Despite being one of the most promising places to explore for signs of life, "special regions" and "uncertain regions" may be best left alone.

It actually has eight arms, but then the males do something rather strange…

Susceptibility to magic may be all in the hands for some primates.

The new species is chilled out. Perhaps too chilled out.

MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough came out swinging against MAGA Wednesday morning, castigating the Trump administration for its “lies” and taking pleasure in its immigration enforcement “cruelty.” The Morning Joe co-host then lashed out at the President’s supporters for, apparently, not taking the teachings of Jesus to heart. The morning program spent some time on a spat between the White House and pop artist Sabrina Carpenter, who rebuked the administration for using one of her songs in an immigration video. Co-host Mika Brzezinski started to read through the White House’s response when Scarborough got fed up and interrupted her: BRZEZINSKI: White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded with a statement referencing Carter's [sic] lyrics, writing, “Here's a Short ‘n Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won't apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal” — SCARBOROUGH: You know, I’m just — I'm tired of the lies — [Crosstalk] BRZEZINSKI: — “murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country.” SCARBOROUGH: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. We're not gonna read the lies.     Oof. Wasn’t even willing to listen to both sides of the story. Interestingly, Brzezinski returned the favor by interrupting Scarborough right before he said… something: SCARBOROUGH: You know, there — they are getting students, and Jacob — BRZEZINSKI: Uppp! SCARBOROUGH: Am I not supposed to say this just yet? BRZEZINSKI: Well, just hang on, okay? It’s not clear who exactly Scarborough was about to name-drop, but it could’ve been MS NOW political and national correspondent Jacob Soboroff, who has been covering immigration for the network. Perhaps Scarborough nearly leaked a big scoop that was still under wraps! Scarborough went on to accuse Trump administration of actually enjoying violent raids: “It's savage. The savagery, the cruelty. And it's something they celebrate. They love this. They think, inside the White House, they — I mean, Donald Trump has said before he doesn't want to see mothers ripped from the arms of children, but that's exactly what they're doing tenfold compared to the first term.” Co-host Jonathan Lemire concurred with the characterization, “… you're right, it's trolling. It is government by trolling. The idea of putting out these slick videos they know are going to get a reaction, that are reveling in the cruelty of the moment.” Not too much later, after making an homage to the “extraordinarily heroic” Pope (very briefly this time), Scarborough made his pastoral debut lecturing the American public on how to treat foreigners: “And again, you just can't keep going back to the story of the Good Samaritan enough, where Jesus says, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ They ask, ‘Who's my neighbor?’ And he picks the most despised foreigner, the most despised foreigner, the Samaritan to say, ‘That's your neighbor, and that's who you love, and that's who is — who will be first in the Kingdom of God.’” In any other context, one might think Scarborough had been ordained and commissioned to administer some conviction in hearts and minds. Alas, what we got was, frankly, uncouth: Because make no mistake, read the Bible. Read Jesus's words. Don't go to Leviticus. Read Jesus's words. Don't go to Nahum. Read Jesus's word. Don't go back to Exodus. Read Jesus's words and it could not be any more clear. These people who continue to support these policies are literally doing the opposite of what Jesus Christ said in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Wooaahhhh, calm down, buddy. What about all the crime, fraud, waste and abuse incurred by Biden’s mass-immigration policy? Ignoring that wouldn’t be loving your domestic neighbor. Weren’t you supposed to be “pretty conservative” on the border? The transcript is below. Click "expand" read: MS NOW’s Morning Joe December 3, 2025 6:47:12 a.m. EST MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Well, first it was Taylor, — JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. BRZEZINSKI: — and now it's Sabrina. Sabrina Carpenter, the singer becoming the latest pop superstar to get into a feud with the Trump White House. The fight began with Carpenter slamming the administration for using one of her songs in a video applauding ICE raids. SCARBOROUGH: That's probably not — BRZEZINSKI: I wouldn't want that. SCARBOROUGH: — good branding. Yeah. BRZEZINSKI: The clip posted by the official White House X account, Twitter account, shows a video montage of ICE officers chasing and handcuffing people to a remix of Carpenter's song, “Juno.” The post includes text reading, “Bye-bye,” with a heart eyes emoji. This is so sick. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, the cruelty is really — BRZEZINSKI: I am sorry. SCARBOROUGH: — is staggering. BRZEZINSKI: This is so sick. The singer responded with a video — a post of her own, writing, “this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded with a statement referencing Carter's [sic] lyrics, writing, “Here's a Short ‘n Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won't apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal” — SCARBOROUGH: You know, I’m just — I'm tired of the lies — [Crosstalk] BRZEZINSKI: — “murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country.” SCARBOROUGH: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. We're not gonna read the lies. You know, there — they are getting students, and Jacob — BRZEZINSKI: Uppp! SCARBOROUGH: Am I not supposed to say this just yet? BRZEZINSKI: Well, just hang on, okay? SCARBOROUGH: They are — ICE is getting innocent people that are going to see their family. They are busting down, like, kindergartens and pulling out kindergarten teachers. They're throwing mothers to the ground. It's savage. The savagery, the cruelty. And it's something they celebrate. They love this. They think, inside the White House, they — I mean, Donald Trump has said before he doesn't want to see mothers ripped from the arms of children, but that's exactly — BRZEZINSKI: That’s been — SCARBOROUGH: — what they're doing tenfold compared to the first term. It's why he's upside down on immigration, an issue that should be his strongest because the southern border is shut down. JONATHAN LEMIRE: Yeah. And as much as Trump has said he doesn't want that, but at the same time, he sat down with 60 Minutes a month ago and was told — he was asked about immigration and his sinking poll numbers, saying, “Well, we have to go harder. We have to go harder with the deportation,” doubling down on this. But you're right, it's trolling. It is government by trolling. The idea of putting out these slick videos they know are going to get a reaction, that are reveling in the cruelty of the moment. And not just Sabrina Carpenter, but a lot of Americans have said, “We don’t want this. This isn’t what we want. We’re disgusted by this.” (…) 6:51:39 a.m. EST SCARBOROUGH: David, one church institution that's showing compassion is the Catholic Church. The Pope has been extraordinarily heroic and — well, in doing his job. I mean, he's quoting Jesus. He's quoting the most obvious parts of the red letters. Which, of course leads to the question, how do so many people who are — who grew up in our churches, who grew up as Baptists like me across the deep south, how are so many people turning a blind eye not only to the savagery here, but also to a President they voted for twice calling God's children — let's make no mistake of this, Jesus was very clear. We're all God's children. And in fact, when he talks about the last being first and the first being last, well, you could probably put billionaire leaders on one side of that and Somali immigrants on the other. When he calls Somalis, quote, “human garbage,” that is something — again, for people who didn't grow up in the Baptist church, who didn't grow up reading the red letters, didn't grow up in the Gospels, didn't grow up like you and me, you know, reading about this in, you know, Sunday school and training union. I mean, the thing is, when you get into the Gospels, they're not so many rules, people like to talk about rules, the commandment is, just time and time again, blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy. Like, what you do to the least of these among me, you do to me, myself. And again, you just can't keep going back to the story of the Good Samaritan enough, where Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” They ask, “Who's my neighbor?” And he picks the most despised foreigner, the most despised foreigner, the Samaritan to say, “That's your neighbor, and that's who you love, and that's who is — who will be first in the Kingdom of God.” So again, a very long windup to ask this question. How have these people been so programed to forget every single thing they were taught in church, in Sunday school, in training union on Wednesday night Bible studies, like, how have they been so programed that they completely put this political, I don't even know what to call it, over the teachings of Jesus Christ? Because make no mistake, read the Bible. Read Jesus's words. Don't go to Leviticus. Read Jesus's words. Don't go to Nahum. Read Jesus's word. Don't go back to Exodus. Read Jesus's words and it could not be any more clear. These people who continue to support these policies are literally doing the opposite of what Jesus Christ said in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

As I watched Jon M. Chu's "Wicked: For Good" last week, I kept thinking about another, very different filmmaker: David Lynch. Specifically, the Lynch that emerges from Alexandre Philippe's excellent 2022 documentary "Lynch/Oz," wherein we discover just how deeply the infamously surreal filmmaker was influenced by one of cinema's sweetest fantasy films: the original "Wizard of Oz." In the era of #WitchTok ... a story like 'Wicked' has built-in appeal. Philippe's film includes footage from a 2001 Q and A in which Lynch confirms the extent of his devotion: "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about 'The Wizard of Oz.'"The logic of fairylandAnd that shouldn't be surprising given how much it shows up in his work. From Glinda the Good Witch making an appearance in "Wild at Heart," to the hazy, dreamlike depiction of suburbia in "Blue Velvet," his films exist in a dual state between the realm of fairyland and the underworld.Indeed, Lynch doesn't reject either. In proper Buddhist fashion, these two forces exist in balance, equally potent and true. There is both good and evil in his world. Neither negates the other's existence. And when darkness spills over into the light, it may be tragic, but it is also just another part of the world. Like Dorothy, his protagonists find themselves walking deeper into unknown territory. The protagonists of his films truly "aren't in Kansas anymore.""The Wizard of Oz" is potent because it captures the logic of fairyland better than almost any film ever made. Channeling the fairy stories of J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, and George MacDonald, it transports the mind to a realm that is more real than real, where even the most dire intrusion of evil can be set right according to simple moral rules. As G.K. Chesterton famously puts it:Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.Wicked good"Wicked" and its new sequel reject this comforting clarity for something altogether more "adult" and ambiguous. Instead of presenting good and evil as objective realities that can be discerned and defeated, the films show how political authorities manipulate those labels to scapegoat some and exalt others.They do so by swapping the original's heroes and villains. The Wonderful Wizard is a cruel tyrant. Glinda is foppish and self-obsessed. Dorothy is the unwitting tool of a corrupt regime. And Elphaba — the so-called Wicked Witch — is reimagined as a sympathetic underdog with a tragic backstory, a manufactured villain invented to keep Oz unified in ire and hatred.Elphaba exudes a whiff of Milton's Lucifer — an eternal rebel in a tragic quest to upend the moral order. But unlike "Paradise Lost," "Wicked" presents rebellion against its all-powerful father figure not as a tragic self-deception, but as a justified response to systemic cruelty.Witch way?"Wicked: For Good" takes the ideas of its predecessor even further than mere rebellion. If "Wicked: Part One" is about awakening to the world's realities and becoming radicalized by them, "Wicked: For Good" is about the cost of selling out — the temptation to compromise with a corrupt system and the soul-crushing despair that follows.This is where the irony of the film's title, "Wicked: For Good" comes in. Once a person sees the world for what it truly is, they can't go back without compromising themselves. They've "changed for good." They've awakened and can't return to sleep.It's worth considering why the "Wicked" franchise is so wildly popular. Gregory Maguire's original 1995 novel has sold 5 million copies. The 2003 stage show it inspired won three Tony Awards and recently became the fourth longest-running Broadway musical ever. And the first film grossed $759 million last winter, with the sequel poised to make even more money. Perhaps it is no coincidence that this outsize success comes at a time when Wicca and paganism have grown into mainstream cultural forces. In the era of #WitchTok, in which self-proclaimed witches hex politicians and garner billions of views on social media, a story like "Wicked" has built-in appeal. It offers glamorous spell-casting and a romantic tale of resistance to authority.RELATED: 'Etsy witches' reportedly placed curses on Charlie Kirk days before assassination Photo by The Salt Lake Tribune / Contributor via Getty ImagesA bittersweet moralThe temptation of witchcraft is one that always hovers over our enlightened and rationalistic society. Particularly for young women, witchcraft offers a specific form of autonomy and power — over body, spirit, and fate — that patriarchal societies often deny. Many view witchcraft as progressive and empowering; "witchy vibes" have become a badge of identity.Thus the unsettling imagery of Robert Eggers' 2015 film "The Witch" comes into focus: A satanic coven kidnaps and kills a Puritan baby, seduces a teenage girl, and gains the power to unsubtly "defy gravity" through a deal with the devil."Wicked" is all about this power to transcend. Even as its protagonist grows despairing in the second film and abandons her political quest for the freedom of the wastelands, the film presupposes that it is better to resist or escape a corrupt system than submit to it.Ultimately, the two films leave their audience with a bittersweet moral: Society is dependent on scapegoats. The Platonic noble lie upon which all societies rest cannot be escaped — but it can be redirected. A new civic myth can be founded that avoids sacrificing the vulnerable and overthrows the demagogues atop Mount Olympus. And the witches play the central role in overturning the world of Oz. Their rebellion sets it free.But because the films blur the clear, objective distinction between good and evil — even while acknowledging that real evil exists — the characters in "Wicked" often drift in moral grayness, defining themselves mainly in relation to power. The world becomes overbearing, radicalizing, and morally unstable.Sad truthThis is far afield from the vision of Oz presented in the 1939 film, the one David Lynch venerated as vital to his understanding of the world. But it reflects how modern storytellers often grapple with Oz. Almost every sequel or spin-off struggles to recapture the sincerity of the original. The 1985 sequel "Return to Oz" reimagined the land with a dark-fantasy twist. 2013's "Oz the Great and Powerful" comes closest to the original tone but centers on fraudulence and trickery. "Wicked," too, falls in line with the modern tendency to subvert and complicate traditional stories of good versus evil. "Frozen," "The Shape of Water," "Game of Thrones," and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" all explore morally conflicted worlds where bravery is futile or where Miltonian rebellion is celebrated.Of course, seeing the stories of our childhood with a jaundiced adult eye can be quite entertaining; it's perfectly understandable why even those not in covens love these films. They are well-made, well-performed, and especially irresistible to former theater kids (I am one). Their popularity isn't inherently bad either. They are perfectly fine in isolation. It is only when we contrast them with the clarity and beauty of the original — and place them within the context of our society — that a sad truth emerges: Finding fairyland is hard. Most of us prefer to live in the Lynchian underworld.

A rampant repeat offender has been accused of punching and then shoving an intellectually disabled man off a Chicago suburb train platform and upon the tracks below, seriously injuring the victim — and all over $1.Tommie O. Carter, 39 — who law enforcement sources said has been arrested over 40 times in Cook County, Illinois — has been identified as the culprit, WGN-TV reported.'I am the victim!'Forest Park officers were dispatched to the Harlem Blue Line stop just before 8:35 a.m. Monday for a report of a battery, the station said. Forest Park is a suburb just west of Chicago.Officers found the 59-year-old victim lying on the train tracks, WGN said.Prosecutors allege Carter approached the man and repeatedly asked him for a dollar, the station said, adding that the man replied that he had no money.More from WGN:Carter allegedly pushed the man to the ground, and he was able to get back up. Documents state the man walked to the train platform and Carter followed him.He then struck the man in the head and pushed him from behind, causing the 59-year-old to fall to the tracks, prosecutors state. The man came “really close” to the electric third rail.A train was approaching the station, but the train’s operator, who saw what happened, was able to stop the train in time. Authorities were able to cut off electricity to the rail so first responders could make the rescue.Prosecutors said the alleged attack was captured on surveillance video, the station added.RELATED: 'Serial puncher' accused of knocking out mother of 11 in Chicago over summer arrested yet again — this time while behind bars WGN reported that the victim — who suffered multiple fractures to his right knee and a fracture in his left knee — was taken to a hospital for treatment.Officers approached Carter on the train platform after witnesses identified him, the station said, citing court documents.But Carter refused to comply with officers’ orders and fought back as they were placing him in handcuffs, police told WGN.Carter continued to tense up and tried to pull away from officers as they took him to a squad car, the station said, citing an incident report.More from WGN:As one officer was placing the suspect in the back seat, he turned his head and spit on the officer, hitting him in the forehead and side of his face.After driving to the police department, as officers were trying to remove Carter from the squad car to bring him inside for processing, he allegedly began to spit again, hitting one officer in his arm, and hitting another in the face mask, left shoulder, and on his body-worn camera mounted on his uniform.An incident report shows once Carter was in the station, he was irate at first, and then began to speak with officers. He claimed the victim initially grabbed him, which caused his jacket to rip, and said he pushed the man after he was grabbed.“Carter then became increasingly hostile, spitting towards officers, throwing a wet toilet paper roll and wet T-shirt,” the incident report stated, according to the station.Carter was charged with attempted murder and three counts of aggravated battery to a police officer, WGN reported.He also shouted, “I am the victim!” and “Let me out of here!” during his detention hearing, the station said.A judge denied a request from Carter's attorney that he should be allowed on electronic monitoring, WGN noted.What's more, Carter was on pretrial release in connection with a case just last month in which he was charged with criminal damage to government supported property, criminal trespass, and assault, the station said.More from WGN:According to an arrest report, Carter entered the Citadel Center without authorization, and when asked to leave, he refused. After being taken into custody, he allegedly started kicking the door of the Chicago Police Department squad car and tried to spit on one of the officers.Carter also has seven felony convictions on his record, including a 2023 case for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, in which he was sentenced to two years in the Illinois Department of Correction.He has six other convictions on his criminal record, including retail theft, attempted armed robbery, and armed robbery.A judge ordered Carter detained, the station said; his next court date is scheduled for Dec. 19.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The tour, "An Evening of Tales, Tunes and Other Mysteries," was to be "an intimate night where stories, songs, and truths intertwine." The post Yusuf/Cat Stevens U.S. Book Tour is Cancelled: ‘It’s Befuddling to Us All’ appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

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