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Recent Articles
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Two more people die while skiing in the Lake Tahoe region
There have been two additional fatalities in the Sierra Nevada, adding to the total number of fatalities that have occurred throughout the winter season. The avalanche that occurred on Castle Peak last week killed nine lives. According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, which arrived just before noon, the most recent deaths occurred on Friday in two "fatal ski incidents" that were unrelated to each other at the Boulder Lodge of Heavenly resort. In a press statement, the Sheriff's Office stated that paramedics from the Ski Patrol and the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District attempted to save the life of the subject. On the other hand, both persons were pronounced dead at the site of th… |
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How to Write and Publish Science Fiction
Science fiction has always been a genre of defiance. From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, the best sci?fi stories refuse to accept the world as it is. They imagine what could be, what should be, and sometimes what must never be. Yet for the modern writer, the act of creating and publishing science fiction is itself a rebellion—against shrinking attention spans, against publishing monopolies, against the quiet pressure to write something “safe.” This is not a neutral craft. To write and publish science fiction today is to step into a contested space where art, commerce, and politics collide. 1. The Spark: Writing Against Gravity Every sci?fi story begins … |
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The Climate Emergency Governments Still Pretend Is Optional
GENEVA — A coalition of scientists and public health experts this week urged the World Health Organization to formally declare climate change a global public health emergency, escalating pressure on governments as new projections warn 2026 could become one of the hottest and most destructive climate years ever recorded. The demand arrives at a moment of extraordinary contradiction. Governments across Europe, North America, and Asia now openly acknowledge the dangers of climate change while simultaneously approving new fossil fuel projects, subsidizing oil and gas production, and delaying emissions targets that scientists say are already dangerously inadequate. The WHO panel’s argument was bl… |
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Attack on Downtown Lviv Ukraine by Russian Drones in Broad Daylight
During the middle of the day on Tuesday, Russian soldiers attacked the center of Lviv, a historic city in western Ukraine that had been mostly untouched by the devastating conflict in other regions of the nation, using drones. Authorities issued a warning that the number of casualties from the unexpected attack, which left more than a dozen people injured, may increase. "Lviv hospitals are already treating thirteen injured people," Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said in an online post. More and more people are falling prey to this epidemic.The regional governor issued a shelter-in-place alert to the people. How did Ukraine defeat Iran's Shahed drones? What can the United States take out from this? The… |
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Trump says if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours he would destroy their power plants
On Saturday night, Trump warned Iran in a Truth Social post that the United States will attack Iran's power reactors if the Strait of Hormuz stays blocked. "The United States of America will hit and destroy their various power plants, starting with the biggest one first!" Trump warned in the post if Iran does not fully open the Strait of Hormuz without threat within 48 hours from now. The Strait of Hormuz is an important trading route that carries around 20% of the world's oil. Oil prices have skyrocketed worldwide as a result of Iranian strikes on ships in the region, which has effectively cut off maritime activity in the area. The Trump administration has made yet another effort to rein do… |
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Hegseth says more US forces arriving in Middle East as Iran war ramps up
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said more United States forces are arriving in the Middle East, as the country’s war against Iran intensifies amid mounting concerns over the civilian toll of US-Israeli strikes. Hegseth said during a news conference at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the US-Israeli campaign against Iran was “just getting started”. “We are accelerating, not decelerating … More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today,” he told reporters, adding that the US would be using a “nearly unlimited” supply of 226kg (500lb), 453kg (1,000lb) and 900kg (2,000lb) bombs. The US and Israel, he said, would sow “death and destruction from the sky, all day long”. Hegseth’s combat… |
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Cast members of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives speak out
Just one day after a new video surfaced showing their co-star Taylor Frankie Paul assaulting her ex-boyfriend in front of her kid three years ago, two stars of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" on Hulu's streaming service have spoken out against domestic abuse. In a post on Friday on her Instagram account, Miranda McWhorter expressed her strong stance against domestic violence and abuse. “As a human, and especially a mother, I cannot support that kind of behavior. The kids involved in this situation have my deepest sympathies; I pray they are secure, loved, and supported. McWhorter stated that she has been struggling to articulate her feelings about this situation, and added that witnessing… |
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A Child Can Be Saved Now If Her Parents Can Afford the Cure
The number came before the explanation. It sat there, stark and unblinking, a figure so large it did not feel like money anymore but something abstract, like distance or time—millions, arranged neatly in digits, as if that made it reasonable. The doctor spoke afterward, carefully, almost gently, about breakthroughs, about possibility, about a future that would not have existed even a decade ago. There was no cruelty in his voice. That was the worst part. It meant the system no longer needed cruelty to do its work. The child sat in the corner, small and restless, tapping the edge of a chair, unaware that the conversation had already begun to close around her like a narrowing corridor. A cure … |
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The Vote That Was Not Supposed to Happen
The House’s vote to cancel Trump’s tariffs on Canada is less about trade mechanics than about political courage. In a chamber long bent under executive power, a bipartisan crack appeared. Whether symbolic or substantive, the rebellion signals a deeper struggle over democracy, consumer costs, and the meaning of loyalty in American politics. On February 11, 2026, the House of Representatives narrowly voted 219–211 to terminate President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs on Canadian imports. Six Republicans broke ranks to join Democrats, while one Democrat opposed the measure. The resolution, spearheaded by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, challenges Trump’s use of emergency powers to justify swe… |
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The Quiet Bravery of the Thai Cave Rescue
In the summer of 2018, while the internet argued itself into exhaustion over everything else, twelve boys and their coach disappeared underground. They were members of the Wild Boars soccer team, ages eleven to sixteen, swallowed by rising floodwaters inside Tham Luang cave. The cave flooded fast, as it always does in monsoon season. What didn’t flood was panic—at least not in the way we’ve come to expect. The world remembers the headlines. What it forgets is the texture of the response. This was not a story driven by billionaires, brand logos, or performative outrage. It was a story powered by farmers diverting irrigation channels, monks opening temples as staging grounds, doctors calculati… |
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A Big Win For A Lonely Woman
Human Interest Opinion / Perspective For forty years, a stoneware crock sat on a porch in New York, a silent sentry against the biting winters and the humid, heavy summers of the Northeast. It was, for all intents and purposes, a piece of lawn debris. It held no flowers; it served no function. To the woman who lived behind the screen door, it was simply "there"—a familiar shape in a life that had slowly become a series of familiar, quiet shapes. When her birthday approached, she looked at the heavy salt-glazed vessel and allowed herself a modest, almost apologetic hope: perhaps it was worth a hundred dollars. A hundred dollars for a birthday treat, or perhaps a utility bill, or just the smal… |
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Dangerous Emergency Powers Are Addictive
Editorial | Feature Democracies borrow power in crises but rarely return it. Without safeguards, emergencies become permanent, eroding freedom. The Siren and the Decree It begins with a siren. A coastal city braces for a storm surge, and within hours the government issues a decree: curfews, restricted movement, suspension of normal legislative debate. Citizens line up for aid, but they also face checkpoints. The justification is clear — safety demands speed. Yet beneath the urgency lies a deeper question: when power is borrowed in the name of emergency, will it ever be returned? Part I: The Logic of Emergency Democracies are designed for deliberation. They thrive on debate, compromise, and p… |
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After the Supreme Court ruling on tariffs companies line up for refunds
By The Associated Press Containers are stacked at the Port of Long Beach Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Long Beach, Calif. Damian Dovarganes/AP hide caption WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump's biggest and boldest tariffs. But the justices left a $133 billion question unanswered: What's going to happen to the money the government has already collected in import taxes now declared unlawful? Companies have been lining up for refunds. But the way forward could prove chaotic. When the smoke clears, trade lawyers say, importers are likely to get money back — eventually. "It's going to be a bumpy ride for awhile," said trade lawyer Joyce Adetutu, a partner at th… |
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Kristi Noem and the politics of cruelty
Kristi Noem’s defense of the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good has ignited one of the most explosive political firestorms of her career. Her remarks—branding Good a “domestic terrorist” and standing behind a podium emblazoned with a Nazi-era slogan—have drawn condemnation from lawmakers, activists, and ordinary citizens who see her as emblematic of authoritarian excess. The controversy is not a passing headline; it is a defining moment that reveals the deeper instincts of a politician who has built her career on toughness, loyalty, and spectacle, but who now finds herself accused of weaponizing cruelty into policy. The reaction to her stance has been visceral because it touches a raw ne… |
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The assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will likely backfire
A favourite tactic of war is to try to decapitate the enemy leadership. While such strategies might work in certain contexts, in the Middle East, they have proven to be a disastrous choice. For sure, the assassination of an enemy leader might give a quick boost of popularity amid war. Certainly, United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are basking in the limelight of their perceived “success” in assassinating Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. But killing an 86-year-old man who had already been planning his succession due to his ill health is not that much of a feat considering the overwhelming firepower that the US and Israel together possess. Mor… |
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Explosive device thrown at protest outside NYC Mayor Mamdani home
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has said that an “improvised explosive device” was thrown during a protest outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home, with two men taken into custody. The statement on Sunday came a day after the incident outside the mayor’s residence, Gracie Mansion, where far-right, anti-Muslim demonstrators, led by activist Jake Lang, clashed with counterprotesters. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a preliminary analysis has found that the item thrown by a man at the protest was “not a hoax device or a smoke bomb”. “It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death,” she said, adding that further analysis wo… |
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Laura Lynch of the Dixie Chicks killed
Laura Lynch, one of the original members of the singing group that would become famous as the Dixie Chicks, died in an automobile accident in West Texas. She was 65 years old. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that Lynch was in a head-on crash near El Paso on Friday. The trio, now known as the Chicks, announced on Instagram about Lynch's passing. Musical They've taken "Dixie" out of their name and are about to put out their first album in 14 years. It may be the finest record of the Chicks' troubled history. The band announced in a statement, "We are shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Laura Lynch, a founding member of The Chicks." "We have a special place in our hearts … |
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The Needless Murder of Over 150 Girls in Minab Iran
We remember the small rituals that made the day feel ordinary, because ordinary is what a school is supposed to be. A braid tightened with quick fingers. A scarf adjusted in a hallway mirror. The paper smell inside a notebook when you open it too fast. The soft ache of a backpack strap on a shoulder that’s still growing. We remember the way our teachers tried to make us brave about quizzes, the way we pretended not to care and then cared anyway. We remember laughter spilling down a corridor like marbles—impossible to gather once it’s loose. We walked into Shajareh Tayyebeh believing, with the stubborn faith children are allowed to have, that a classroom is a kind of sanctuary. Not holy, not … |
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Trial of Stanford students charged in 2024 pro-Palestinian protests deadlocked
The jury found the defendant guilty of vandalism by a vote of 9 to 3 and guilty of conspiracy to trespass by a vote of 8 to 4. After five days of talking about it, the jurors indicated they couldn't come to a decision. Judge Hanley Chew asked each of them if taking additional time to think would help, and they all said no. There was a mistrial in the case of five current and former Stanford University students who were prosecuted following pro-Palestinian protests in 2024, when they locked themselves inside the executive offices of the university president and provost. Chew remarked, "It looks like this jury is hopelessly deadlocked, so I'm going to declare a mistrial in counts one and two."… |
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AI companies accused of copyrighted infringement
Opinion | Editorial The open letter signed by Scarlett Johansson and hundreds of other creatives didn’t land because it was polite. It landed because it said the quiet part out loud: training commercial AI systems on copyrighted work without permission is theft dressed up as inevitability. The industry has spent years insisting this was a philosophical debate about progress. It isn’t. It’s a business choice—and a corrosive one. The letter, organized through the Human Artistry Campaign, rejects the soothing language that has insulated AI companies from accountability. “Learning,” “absorption,” “transformation.” These words are doing legal work, not descriptive work. They exist to blur a simpl… |