers will be if FEMA does. San Francisco managed to clear out homeless encampments in some of its neighborhoods ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city in November. San Francisco is not the only city racking up large bills putting homeless people in hotels. Los Angeles mulled spending $250 million on acquiring a luxury hotel‚ as well as eight motels‚ to house the homeless in May 2023. Other Democrat-run cities across the country‚ like Chicago and New York‚ are facing budgetary strain due to the ongoing migrant crisis and have also appealed to the federal government for financial assistance. The San Francisco Mayor and Controller’s offices did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post San Francisco Spent Massive Amount of Taxpayer Dollars to House Homeless During Pandemic appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Australia’s authorities are once again putting pressure on social media‚ X this time‚ threatening that the company will face big fines and “big trouble” in general – unless “mis- and dis-” information is censored. And‚ it is Australia’s new laws‚ when they come into force this year‚ that will represent the legal grounds for such actions. The fines would run up to $3 million or 2 percent of annual turnover for “voluntary code of conduct” violations‚ and $7.8 million or 5 percent of annual turnover in case of lack of compliance with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) “standards.” This transpires from an article published by the Financial Review‚ citing Communications Minister Michelle Rowland‚ while the motive behind her last crusade is described as “a litany of issues” now allegedly plaguing X. Rowland went all over the place to accuse X of “not doing enough” – from Taylor Swift deep fakes‚ to what’s likely a key point of contention – the platform’s decision to reinstate some 6‚000 accounts of users previously banned by Twitter. The thinking here seems to be that if the threat is made ahead of time‚ X will “align” better with Australia’s politics and agree to once again plunge itself into mass censorship. The laws Rowland mentioned were drafted in 2023 with the aim of giving broader powers to the Australian Communications and Media Authority‚ specifically “to combat mis- and disinformation online‚” the article said. The upcoming legislation seeks to produce two effects – the tech industry subjecting itself to a formally voluntary code of conduct‚ and after this “carrot” comes the stick in the shape of the ACMA’s new powers‚ fines and punishment‚ if ACMA’s unhappy with how the code is adhered to. Rowland added that X at this time “isn’t even covered by a voluntary industry code.” The reason is that X was removed from the code after it stopped the practice of flagging content running against (Twitter’s) “civic integrity policy.” Elsewhere in Australia’s media scene‚ some are asking why the country’s government “hates Elon Musk.” “It is about $300 million that Musk owes the Australian government so far‚” wondered Sky News host James Macpherson. And by “owes” – he meant‚ the fines Australia has tried collecting from X even before the latest threats. The post Australia’s Communications Minister Threatens X With “Big Trouble” if It Doesn’t Censor “Misinformation” appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. As our workplaces continue to integrate with digital technology‚ employee privacy might be at a higher risk than ever before. Significant American corporations‚ like Walmart‚ Delta Air Lines‚ T-Mobile‚ Chevron‚ and Starbucks‚ have reportedly enlisted the services of the Ohio-based tech startup‚ Aware. This firm uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze employee communications through popular apps such as Slack‚ Microsoft Teams‚ and Zoom. The invasion of worker privacy happening is no longer mere conjecture. Known insights about a company’s staff that were previously gained through annual or twice-per-year surveys have been replaced by ongoing monitoring of employee messages via AI. Jeff Schumann‚ co-founder and CEO of Aware‚ claimed to CNBC‚ the purpose is to help businesses “understand the risk within their communications.” He suggests companies gain an understanding of employee sentiment towards any new corporate initiatives or marketing campaigns in real-time. The AI models developed by Aware are designed to scrutinize text and interpret images‚ supposedly identifying potential issues such as bullying‚ harassment‚ discrimination‚ or even general “toxicity.” However‚ the company’s surveillance does not stop there. The analytics tool also monitors the overall mood of the workforce. Although this all seems disconcertingly intrusive‚ Schumann alleges that the tool is incapable of singling out individual employees. However‚ there is an exception. The eDiscovery tool‚ separate from the primary analytics tool‚ will reveal private information under extreme circumstances predetermined by the company. The use of these surveillance tools has reportedly been adopted by brands beyond the United States‚ including European companies such as Nestle and AstraZeneca. Approximately 80% of Aware’s operation involves aiding firms in governance risk and compliance‚ according to Schumann. The post AI Is Inflaming Workplace Surveillance appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

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