Books book reviews In the Planetary Doghouse: Edward Ashton’s After the Fall Edward Ashton’s latest explores human–alien social dynamics. By Sasha Bonkowsky | Published on February 25, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share I’ve read three of Edward Ashton’s books: Mickey7, The Fourth Consort, and now After the Fall. All three feature pathetic schmucks of men who find themselves subservient to a much larger alien. Not in a sexy way—these aren’t those kinds of books. No, Ashton is interested in exploring the political and social dynamics of human–alien interaction, and After the Fall is just the most explicit about it. Our protagonist John, you see, is an alien’s pet. He doesn’t think of himself that way. He’s a “bondsman,” or an “employee,” a human who works for a grey named Martok. He just doesn’t have any rights, and if he speaks out of turn or dares lie to a grey, he’ll get his head smashed in. Such is the sad state of all humans nowadays. After some apocalyptic catastrophe (‘the Fall’) a hundred years ago, the greys arrived in their colony ships and set up civilization in a small corner of the ruined Earth. Out of sheer magnanimity, they took in the remaining humans and created a system where the two species could live in harmony, so long as humans remember their great failure and don’t step out of line. That’s how the greys tell it, anyway, and John, crèche-born and raised, has no reason to doubt. Man, those humans, huh? The asymmetry of John’s relationship with Martok becomes clear when the grey—a wannabe “entrepreneur” with a string of failed businesses behind him—puts his bond up for collateral against an eye-watering loan. Martok has a vision. Humans might have been self-destructive and brutish, but they had an innovation the greys lack: leisure capacity! Martok hopes to turn an abandoned lakeside cabin into this Earth’s first full-service getaway resort, and if he fails, it’s John’s neck on the line. Along the way to the cabin, Martok picks up another bondsman, a twelve-year-old girl named Six with dangerous ideas about what humans used to be like (and who might just be his replacement), and John makes his own life worse by accidentally implying the incompetent Martok is really a mafia enforcer. Greys who can commit violence are highly valued because of a strange quirk in grey biology: When agitated or incensed, greys become absent, losing control of themselves and generally wreaking havoc. Only a rare few can go about killing or maiming without losing all rational faculty, and they’re hired out at exorbitant prices. Unfortunately, Martok is far too bumbling to be an enforcer, so John’s got to figure out another way to deal with the greys who get sent out to Martok’s fledgling resort accompanied by sinister requests for “minor correctives” or “full treatments.” A solution to his problems—or really, just another problem for our poor beleaguered man—presents itself when he encounters the feral humans who live in the woods. Up until this point, we’ve assumed John is a baseline human. Sure, he’s weak, he’s small enough relative to a grey that Martok can cuddle him against his chest, he’s intimidated by the tall pine trees of his new scenery—but that’s just how Ashton likes to write them. Isn’t it? But Dana and Tanner, the bow-slinging feral humans, are two feet taller than John at least, with both muscle and viciousness that he lacks. Turns out, John’s domesticated. Buy the Book After The Fall Edward Ashton Buy Book After The Fall Edward Ashton Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget The most apt comparison—the one After the Fall is shot through with, including on the book’s cover—is that of wolves and dogs. The greys haven’t flattened out John’s nose like a pug yet, but maybe it’s only a matter of time. John and Dana are only a few generations removed from one another, but the greys’ biological acumen and breeding programs have already diverged them significantly. Bondsmen and ferals differ psychologically, too: The créche nursemaids condition bondsmen to be repulsed at the thought of hurting greys to ensure they don’t step out of line. I happened to be reading After the Fall at the same time my partner was reading Christopher Buehlman’s The Daughters’ War; that novel’s goblins prove just how evil they are by having human farms, populated by overlarge, unintelligent humans made for the harvest. The same for The Matrix, whose robot overlords are using humans as batteries, or The Twilight Zone way back in 1962 having humans raised for food. So it’s perhaps unique how sympathetically the greys are treated in After the Fall—imperfect but nuanced, with various political factions among them jockeying for power, and certainly not universal villains. If the story took place among the most powerful greys, or during the time of the mysterious Fall, that attitude might be different. But although Dana, Tanner, and Six have (unsurprisingly) a human-centric view of the Fall—the greys conquered Earth when their ships arrived, and the ferals are living out a heroic resistance on a planet rightfully theirs—the truth doesn’t seem so simple. And Martok is a nobody in grey society, far from the levers of power and comparatively kind to John; he certainly benefits from grey dominance, but it’s hard to blame him for it. Ashton likes situations like these, on the fringes of society where the rules bend—and, more specifically, where the sharp strictures of who we expect to hate break down. Mickey from Mickey7 is trained to kill the aliens that populate the frozen planet of Niflheim, but after surviving a freak encounter he learns maybe they don’t deserve to die; Dalton Greaves, stuck in the alien queen’s palace of The Fourth Consort with the enemy soldier Breaker, becomes friends with him and even shares Breaker’s grief over the death of his partner. The setup of After the Fall makes readers expect to hate the greys, to treat them as alien conquerors, but the precariousness of grey society and Martok’s genuine good nature slowly undermines that feeling. Now, to me, John and Martok’s relationship never rises to the level of found family or buddy-cop routine. No matter how good Martok is to John, or how much he might earnestly ask John for business advice, there’s simply too much of a power imbalance between them. Cheery feelings will only take you so far when one partner owns the other. But it doesn’t have to be those things. After the Fall is classic Ashton, comedic, bizarre, and thoughtful in equal measure, poking at complicated questions of humanity and our own relationships with one another at the same time it cheers on John’s compounding bad decisions that keep the novel rolling. The most important takeaway? In the end, human pets are probably more trouble than they’re worth.[end-mark] After the Fall is published by St. Martin’s Press.Read an excerpt. The post In the Planetary Doghouse: Edward Ashton’s <i>After the Fall</i> appeared first on Reactor.

News Mortal Kombat 2 New Mortal Kombat II Trailer Takes Itself Too Seriously Fighting with laser beams is very serious business, guys By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on February 25, 2026 Screenshot: Warner Bros. Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Warner Bros. The latest Mortal Kombat II trailer is out, and I confess it leaves me confused. The first trailer released had some expected camp to it; this one, however, features scenes of a verious serious film about saving the world and shots of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage seeming to regret his choice to be in this movie at all. Those who know the video game franchise know that the fighting should be kinda fun. And perhaps the movie is! The first trailer seems to suggest that, while this one decidedly does not (though we do see lots of characters shooting laser beams, so that’s something). For those who need a refresher on the games and/or the premise of the film, here’s the synopsis for Mortal Kombat II: This time, the fan favorite champions—now joined by Johnny Cage himself—are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders. What’s also interesting is that this sequel film seems to move far away from the first Mortal Kombat movie in this latest iteration of the franchise. That film starred Lewis Tan as Cole Young, and while Tan is listed as being part of the film, he doesn’t show up at all in this trailer. Speaking of the cast, there are a bunch of great actors in Mortal Kombat II. In addition to Urban and Tan, the film stars Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada. The movie is set to come out in theaters on May 8, 2026. Will the movie be good? Or will it be… something else? Check out the trailer below and decide for yourself. [end-mark] The post New <i>Mortal Kombat II</i> Trailer Takes Itself Too Seriously appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts Young Adult Read an Excerpt From The Dragon and the Sun Lotus by Amélie Wen Zhao A decade ago, the Kingdom of Night began the war against the Kingdom of Rivers… By Amélie Wen Zhao | Published on February 25, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from The Dragon and the Sun Lotus, the second part of Amélie Wen Zhao’s young adult Three Realms duology, publishing with Delacorte Press on March 3. A decade ago, the Kingdom of Night began the war against the Kingdom of Rivers, ravaging the lands and releasing mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—to roam free, drinking the souls of mortals. Now the mó have made it beyond the magical wards of the immortal realm—the Kingdom of Sky—and will not stop until the entire world falls to darkness.Àn’yīng is determined to banish the mó to their realm and return the mortal realm to peace. But a stunning betrayal has turned the tides of this war: Her handsome rival from the Immortality Trials and the man she was falling in love with, Yù’chén, is now the enemy. Yù’chén is half mó, his mother none other than Sansiran, the Demon Queen of the Kingdom of Night… and the monster responsible for killing Àn’yīng’s father.There is one hope for the future, though. The boy in the jade—Àn’yīng’s lifelong mystery guardian and heir to the last mortal Emperor—Hào’yáng. Àn’yīng and Hào’yáng must join forces to rally an army that stretches across realms, from the Four Seas of the Dragons to the Phoenixes of the Golden Desert. But first, Àn’yīng must awaken to the immortal power slumbering in her own veins. Àn’yīng Xī’lín Village, Central Province, Kingdom of Rivers Another roar rips through the air. Overhead, She of the Moon-Frosted Sea dances before Qióng’qí, engaging the beast in battle, her silver, serpentine form cutting against its mass of darkness. Suddenly, the dragon lets out an anguished cry—one so foreign and yet so human in its heartbreak. As she lifts her head in the direction of the battle waging behind me, a terrifying pain sears across my chest. My hand darts to the jade pendant at my collarbone. Hào’yáng. Fleet and Striker are in my hands, their power becoming an extension of me as I pivot, adrenaline and spirit energy thrumming through my blood, my hands and feet in a harmonious weave. Táo’wù towers over a patch of rubble. Amidst wood splinters and stones and tile is a figure in gold. Hào’yáng is kneeling, which strikes me as horribly wrong, yet as I close the distance, I make out his hand clutched to his side—and how his gold armor and white shift are stained red. Táo’wù lets out a roar of triumph. It rears on its hind legs, swordlike claws heavy enough to crush entire houses, and leaps for Hào’yáng. Something cool and hard presses against my collarbone. I stumble, momentarily thrown off-balance. Then I reach into the folds of my wedding gown and draw out a sword. It’s more slight than other longswords, made of a metal I cannot place: one that glows a soft blush, the color of sunrises. Its hilt, a deep-green woven through with veins like a leaf, warms beneath my fingers as I lift it. Somehow, in my hands, it is as light as a feather… and it rests in my palms as though it has always belonged there. I have seen this blade, on many occasions. I know with a bone-deep recognition, what it is: It’s Lady Shī’yǎ’s lotus, transformed into its sword form. My skin begins to dance with light, pouring into the weapon, as I leap into the air and lift it over my head. Then I plunge it through Táo’wù’s tusked, open maw. The hellbeast’s scream fractures the ground as it reels back, crashing into a nearby house. Overhead, the seam splitting the skies trembles, the scythe moon and night stars within rippling like the surface of a lake. I land by Hào’yáng’s side. He kneels, sword driven into the ground before him, other hand clutching his side to stem the flow of blood. “Àn’yīng?” he rasps as I kneel before him, patting him down to check for more injuries. “I’m here,” I tell him. “I’m here, Hào’yáng.” He blinks rapidly, and I’m close enough to see my reflection in his eyes—the lotus’s light dancing over my skin and radiating from me. “You’re… beautiful.” A sob bubbles in my chest, which I turn into a laugh. “You tell me this now? When my wedding gown is ruined and our banquet destroyed?” He slumps against me. His breathing is shallow, fast, and I am suddenly more terrified than words can describe as I hold him. Buy the Book The Dragon and the Sun Lotus Amélie Wen Zhao Buy Book The Dragon and the Sun Lotus Amélie Wen Zhao Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget I press my fingers to my lips and whistle. From somewhere nearby comes a responding whinny— followed by a roar. Hào’yáng’s grip tightens against my back. “Go,” he breathes. “They’re after me. Go, Àn’yīng.” Beyond us, Táo’wù is stirring from the wreckage of a house. Behind us, the ground shakes as Qióng’qí closes in. Yet the world seems to slow and fall away as I hold my boy in the jade. There are a handful of moments in life when the meaning of destiny becomes clear. As Hào’yáng’s blood warms me and his life energy ebbs away, my mother’s words to him come back to me: Your life will be a vessel through which the good of the Kingdom of Rivers is governed. Your heart and your soul will be buried under this vast decree beneath the Heavens, child. There will be no space for love or a life for you. And yet, Hào’yáng is here with me, so alive and so human. To most, he is the heir and the captain, cold and distant and powerful—yet to me, he is so much more. He is my guardian in the jade, with the warmth in his eyes reserved only for me, the rare smiles I’ve come to love coaxing from him, lighting my skies like a glimpse of the sun. He is my political ally: When his brows crease, his gaze goes unfocused and a calculating look appears in his eyes, a look I’ve come to recognize when his brilliant mind is at work. And then there are the parts of him that have threaded into my heart like the currents of a sunlit river. The Hào’yáng whose touch stirs those tides, whose gaze sets my world on fire like the sun burning flames into the sea. The one whose kiss slammed the waves of an entire ocean into my chest. If he must hold the weight of realms on his shoulders now and for the rest of his life, I will not let him do so alone. As She of the Moon-Frosted Sea stops before us, I clasp his chin between my hands, forcing his eyes to meet mine. “I’m not going anywhere without you,” I tell him, and without waiting for a response, I hoist him onto the dragonhorse’s scaly back. I loop my brocade belt around her and strap Hào’yáng down. Then I slide on behind him and we’re off, gaining speed as we rise into the air. Behind us, roars of the two hellbeasts follow us into the night. Red seeps from Hào’yáng onto the dragonhorse’s scales. I brush a thumb along the hilt of my birth mother’s lotus sword, feeling the grooves of its etchings against my skin, an ancient calling that might have been the start of my destiny. “We make for the immortal realm tonight,” I say, glancing to the distant horizon. She of the Moon-Frosted Sea’s ears twitch back to me; her scales ripple dimly in the cloud-swathed night as she gallops. I grip my lotus sword tightly, its blade trailing an aurora glow through the darkness. “My mother’s lotus vessel has recognized me. It’s time I declare myself as Yī’lín Shī’yǎ’s heir and summon her army.” Excerpted from The Dragon and the Sun Lotus, copyright © 2026 by Amélie Wen Zhao. The post Read an Excerpt From <i>The Dragon and the Sun Lotus</i> by Amélie Wen Zhao appeared first on Reactor.

In the wake of Mexico’s recent explosion of gang violence, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is pushing his Republican colleagues in the House to codify an executive order declaring some drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations. Roy’s renewed efforts come after a U.S.-led military operation resulted in the death of the cartel’s leader, “El Mencho,” which resulted in violent unrest in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, over the weekend. “The elimination of El Mencho makes clear why Congress must codify President Trump’s strong border policies into law,” Roy told The Daily Signal. Roy told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that Congress must pass the Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act. “Congress must pass this legislation to ensure that, regardless of who occupies the White House, the United States has the full authority to relentlessly pursue and destroy the cartels,” he claimed. The bill looks to codify a day-one executive order from President Donald Trump, titled “Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specially Designated Global Terrorists.” “The Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States,” Executive Order 14157 reads in part. “In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society.” “The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere,” the order continues. “Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.” PUT ON THE SPOT: Trump asks Congress members to stand if they believe “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” pic.twitter.com/CXIw2ALffN— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) February 25, 2026 Following the executive order, on Jan. 31, 2025, Roy re-introduced the Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act to direct the Secretary of State to designate the Mexican Gulf Cartel, Northeast Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as foreign terrorist organizations. “I first introduced H.R. 885, the Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act, in 2019 to permanently enshrine that designation in U.S. law, and I have reintroduced it in every Congress since,” Roy said about his legislation. Over 70 people have been killed in Puerto Vallarta after El Mencho’s death, TIME noted. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has issued a shelter-in-place for Americans in parts of Mexico. The cartel, Roy stated, is also “responsible for flooding our communities with dangerous drugs and violence.” Some of Roy’s conservative colleagues in the House are also pushing for the bill. “Cartels have slaughtered Americans and poisoned our families with fentanyl,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told The Daily Signal. “Congress must codify President Trump’s executive order designating cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations now—so no future administration can look the other way.” “Yet Democrats continue to ignore this deadly chaos,” Harris added. Harris is now considering joining 31 of his Republican colleagues in co-sponsoring Roy’s bill; his office told The Daily Signal. The post Roy Pushes Terrorist Designation for Mexican Drug Cartels appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A Biden-appointed federal judge on Wednesday revoked the Trump administration’s policy of deporting illegal immigrants to places other than their country of origin.  U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued a scathing opinion in the case of DVD v. Department of Homeland Security. He called the administration’s deportation policy “unlawful” and accused the government of providing “false” information in the case.  The judge, of the Massachusetts district, led his opinion with a strong characterization of the question before the court.   “This case is about whether the government may, without notice, deport a person to the wrong country, or a country where he is likely to be persecuted, or tortured, thereby depriving that person of the opportunity to seek protections to which he would be undisputedly entitled,” Murphy’s decision says.  If the administration appeals the ruling, it will go to the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. The 1st Circuit has five Democrat appointees and one Republican appointee.  “The Department of Homeland Security has adopted a policy whereby it may take people and drop them off in parts unknown—in so-called ‘third countries,’” Murphy wrote.  He wrote the government’s position is, “that’s fine.” Then he added, “It is not fine, nor is it legal.” “Congress made it ‘the policy of the United States not to expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country’ where that ‘person would be in danger of being subjected to torture,” Murphy wrote. Murphy wrote there is little verification of the administration’s assurances the deported individuals won’t be tortured. “Why has the government deemed them [the assurances] credible? How can anyone even know for certain that they exist? These are basic questions that the Constitution permits a person to ask before the Government takes away their last and only lifeline,” his ruling says. Deportation-JudgeMurphyDownload The post Biden-Appointed Judge’s Blistering Rebuke Could Change Trump’s Deportation Strategy appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The once-ironclad defenses of institutions captured by the transgender agenda appear to be crumbling before our eyes. After a recent statement by the American Medical Association (AMA) suggested its defense of gender transition surgeries for minors was shaky, a coalition of state attorneys general committed to defending children has decided to press the point. On Monday, 20 state AGs wrote a letter to AMA CEO and Executive Vice President Dr. John J. Whyte seeking clarification on the organization’s position with regard to gender transition hormones for minors. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) led the letter, in which he was joined by his Republican counterparts from Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The AGs’ letter responded to a media statement released by the AMA earlier this month. When pressed for a reaction to news that the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) released a position statement against gender transition surgeries for minors, the AMA gave media outlets a statement admitting, “In the absence of clear evidence, the A.M.A. agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.” “The American Medical Association has finally admitted what many have warned for years: its recommendations for surgeries on children were not grounded in solid evidence, despite telling doctors and families otherwise,” said Attorney General Marshall. “Yet the same weak science underpins puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. You cannot dismiss one intervention as unsupported while continuing to push the rest. When children’s lives and futures are at stake, anything less than full scientific honesty is reckless. The AMA must follow the science completely, not selectively.” This line of inquiry was the purpose of Monday’s letter. The attorneys general “read with appreciation” the AMA’s admission about transgender surgeries on children. However, they added, “We thus find it concerning that the AMA continues to support the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat gender dysphoria in minors. The quality of evidence is the same as it is for surgeries: low and very-low quality.” “So if you agree that there is insufficient evidence to support using surgical interventions to treat gender dysphoria in minors — as your recent statement indicates — we do not understand how you can find that there is sufficient evidence to support using hormonal interventions to treat gender dysphoria in minors,” the letter reasoned. “These interventions have not been shown to be any safer for children than surgeries are, and in fact may be all the more dangerous precisely because they are viewed as not as serious. But hormones can leave a child sterilized just as surely as surgery can.” The letter cited recent systematic evidence reviews conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as by the National Health Service in England. They cited from the HHS review that “the certainty of evidence is very low regarding the effect of surgery on [gender dysphoria] or incongruence, improvement in mental health including suicidality and depression, and long-term outcomes such as sexual function, quality of life, and regret.” Likewise, “the evidence base is similarly lacking when it comes to the provision of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat gender dysphoria in minors,” they wrote. Again citing the HHS review, “[t]he certainty of evidence is very low regarding the effect on [gender dysphoria] or incongruence, improvement in mental health, and safety metrics including fertility and bone health” of cross-sex hormones. In fact, “the rationale for providing the treatments” that Annelou de Vries, a pioneer of the infamous “Dutch studies” that pioneered gender transition procedures for minors, has shifted from arguing for the effectiveness of outcomes to claiming that “effective” outcomes were not necessary. The attorneys general wanted to know whether the AMA still defends gender transition procedures for minors as its evidentiary basis erodes. In particular, the attorneys general wanted to know where exactly the AMA stood with regard to the “Standards of Care” produced by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an activist organization whose guidelines were improperly influenced by political considerations brought by the Biden administration. Marshall, who joined Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Tuesday’s “Washington Watch,” insisted, “[T]he AMA ultimately needs to be a medical organization that’s not in political advocacy, but defining what’s best medical practice for doctors across our country. … Absent a political agenda on the Left, now they need to be able to step up and recognize [that] what the science also tells us is that there’s no basis for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones being used to deal with gender affirming care,” the AG argued. “And we’re now giving them the opportunity by this letter to be able to say very clearly what their positions are. Do they stand with science? Do they stand with what we’ve seen [in] the overwhelming trend coming from Europe to identify this as experimental treatment of kids?” The AMA recently claimed that “medical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria and gender incongruence … are medically necessary as outlined by generally-accepted standards of medical and surgical practice,” the letter noted, although they decline to officially endorse WPATH’s standards. The letter asked 14 questions of the AMA, including, “Does the AMA endorse or otherwise recommend the provision of puberty blockers to minors to treat gender dysphoria? If so, what is the basis of that recommendation, and how do you distinguish the evidence base for the provision of surgeries versus the provision of puberty blockers?” Likewise, “Does the AMA endorse or otherwise recommend the provision of cross-sex hormones to minors to treat gender dysphoria? If so, what is the basis of that recommendation, and how do you distinguish the evidence base for the provision of surgeries versus the provision of cross-sex hormones?” And, for good measure, “How did the AMA decide to join the amicus briefs in United States v. Skrmetti and other cases in which the AMA told courts that the WPATH and Endocrine Society guidelines were evidence-based and well-accepted and that the provision of transitioning procedures to minors was safe and effective at treating gender dysphoria and improving well-being?” These are good questions. The letter gives the AMA 30 days (until March 25) to respond. The attorneys general likely suspect they know what the answer is. But politely requesting an explanation is a first step of due process before any potential prosecution — a prospect the letter does raise. “While we hope to avoid a formal investigation under our consumer protection laws, we do have concerns that the AMA may be violating those laws,” the letter warned. “Under Alabama law, for instance, it is unlawful for an organization to cause ‘confusion or misunderstanding as to the … sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods of services,’” to “represent ‘that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, … uses, benefits, or qualities that they do not have,’” to “represent ‘that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade … if they are of another,’” or to “engage ‘in any other unconscionable, false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice in the conduct of trade or commerce.’” To avoid violating these provisions, the AMA would have to both clarify what gender transition procedures it does or does not support and renounce support for gender transition procedures not supported by the evidence. In fact, no gender transition procedures are well-supported by the evidence. When the ASPS issued its recommendation against gender transition surgeries on February 3, it cited low-quality evidence and a high risk of harm as major reasons not to carry out the procedures on minors. The state attorneys general aim to induce the AMA to make a similar concession. The ASPS statement against gender transition surgeries for minors came as the result of government scrutiny, as the organization “was participating in an urgent, time-limited process initiated by a federal agency seeking clarification of medical society positions on this topic,” wrote ASPS Executive Vice President Michael Costelloe. This demonstrated the result that government scrutiny can achieve in keeping medical associations accountable to the truth. Following suit, the coalition of state attorneys general has applied a bit more scrutiny, in hopes of calling the AMA to account. As Marshall put it, “The AMA has the opportunity to make sure to send a message to physicians that if, in fact, you’re in one of those states that continues to allow this experimentation on children to take place, that they are at great risk … not only financially for themselves — we’ve already seen a verdict come from a detransition — but they’re also clearly harming kids in ways that aren’t validated by science.” Originally published by the Washington Stand. The post State AGs Hold AMA’s Feet to the Fire on Gender Transitions for Children appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Joe Scarborough has reacted to President Trump’s State of the Union with profanity — and by questioning his sanity. After a sweeping denunciation of Trump’s remarks on immigration, inflation, and elections, Joe Scarborough declared the speech “extraordinary… for many reasons,” adding: “He did sh-- that no sane president would ever do. It was really, really crazy to be watching that in a State of the Union address.” “No sane president.” “Really, really crazy.” Whatever would Jake Tapper have to say at this talk?  Scarborough's language moved from policy critique into questions of presidential fitness. The insanity accusation is nothing new for Scarborough. He has previously called for invoking the 25th Amendment against Trump. Looks like Joe might be fantasizing about that again.  Scarborough’s broadside began with accusations of “unrelenting bigotry” and “lies,” and included this bit of rhetorical sleight-of-hand: “I’m not going to talk about fascism or Nazism. You just read history and see what type of regimes will pick one or two groups and blame all of America’s ills on those groups.” Translation: I won’t make the comparison — but I just did. Somewhere, the great James Taranto might be smiling at Scarborough's sly use of apophasis. Scarborough on SOTU: Trump Did ‘Sh-- No Sane President Would Ever Do’ pic.twitter.com/wthja6ClcG — Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) February 25, 2026 As for the profanity: there was a time when Scarborough dropped an f-bomb, and in response, the suits dropped a seven-second delay on him. Now, the vulgarity has become a standard part of Scarborough's shtick. Joining the panel, Financial Times columnist Ed Luce piled on, calling the speech “boring” and so saturated with falsehoods that fact-checking felt almost absurd: “There were so many lies that at one point I thought, should we fact check whether the men’s hockey team really did win a gold?” The morning after a State of the Union used to mean policy debate. On Wednesday, Morning Joe delivered psychological diagnosis, flirtations with fascism analogies, and a gratuitous splash of profanity for bad measure. Note: When Scarborough told his guests, “Before we dig into it, I will say there are a couple things that I thought were extraordinary,” it was a clear signal to the panel: back to the green room, pour a coffee, maybe fire up a Marlboro. Joe, as is his habit, wasn’t relinquishing the floor anytime soon. Here's the transcript. MS NOW Morning Joe 2/25/26 6:02 am ET JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, why don't we go around and give our initial thoughts before we dig into it. I will say there are a couple things that I thought were extraordinary that you wouldn't see in other State of the Unions, unless they were Donald Trump's.  The first, of course, was just the unrelenting bigotry, the lies, the attacking of one group specifically, the Somalis, Somali-Americans. That's the sort of thing that, oh, you know, I'm not going to talk about fascism or Nazism. You just read history and see what type of regimes will pick one or two groups and blame all of America's ills on those groups. That's one of the things that the president did.  Another thing that he did was just generally talking about immigration. Again, it's un-American. It goes against what the Republican party has always stood for. It's gone against what Ronald Reagan stood for.  And this continued lie, and it is a continued lie by this Republican party, and they know they're lying when they continue to suggest that immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than those who were native-born Americans. And every study, one study after another study after another study shows this is a tired lie. And yet you have an entire party that seems in large part to be based upon this lie.  Speaking of lies, it's not even a fact check. It's just a straight out lie, because everybody knows watching, everybody knows speaking, everybody knows in the audience. They understand Donald Trump is lying when he's saying that the price of meat is going down, the price of groceries are going down. They know he's lying when he says that he inherited inflation at 9%. No, he inherited inflation at about the same rate that it's at right now when Joe Biden left office. It's about the same as where it was there.  Also, the idea that you're going to have J.D. Vance who's going to investigate waste and fraud and abuse and corruption, when his family, Donald Trump's family, has made at least $1.9 to $2 trillion [?] personally since he came into office. [NPR claimed it was $4 billion.] And this whole idea about no stock trading, add up all the money. And by the way, I've always been against members of Congress trading stock. That's absolutely insane. But even add up right now, all the money that they've made. It doesn't come close to the amount of money that Donald Trump has made himself personally, put in his own pocket over the past year.  So you see that and you go, well, that's kind of interesting. And Willie, I've got to say also, the election conspiracies, he continues it. It's one thing for him to be doing it out on the campaign trail, lying day in, day out, lying day in and day out about election conspiracies. There's no way Democrats can win without this cheating. He says it all the time. He said it in Georgia all the time. You've got a Republican governor in Georgia that said, no, that's not right. You've got a secretary of state in Georgia, Republican, says, no, that's not right. The same one that Donald Trump tried to cheat and get the 11,000 votes to win Georgia back in 2020. He keeps saying that every day. And every day, Democrats are winning by 30, 40, 50, 60 percentage points in races across America. We saw it again last night while this was going on.  So yeah, there was a broadcaster that said, that speech was extraordinary. Yes, it was extraordinary. It was extraordinary for many reasons. Most of them just, he did shit that no sane president would ever do. It was really, really crazy to be watching that in a State of the Union address.  . . .  ED LUCE: Jonathan, I strongly, I mean, I had a lot of favorite moments in this speech, but I strongly agree with your comment on it being boring. Not just the length, the hour 47 minutes, but the predictability of the lies he was telling and the stunts he was putting.  There were so many lies that at one point I thought, should we fact check whether the men's hockey team really did win a gold? 

One of CNN’s most notorious TV egoists surprises viewers every once in awhile by displaying a modicum of common sense in the face of leftist politicians running economies into the mud. His recent repudiation of blue city spending is no exception. CNN host Fareed Zakaria actually ripped how Democrat strongholds like New York City were “out of control, promising more, spending more, delivering less and pushing off fiscal problems to some future day,” in an X post promoting a February 23 segment of Fareed Zakaria GPS. In a stunning display of red-pilling, Zakaria directly called out the newly minted communist NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani for being the poster child for radical Dems steering their cities into economic brick walls: “Zohran Mamdani ran on a promise to make New York affordable.” However, rebuked Zakaria, “Last week, he unveiled a budget that is — in a word — unaffordable.”  Mamdani’s gargantuan $127 billion budget is being bolstered largely by massive tax hikes (including a 9.5 percent property tax increase). This economically inept agenda even reportedly left many members of the Democrat-controlled city council “shaking their heads,” thinking that “Mamdani should be slashing city spending before even considering spiking taxes on their constituents,” according to the New York Post. Zakaria analyzed that NYC has already been “fiscally profligate” for so long, and Mamdani’s latest scheme was “similar to the annual expenditures of a mid-sized nation” like Greece or Thailand. Blue cities are out of control, promising more, spending more, delivering less and pushing off fiscal problems to some future day. Democrats in city halls should stop governing as if the goal is to announce new entitlements, and instead make government work. My take: pic.twitter.com/kwYkA4XEjx — Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) February 22, 2026 Zakaria further rebuked in his X post that “Democrats in city halls should stop governing as if the goal is to announce new entitlements, and instead make government work.” Bless his heart for actually arguing like efficient government can be a real thing. It’s unclear what’s causing this 180-degree turnaround for Zakaria, given that he was on record fawning over the abomination of Bidenomics. In July 2024, Zakaria praised President Joe Biden for allegedly using “the resources of the federal government to make large investments in infrastructure, child care, manufacturing, and energy.” “Large investments” is a funny way of describing Biden’s multitrillion-dollar spending that helped launch the United States into the worst inflation crisis it experienced in 40-years. Isn’t Mamdani just adopting a similar playbook? We guess even Mamdaninomics is a bridge too far for the Biden-loving CNN host.

As we’ve documented recently at NewsBusters, CBS’s flagship newscasts have shown little wholesale changes under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss that we both initially saw and as had been reported. Instead, it’s been more of the same liberal drivel. But ironically, there have been a few moments at NBC where it’s come across as this was the network she actually leads and such was the case on Wednesday’s Today in reacting to President Trump’s State of the Union address. While NBC was far from perfect, they were devoid of the negative descriptors and bellyaching we usually see elsewhere at ABC and, as we’ll see in a future post, CBS. Hoda Kotb and co-hosts Craig Melvin were straightforward in the opening tease with Kotb stating “President Trump delivers his State of the Union” and Melvin finishing her sentence by saying “with his eyes on the economy and the next major election.” “President Trump uses the longest state of the Union in U.S. history to tout his policies, take shots at Democrats and the Supreme Court and send a warning to Iran...And in a lighter moment, celebrating the triumph of American athletes at the Winter Olympics...We’ll break it all down,” Melvin added amid a number of clips. Later tossing to senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake, Kotb said Trump’s address was “the longest ever clocking in at one hour and 48 minutes, heavy on patriotism, claiming a new golden age for America while also sparring with Democrats in real time on a host of issues.” Haake accomplished the balancing act of painting the bipartisan messages as well as Trump’s jousting with Democrats. Right off the top, Haake framed it as “as a patriotic pep talk, with the President boasting about his economic record and highlighting the service and achievements of American warriors and champions.” However, he added, Trump “also lashed out at Democrats repeatedly on immigration and other issues, creating some tense moments and stark reminders of our polarized union.” Which network is Bari Weiss running? If you had been in a coma the last year and asked me to pick which one she took over, I would bet NBC with segments like this on Wednesday’s @TodayShow from @GarrettHaake about the #SOTU “[T]he speech seemed designed as a patriotic pep talk,… pic.twitter.com/8KgKtgvP1p — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 25, 2026 He didn’t set off an economic doom loop, instead telling viewers Trump “us[ed] his nearly two hour speech to highlight successes of his first year, touting falling gas prices and a rising stock market” and “[tried] to put [Democrats] on defense over affordability.” On the border, Haake simply said Trump “attempt[ed] to goad Democrats into standing up and clapping.” The back end of his story — much of which he repeated in the second hour — found time to mention both the moments of unity such as the men’s Olympic hockey team as well as the left’s verbal outbursts and stunts about the Epstein files (click “expand”): The biggest bipartisan cheers of the night coming for the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic hockey team...Mr. Trump adding that he plans to present goalie Connor Hellebuyck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and later awarding two Medals of Honor to military aviators of different eras: a helicopter pilot wounded in the recent raid to capture Nicolas Maduro, and a Korean War fighter pilot. Viewers may have noticed two moments of disruption during the speech, with one Democrat escorted out of the chamber early after unfurling a sign on the House floor. And that exchange about immigration, which led to a brief but heated back and forth between the President and several Democratic lawmakers. Most of the protests against the President inside the chamber was silent, though, with dozens of Democrats skipping the speech entirely or inviting guests like survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein meant to send a message just by showing up. If Haake played good cop, senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson was the sort of bad cop. On the economy, Jackson insisted Trump lacked the “I-feel-you-pain moment” at a time when “Americans — make no mistake, they don’t feel good” since his speech instead “celebrated what he sees as good news on the economy[.]” “Polls consistently show that people say they’re not happy with how the President has handled issues like the cost of living. We didn’t hear much new on what a number of Trump voters before the speech told me. They wanted to hear about how to make their lives more affordable right now,” she said. On immigration, she conceded the baiting of Democrats, but suggested this too was ill-advised because “the President is under water on this issue” and “[m]ore Americans say[ing] they disapprove of his handling of border security and immigration, and interestingly, the number of people who say they strongly disapprove is up double digits since last year[.]” All that being said, she closed with fairly vanilla answers about Iran and the midterms which, if we were to summarize it, boiled down to a fluffy way of saying who wins will come down to turnout (click “expand”): KOTB: All right, let’s talk about foreign policy. He brought up Iran later in the speech, right, Hallie? JACKSON: Yeah, this was a back half topic for him late into the night, and one that a lot of people had been listening for. Hoda, what kind of case would the President make for possible military strikes on Iran as he’s building up military firepower in the region? This is a region on edge. The answer to that came down to Iran’s nuclear capabilities. You heard the President trying to square his previous claim that that has been obliterated with why he would need to take action now to prevent Iran from building it up. This is delicate for him politically. He ran on a pledge remember to avoid foreign entanglements, but, in office, he really hasn’t been shy about those. Just look at that raid on Venezuela, which he also, of course, highlighted in his speech.  MELVIN: So, Hallie, all of this, of course, coming with the first — first primaries, actually just a few weeks away. Now, how does last night’s speech tee up Republicans? How does it tee up Democrats as we head into the primary season? JACKSON: Craig, I think that’s the right frame to look at this, because this is, in many ways, a tone setter here, the coalition that propelled the president to victory back in 2024 has started to crack. Now, of course, the President is not on the ballot himself in the midterms, but Republicans are hoping that his voters are going to show up at the polls to turn out to help keep seats in the House and Senate even with the Republican Party facing some historical headwinds here. So, in many ways, the State of the Union was setting the tone for the rest of the party in this key year. But far and away, the biggest issue in the midterms is going to be affordability and while there was some red meat for Republicans in the speech, not as much meat on the bone on how to make people’s lives less expensive. Now, with Craig and Hoda, the first midterm primaries coming up already next week. It was a change of pace from the last two years when NBC was rather uninterested in Trump’s joint address in 2025 and then were ebullient over Joe Biden’s final address in 2024. To see the relevant NBC transcript from February 25, click here.

The Epstein files released by the Department of Justice last month painted Microsoft co-founder and vaccine champion Bill Gates in a particularly unfavorable light.Amid uproar over her ex-husband's repeat mention in the files — including in a 2013 email wherein Jeffrey Epstein alleged that he procured for Bill Gates "drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls" — Melinda French Gates told NPR's "Wild Card" podcast, "It's personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage."'Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse.'While French Gates indicated that she has "been able to move on in life," her ex-husband is alternatively still dealing with the consequences of his long-standing association with the notorious child sex offender.Gates reportedly apologized to the staff of the Gates Foundation for the fallout of his Epstein ties during a town hall on Tuesday, stating, "It was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein," according to a recording reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.Gates, who has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein's victims and whose spokesperson characterized the claims in the 2013 email as "completely false," reportedly stressed, "I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit."The billionaire reportedly had an explanation for the photographs in the files featuring him in the company of women whose faces are redacted. Epstein asked to take pictures of his assistants with Gates after meetings, Gates claimed, according to the Journal.RELATED: Epstein-friendly lesbians managing fraud-plagued Manhattan club in hot water — again Photo by Leon Neal - WPA Pool /Getty Images"To be clear, I never spent any time with the victims, the women around him," said Gates, according to the Journal. He noted, however, that he "did have affairs, one with a Russian bridge player who met me at bridge events, and one with a Russian nuclear physicist who I met through business activities."Gates reportedly suggested further that despite his ex-wife expressing concerns about Epstein in 2013 — five years after he pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor for prostitution — Gates continued meeting with Epstein."Knowing what I know now makes it, you know, a hundred times worse in terms of not only his crimes in the past, but now it’s clear there was ongoing bad behavior," Gates reportedly told staff.Gates, apparently recognizing that his relationship with Epstein helped boost Epstein's reputation, reportedly apologized "to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake I made."Gates also recognized the negative impact his Epstein ties have had on the organization previously known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which became the Gates Foundation last year following the couple's divorce and previous revelations about Bill's ties to Epstein."It definitely is the opposite of the values of the Foundation and the goals of the Foundation," said Gates, who has directly and through his foundation worked to shape public health, the news landscape, education policy, AI, American farmland, the energy sector, foreign policy, and the Earth itself."And our work is very reputational sensitive," continued the billionaire. "I mean, people can choose to work with us or not work with us."When asked about the recording and Gates' remarks, the Gates Foundation told Blaze News in a statement, "This was a scheduled townhall with employees, which Bill does twice a year. In the conversation, Bill answered questions submitted by foundation staff on a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files, the foundation's work in AI, and the future of global health."The foundation added, "In the townhall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions.""The harm Epstein inflicted on women and girls was horrific, and no one should ever have to experience what they did," the foundation said in a statement earlier this month. "The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!