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Faith, Fiction, & Fairytales @faithfictionandfairytales.wordpress.com@faithfictionandfairytales.wordpress.com ·Blog Tour: The Ultimate Blindside by Leslea Wahl
Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Ultimate Blindside by Leslea Wahl, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: The Ultimate Blindside
Series: Blindside series #3
Author: Leslea Wahl
Publisher: Perpetual Light Publishing
Release Date: February 3, 2026
Genre: YA Adventure/MysteryJake’s silver-medal life is movie-worthy.
Sophie’s role is about to be sabotaged.
Their sleepy Colorado town is overrun by a Hollywood film crew as the two teens, now high school seniors, find their private lives laid open for the world to see. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman and her daughter seek the couple’s help running from a powerful, dangerous man. In this tale of twists, whom can Sophie and Jake truly trust?
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon
More in This Series
About the Author
Leslea Wahl is an award-winning author of adventurous teen mysteries. She not only writes for teens but is an avid reviewer of Christian fiction and a founding member of Catholic Teen Books. Her journey to become an author came through a search for value-based fiction for her own children. Leslea now strives to be an advocate for other families battling against society’s secular messages through her faith-based writing and reviews.
Connect with Leslea by visiting lesleawahl.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email updates.
My Review
There was a lot that I loved about this book–the setting, the filming elements, the healthy dating relationship between Sophie and Jake. I also liked the parental involvement (and disappointment and consequences) because I feel YA fiction sometimes likes to ignore that parents exist. The opening hooked me pretty quickly, and the end was WILD. But a few aspects made this book harder to enjoy.
I liked Sophie and Jake and the naturalness of their relationship… the way that they’re mostly friends doing life together with an occasional kiss that honestly didn’t feel sensual at all. I liked the discussion throughout the book about setting boundaries and following them, and the care that Sophie and Jake put into ensuring their relationship remains pure. I also liked how they both had their own interesting pursuits going on outside of their relationship.
I think the delicate balance of realistic teen angst vs. annoying teen angst can be difficult to navigate, and while most of Sophie and Jake’s decisions felt reasonable (despite being foolish at times), there was a lot of relational drama in their friendships. Jon and Rick showing up during filming just to anger Jake felt weird, and I didn’t like Jake’s responses to them for much of the book. For him being such a chill and kind guy, there seemed like such a lack of understanding. And then there was a blowup between best friends about keeping secrets, with your typical “I ALWAYS tell you EVERYTHING. Are we even friends?”, which felt very overly dramatic.
Without having read the prior books in the series, I definitely missed out on some of the buildup and couldn’t fully appreciate the villain reveal, but I did enjoy the mystery elements and the intense scenes at the end. The final reveal, however, felt completely out of left field and honestly disappointing. I feel the author could have either planted clues or picked someone more reasonable.
I did enjoy this book–three stars on Goodreads means I liked it. I just didn’t appreciate some of the elements included.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive print copies of the first two books of the series and book-themed items including socks, a mug, a bookmark, and a bible-verse magnet!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight March 31, 2026 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 7, 2026. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
Go check out The Ultimate Blindside!
Leave a like if this post was helpful, and subscribe to receive future posts to your inbox!
#author #BlogTour #books #ChristianBooks #ChristianFiction #JustReadTours #LesleaWahl #ReviewTour #TheUltimateBlindside #YABooks #youngAdultFiction -
Guy Ritchie zbiera śmietankę Hollywood. Cavill i Gyllenhaal w nowym filmie „Zawodowcy”
Guy Ritchie nie zwalnia tempa. Brytyjski reżyser, znany z kultowych „Porachunków” czy „Przekrętu”, wraca z nowym, naszpikowanym gwiazdami kinem akcji.
W filmie „Zawodowcy” na ekranie spotkają się między innymi Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal i Rosamund Pike. Polska premiera została zaplanowana na 19 czerwca.
Kino Ritchiego to od lat specyficzny, dobrze znany fanom gatunek sam w sobie. Dynamiczne sekwencje walk, szybki montaż, ironiczny humor i plejada barwnych postaci to znak rozpoznawczy brytyjskiego twórcy. Wszystko wskazuje na to, że w „Zawodowcach” (tytuł oryginalny: In the Grey) reżyser po raz kolejny sięga po sprawdzone i lubiane przez widzów narzędzia.
Dług, którego nie da się ściągnąć polubownie
Fabuła nowej produkcji skupia się wokół Eve – specjalistki od rozwiązywania ekstremalnie trudnych problemów dla najbogatszych klientów. Kobieta otrzymuje lukratywne zlecenie od nowojorskich inwestorów: ma odzyskać gigantyczny dług od ekscentrycznego miliardera.
Zadanie szybko okazuje się jednak misją z kategorii tych niemal niemożliwych. Dłużnik rezyduje na prywatnej wyspie, a jego spokoju strzeże prywatna armia najemników. Gdy tradycyjne, dyplomatyczne negocjacje kończą się fiaskiem, Eve musi sięgnąć po ostateczne argumenty. Do akcji wkracza sprawdzona ekipa byłych żołnierzy sił specjalnych. Ich cel jest prosty: wylądować na wyspie, spacyfikować ochronę, odzyskać należności i bezpiecznie uciec. Szybko okazuje się jednak, że miliarder i jego armia byli świetnie przygotowani na taką wizytę.
Gwiazdorska obsada
Największym magnesem przyciągającym do „Zawodowców” jest bez wątpienia obsada, którą udało się skompletować Ritchiemu. Na wielkim ekranie zobaczymy Henry’ego Cavilla (który miał już okazję współpracować z reżyserem przy „Kryptonimie U.N.C.L.E.”), Jake’a Gyllenhaala („Wolny strzelec”, „Przymierze”), Rosamund Pike („Zaginiona dziewczyna”) oraz Eizę González („Baby Driver”).
Film trafi na ekrany polskich kin tuż przed startem letniego sezonu ogórkowego. Dystrybutor Monolith Films zapowiedział oficjalną premierę na 19 czerwca 2026 roku. Na koniec zwiastun, co zwiastuje? Rozrywkę, bez specjalnego wysiłku intelektualnego:
#EizaGonzalez #GuyRitchieNowyFilm #HenryCavillNowyFilm #InTheGreyPremiera #JakeGyllenhaalZawodowcy #kinoAkcji2026 #MonolithFilms #premieryKinoweCzerwiec2026 #RosamundPike #ZawodowcyFilm2026Z internetowej legendy na wielki ekran. Słynna creepypasta „Backrooms” doczekała się filmu
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Guy Ritchie zbiera śmietankę Hollywood. Cavill i Gyllenhaal w nowym filmie „Zawodowcy”
Guy Ritchie nie zwalnia tempa. Brytyjski reżyser, znany z kultowych „Porachunków” czy „Przekrętu”, wraca z nowym, naszpikowanym gwiazdami kinem akcji.
W filmie „Zawodowcy” na ekranie spotkają się między innymi Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal i Rosamund Pike. Polska premiera została zaplanowana na 19 czerwca.
Kino Ritchiego to od lat specyficzny, dobrze znany fanom gatunek sam w sobie. Dynamiczne sekwencje walk, szybki montaż, ironiczny humor i plejada barwnych postaci to znak rozpoznawczy brytyjskiego twórcy. Wszystko wskazuje na to, że w „Zawodowcach” (tytuł oryginalny: In the Grey) reżyser po raz kolejny sięga po sprawdzone i lubiane przez widzów narzędzia.
Dług, którego nie da się ściągnąć polubownie
Fabuła nowej produkcji skupia się wokół Eve – specjalistki od rozwiązywania ekstremalnie trudnych problemów dla najbogatszych klientów. Kobieta otrzymuje lukratywne zlecenie od nowojorskich inwestorów: ma odzyskać gigantyczny dług od ekscentrycznego miliardera.
Zadanie szybko okazuje się jednak misją z kategorii tych niemal niemożliwych. Dłużnik rezyduje na prywatnej wyspie, a jego spokoju strzeże prywatna armia najemników. Gdy tradycyjne, dyplomatyczne negocjacje kończą się fiaskiem, Eve musi sięgnąć po ostateczne argumenty. Do akcji wkracza sprawdzona ekipa byłych żołnierzy sił specjalnych. Ich cel jest prosty: wylądować na wyspie, spacyfikować ochronę, odzyskać należności i bezpiecznie uciec. Szybko okazuje się jednak, że miliarder i jego armia byli świetnie przygotowani na taką wizytę.
Gwiazdorska obsada
Największym magnesem przyciągającym do „Zawodowców” jest bez wątpienia obsada, którą udało się skompletować Ritchiemu. Na wielkim ekranie zobaczymy Henry’ego Cavilla (który miał już okazję współpracować z reżyserem przy „Kryptonimie U.N.C.L.E.”), Jake’a Gyllenhaala („Wolny strzelec”, „Przymierze”), Rosamund Pike („Zaginiona dziewczyna”) oraz Eizę González („Baby Driver”).
Film trafi na ekrany polskich kin tuż przed startem letniego sezonu ogórkowego. Dystrybutor Monolith Films zapowiedział oficjalną premierę na 19 czerwca 2026 roku. Na koniec zwiastun, co zwiastuje? Rozrywkę, bez specjalnego wysiłku intelektualnego:
#EizaGonzalez #GuyRitchieNowyFilm #HenryCavillNowyFilm #InTheGreyPremiera #JakeGyllenhaalZawodowcy #kinoAkcji2026 #MonolithFilms #premieryKinoweCzerwiec2026 #RosamundPike #ZawodowcyFilm2026Z internetowej legendy na wielki ekran. Słynna creepypasta „Backrooms” doczekała się filmu
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The Rise of Japan’s Female Trump: Why Takaichi Sanae Is the Worst Thing to Happen to Japanese Democracy Since Abe 2.0: Takaichi endorsed “Hitler’s Election Strategy” in the ‘90s, threatened TV networks as communications minister, claims foreigners abuse Nara’s deer without evidence and speaks to the Gods (Tokyo Paladin with Jake Adelstein, 2025-10-04)
https://tokyopaladin.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-japans-female-trump-why
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A good analysis of Japanese politics, also readable for those not familiar with the topic I should think.>> Let’s not pretend this is some bold new dawn. Takaichi’s no pioneer in authoritarian populism …
>> ... In 2016, when she was Abe’s communications minister, #Takaichi threatened Japan’s TV networks with license revocation if they didn’t toe the government line.
>> Where she really shines … is in weaponizing xenophobia. Her recent campaign rally was a symphony of dog whistles, complete with a solo about foreign tourists “kicking Nara’s sacred deer.” …
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@GatekeepKen @LindaCollins11 this all started when they fired their CEO and hired an alt-right CEO and unfortunately, Jake and Dana and the rest of them who used to be honest brokers of the truth and real news are willing to sacrifice their #integrity for a paycheck. #CashCows are #AntiDemocracy #DanaBash #jaketapper #CNN #MSNBC #lawrenceodonnell was the only one who stood up for democracy after the #debate.
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Actor/Singer #EdAmes, best known for his role as Mingo on 1960s TV series #DanielBoone, has died at 95. Ames appeared #OffBroadway (#TheCrucible, #TheFantasticks) and on #Broadway (#Carnival!, #OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest). His TV credits include "McCloud", "Murder, She Wrote", "It's Garry Shandling's Show" and "Jake and the Fatman". Ames is also known for one of the most famous TV bloopers of all time, demonstrating his tomahawk-throwing skills on #TheTonightShow. #RIP
https://youtu.be/0L5QC9ZJkM8 -
Seven years ago, I spoke on a few panels at SXSW. While there, I saw a bunch of cool shows and met my good friend @terinjokes for the first time.
Sadly, we didn’t take any photos together that week. So here’s one of a heavily-bearded Jake and #Nardwuar.
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It's #NationalLibrarianDay - a great reminder that we all need to protect libraries, which make such a difference to our communities.
Here, author Jake Alexander explains why libraries are so magical and why we need to fight for them: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2021/june/imagine-a-world-without-libraries-jake-alexander-on-why-we-need-to-fight-for-these-magical-places/
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Actor/Singer #EdAmes, best known for his role as Mingo on 1960s TV series #DanielBoone, has died at 95. Ames appeared #OffBroadway (#TheCrucible, #TheFantasticks) and on #Broadway (#Carnival!, #OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest). His TV credits include "McCloud", "Murder, She Wrote", "It's Garry Shandling's Show" and "Jake and the Fatman". Ames is also known for one of the most famous TV bloopers of all time, demonstrating his tomahawk-throwing skills on #TheTonightShow. #RIP
https://youtu.be/0L5QC9ZJkM8 -
Today I’m working for about 4 hours. After that I’ll be getting ready and driving 3 to 4 hours to Dallas, TX to see a Ska Punk show. The Suicide Machines and Less Than Jake are playing. It’s going to be a good show!
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Today I’m working for about 4 hours. After that I’ll be getting ready and driving 3 to 4 hours to Dallas, TX to see a Ska Punk show. The Suicide Machines and Less Than Jake are playing. It’s going to be a good show!
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This is such a cute story. Wish them lots of love and luck! 💕 🎈
Jake and Julia were 23 weekers. It's a long journey. They were each 1 pound, 8 oz and 111 days in the NICU.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/twins-born-22-weeks-both-202622586.html
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I'm so excited to announce that for this Wednesday's #starbase0 #HackAndCraft session we will have a beginner-level presentation on digital drawing by Jake Griffin!
Check out Jake and his lesson plans at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=47755942
Meeting information at https://w0rmh0le.net/meetings.html
(btw, he teaches using free software!)
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Diego Sans, Jordan Levine And Jake Andrews
Jordan Levine > Diego > Jake
Warning: Condoms#kissing #cocksucking #rimming #fucking #anal #condom #cum #cumshot #threesome #threeway
#gay #porn #gayporn #gaypornvideoTop:
Jordan LevineVers:
Diego Sans #DiegoSanspornBottom:
Jake Andrews #Jake_AndrewsXXXPlease boost and favorite this post!
And please follow me!
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This is such a cute story. Wish them lots of love and luck! 💕 🎈
Jake and Julia were 23 weekers. It's a long journey. They were each 1 pound, 8 oz and 111 days in the NICU.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/twins-born-22-weeks-both-202622586.html
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This is such a cute story. Wish them lots of love and luck! 💕 🎈
Jake and Julia were 23 weekers. It's a long journey. They were each 1 pound, 8 oz and 111 days in the NICU.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/twins-born-22-weeks-both-202622586.html
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This is such a cute story. Wish them lots of love and luck! 💕 🎈
Jake and Julia were 23 weekers. It's a long journey. They were each 1 pound, 8 oz and 111 days in the NICU.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/twins-born-22-weeks-both-202622586.html
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This is such a cute story. Wish them lots of love and luck! 💕 🎈
Jake and Julia were 23 weekers. It's a long journey. They were each 1 pound, 8 oz and 111 days in the NICU.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/twins-born-22-weeks-both-202622586.html
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V roce 2023 dosáhl průměrný věk české maminky 30,4 roku. Mladší maminky preferují malé hatchbacky, zatímco starší volí robustnější SUV. Poptávka po autech mezi ženami roste, a to i v segmentu SUV. Jaké auto byste si vybrali vy? #ČeskéMaminky #AutomobilovýTrh #SUV #Hatchback
👉 Více informací najdete zde:
https://tiskovec.cz/clanky/prumerny-vek-ceske-mamy-je-304-roku-cim-je-starsi-tim-robustnejsi-vuz-si-vybira?utm_source=mastodon_social&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=new_article -
Watch #gaypornstar #ScottDeMarco #bareback daddy #JakeApton until he cums in Jake's mouth
More nude photos -> https://mensparkle.com/blog/2026/02/guyselector-scott-demarco-fucks-bearded-daddy-jake-apton/
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Redivider – Sounds of Malice Review By GrymmI’ve always wondered why there aren’t more bands that use palindromes as names.1 Think of the perfect symmetry you can get with your logo! While I’m not sure that’s what Louisville, Kentucky’s Redivider (complete with sharp, symmetrical logo!) was aiming for when they were coming up with a name, it does make them stand out in the field of bands with gory overtones, creative combinations of food/pain/sexual positions, or what-have-you. It doesn’t hurt that their debut, Sounds of Malice, helps them stand out a little bit more due to the tightness and musicianship on display.
If you’re looking for psychedelic embellishments to channel your inner third eye, or are yearning for creative interpretations of scales and modes in a dizzying array of progressive dalliances, Sounds of Malice is not for you. This is as meat-and-potatoes death metal as it gets, with emphasis on the meat, because hoo-boy, there are riffs aplenty. Guitarists Jake Atha and Paul Nunavath stuff every one of the seven tracks full of chunky riffing and squealy pinch-harmonics that look back to the likes of Immolation and Cannibal Corpse while slamming shit up. Opener “Quartered & Devoured” and the title track deliver that head-caving one-two punch combo that sets a brutal stage for a rightful trouncing.
That one-two punch, however, reveals all of Redivider’s tools early on. While none of the songs on Sounds of Malice are bad, it does blur with repeated listens as the album continues. “Shackled to Existence” feels like a continuation of the opening two-song salvo, and the fake-out ending doesn’t help matters when the song “ended” just fine without it. When a song does possess a solo, such as the Morbid Angelic closer “Left to Rot,” it acts as a breath of fresh air amongst the (cannibal) corpses, a moment you can latch on to and recall. Jacob Spencer’s sub-guttural growls and wretched pig squeals do an effective job at amplifying the brutality, but even they begin to blend into one another with each passing song.
The Dan Swanö mastering helps each instrument to breathe, which is remarkable given the lack of dynamic range. I appreciate being able to hear bass in my death metal, and Xander Farrington is no slouch as a bassist, so hearing his bass among the riffs and James Goetz’s pummeling is a welcome treat. For as heavy as the riffs and production are, however, there needs to be a tightening of the song structure and writing. Even though Sounds of Malice is a brisk sub-thirty-minute album, it does feel like it drags in certain areas. Not enough to kill the vibe, but it’s definitely noticeable.But don’t let this deter you from checking out Sounds of Malice on your own. It’s not often we get a strong debut in the beginning of the year, but this is a fun romp that respects your time while it plays out. Sometimes, no-frills death metal does the job just fine, and there are far worse bands doing it than Redivider are, and this is only their debut. If they keep at it, things will look bright indeed for these guys, or my name isn’t Tacocat. Wait…
Rating: 3.0/5.0
#2026 #30 #AmericanMetal #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Immolation #IndependentUnsigned #Jan26 #MorbidAngel #Redivider #Review #Reviews #SoundsOfMalice
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Unsigned/Independent
Websites: redividerdeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/redivider.louisville
Releases Worldwide: January 9th, 2026 -
#Firefox maker torches #Google for building Prompt #API into #webbrowser
#Mozilla fears wiring an #AI API into #Chrome will make the web less open
#PromptAPI, is already being tested in Chrome and #MicrosoftEdge.
Jake Archibald, Mozilla web developer relations lead, articulated the org’s concerns in a GitHub discussion of the API, which provides a standard way to send and receive prompts and responses from a local machine learning model.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/30/mozilla_pushes_back_against_googles/ -
New Cybersecurity Roundup:
Someone tried to hack Kaspersky via a complex iPhone attack (“Operation Triangulation”); Jake Appelbaum got (reluctantly) kicked out of CCC; NASA launched a cybersecurity guide for the space industry; India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to strongarm and retaliate against Apple over hacking warnings, plus early Pandemic Roundup items.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/cybersecurity-2-95718700
#Cybersecurity #Infosec #Hacking #Hacks #CCC #NASA #Apple #Kaspersky #OperationTriangulation
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Reflections on Deep Space 9
I’ve been (re)watching all of Star Trek in approximate stardate order (approximate because apart from anything else stardates are inconsistent across the series). I’ve just watched the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, so of course I have some extremely strong opinions about it.
Historical background
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 began broadcasting while its predecessor Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on the air. It is almost invariably discussed in terms of its various firsts: first Star Trek show made without Gene Roddenberry’s involvement; first to air simultaneously with another Star Trek, first with a black lead, first where the lead was a commander, not a captain (at first, anyway), first set on a space station, first where not all the main characters were in Starfleet, and so on.
I think it’s somewhat notable that, creatively anyway, at least one of these firsts was also a last: there’s never been another stationary Star Trek. Indeed, alert readers may have noticed this is a contradiction in terms. The showrunners eventually realised they really needed a proper ship and introduced the USS Defiant to serve as as a means of getting off the station from time to time. Similarly, perhaps aware of the optics of having the various white leads explicitly outrank the only main black lead on Trek, they eventually promoted Benjamin Sisko. Twenty years later, a different set of showrunners gave themselves a near-identical problem on Star Trek: Discovery and likewise solved it by making Michael Burnham, the first black female lead on Star Trek, a captain (although she was, oddly, a ‘co-captain’).
Space: The Final… Outpost, I suppose
Overall, DS9 is probably the most consistent of all the Star Trek shows. The Original Series was notoriously all over the place, The Next Generation was, just as notoriously, pretty poor for the first two seasons and also experienced a significant drop in quality in season 7, likely because the producers had stretched themselves too thin with TNG and DS9 airing simultaneously, and Star Trek: Voyager and the first TNG film, Star Trek Generations, also in production. DS9, by contrast, starts pretty strong and is mostly good to very good all the way through (although I do think that, like TNG, the middle seasons are the strongest). Unlike Voyager, there aren’t any characters that feel oddly pointless (Harry Kim) or just plain annoying (Neelix1). It has a much stronger sense of self than the later, strangely messy shows2, and that carries it through the odd rough patch.
The acting is also generally better than it had been on Trek up to that point. I have a theory that the overall quality of mainstream film and TV acting started to get a hell of a lot better in the ’90s but no theory as to why this is. Just look at how good someone like Michael B. Jordan is3 compared to the people we got starring in blockbuster films in the ’80s, for example; he absolutely blows away Stallone or Schwarzenegger or anyone else you care to name. DS9 may be an early example of that, bar a couple of performances which I’ll come to in a moment. Right from the start, Nana Visitor, René Auberjonois, Armin Shimerman and Colm Meaney4 (returning from TNG) are all excellent, as are recurring guest stars Andrew Robinson, Marc Alaimo, Louise Fletcher (who was, after all, an Oscar winning actress), Aron Eisenberg and Max Grodénchik5. Siddig el Fadil and Terry Farrell wobble early on, but both find their feet eventually, as the writers work out what they want to do with the characters and learn how to play to the actors’ strengths. Both also benefit later from being paired up with actors with whom they have great chemistry (respectively, Meaney and Michael Dorn, likewise returning from TNG, as Worf, from season 4 on), eventually getting some of the best episodes in the whole thing. Where the space station concept works well is in allowing them to have that strong recurring cast, who slowly build relationships with many of the regulars. The recurring guests introduced later on are also all fantastic: Casey Biggs, Jeffrey Combs and JG Hertzler6, in particular, are perfectly cast and routinely excellent.
The only major fly in the ointment as far as acting goes is Avery Brooks. I find him to be an utterly baffling actor, not least because I know that many people absolutely love him, whereas my view of him is that he cannot act at all.
Now, look, I could hardly enjoy Star Trek if I couldn’t put up with the odd wooden performance. The problems with Brooks come not when he’s wooden, though he often is, but that almost every time he does emote, he’s bizarre. People often say he got better when he shaved his head and grew a beard and this is true – but we’re coming from a low base here. And his fundamental issues never went away. Look at his performance in the first episode, ‘Emissary’, where he over-reads the line ‘We just can’t leave her!’7 so much – and so badly – that it’s unintentionally hilarious. Compare this to his climatic scene with Gul Dukat in the very last episode, where he also overdoes the line ‘I am!‘ to similar effect. His much-vaunted performances in ‘Far Beyond the Stars’ and ‘In the Pale Moonlight’ have the exact same problems: whenever he tries to show a strong emotion, it’s overdone (as in ‘Stars’); when he tries to just get through a scene without a single strong emotion, whether that’s because it’s a paint by numbers scene or one where there’s meant to be an ambiguity, he’s wooden (as in ‘Moonlight’). All he really has going for him is a beautiful voice8, but this really isn’t enough. His performance in DS9 does not encourage me to seek out his other work, but perhaps he’s just woefully miscast as Sisko, or poorly directed, and really shines elsewhere.
No Gods, No Masters
I think some of the issues with Sisko are the fault of the writing, particularly his plot arc as the Emissary to the Prophets (Bajoran gods/wormhole aliens). Trying to examine religion in Star Trek was a good idea. After all, most of the world and most of the USA is still very religious. It’s long-established in the Trek universe that alien cultures have their own religious beliefs, even the hyper-logical Vulcans, including various prophets, gods and ceremonies. In our own culture, where it’s been obvious for centuries that an interventionist god doesn’t – indeed, cannot – exist, there are still a great many religious people, and it’s not at all clear that that should change by the time the 24th century rolls around9. Additionally, there have always been plenty of godlike beings in Star Trek, from Trelaine, to that thing that can’t explain what it wants with a starship, to Q. It makes sense to explore this aspect of humanity more deeply than can be done with a single episode or recurring character.
But is it well-handled in DS9? I don’t think so. The Bajorans see the Prophets as gods and their home, the wormhole to the Gamma quadrant, as the Celestial Temple. However… they’re wrong, aren’t they? The wormhole is a wormhole, not a temple, and the things that live in it really are just aliens without a linear sense of time. Kai Winn, Louise Fletcher’s character, is not wrong to argue in the final few episodes that the Prophets don’t seem actually to care very much (or at all) about Bajor, Bajorans or even their Emissary, Sisko, who they arbitrarily whisk away to live with them, he having apparently served his purpose on this corporeal plain by pushing Gul Dukat off a cliff10, forcing him to abandon his friends and family forever, for no reason.
The concept of a species that doesn’t experience or understand linear time is really interesting and also a very Star Trek kind of idea. There’s genuine interest and bathos in the idea that the Bajorans have been worshipping these entities that not only do not but cannot understand them at all; the Prophets don’t seem to know what time is until they meet Sisko and he explains it to them, which storngly suggests they’ve never seriously interacted with the Bajorans at all. But this interesting idea gradually falls away and the writers, out of nothing more than inertia, turn the Prophets into traditional ‘good’ gods, complete with some opposite, ‘evil’ fallen angel/fire demon types in the form of the Pah Wraiths (who want to set the entire universe on fire, for some reason, but can’t, for some reason).11 This of course sticks the writers with a fictional version of the problem of evil12. In the real world, the solution to the problem of evil is that God isn’t real. In Deep Space 9, the gods/Prophets are real, and so the problem of evil cannot be solved. They’re just totally useless as gods.
The interesting notion of the uncaring not-actually-gods is undermined further whenever the Prophets act more like ‘traditional’ gods with an interest in Bajor, which they do more and more as the series goes on, culminating in the revelation that ‘the Sisko’ is a Jesus analogue who the Prophets actually created in order to fulfill the destined destruction of Gul Dukat and the Kosst Amojan13, both of which again, just fall off a cliff. Why do they need a special magic man to do the job of pushing a book and a person off a cliff? Anyone can push someone off a cliff. And why didn’t they just tell Sisko – or, again, anyone, really – to destroy the book at any given time in history? This book, the origins of which are never explained, is totally useless. Literally all it can do is release the Pah Wraiths (and thus destroy the universe14) and make Gul Dukat go blind, so why can’t an immortal, non-linear race of aliens who can speak to anyone at any time using psychic alien powers just tell someone to chuck it into a warp engine or out of an airlock? Or not write it?
Because gods move in mysterious ways!
This is not actually an acceptable argument in real life. It’s a clever-sounding way of saying ‘I don’t know’ and also a major reason we know that this type of god doesn’t exist: history unfolds in a way completely indistinguishable from random chance because that is, in fact, what is happening. You don’t need a guiding intelligence to the universe to make statistical chance happen15. However, this is a still more unsatisfying answer in narrative fiction. ‘Things just happen all the time for no particular reason’ is not a story.
The end result is that the conclusion to Sisko’s arc is unsatisfying. We’re presented with this guy who is a dedicated family man, who feels a bit ambivalent about his career in Starfleet and is considering the possibility that he may have to drop his career to be a good father to his son. He then has a third role, of Emissary to some annoying aliens, thrust upon him. He gradually comes to embrace all three of these identities and find some sort of peace and equilibrium within himself – only to then very suddenly abandon both career and family because a not very competent god told him to, for no reason that we’re ever given. This is annoying writing. It might even have been better to leave it totally ambiguous as to whether he died in the Fire Caves rather than insisting there was some reason that he just can’t tell Kassidy (or us). And he doesn’t speak to poor old Jake at all!
So, I find it difficult to sing unqualified praise for a series where the main character and his arc are both flawed as written and executed badly onscreen.
Moral grey areas
DS9 has also been much-praised for introducing moral ambiguity into the Star Trek universe. This is very welcome in the character of Kira Nerys, a former terrorist who now finds herself in a position of authority as chief representative on DS9 of the Bajoran provisional government. She’s gone from leader of a terrorist cell, carrying out bombings, sabotage and assassinations, to an army major. This outsider to insider journey makes her different from previous Trek characters. She’s the first really good female role the series had16 and provides a fascinating point of contrast to the upstanding citizens of the Federation, most of them male, that we’d seen up to this point. She’s deeply religious, a warrior, frequently (and understandably) angry about both the past and the present. The show neither blames her for having been a terrorist but nor does it ever entirely let her off the hook. Right up to the end, she’s explaining to people who would quite like to kill her that they are going to have to kill their own people if they want to win a revolution. It’s intense and difficult, but also difficult to argue with: after all, she’s right and it largely works (and, in a neat twist, the person who most objects to the idea of killing his own people in the name of the revolution is later killed, in the name of the revolution, by one of his own). Kira never apologises for her actions in the Resistance and never forgives the Cardassians as a group, although she works with them when she has to. Her arc works through never entirely resolving the ambiguity of her position. By series’ end, she’s had one last successful go as a terrorist, ironically fighting for the people who oppressed her planet for so many years, before she returns to Deep Space 9 as the commanding officer, but still outside of Starfleet and the Federation.
Kira really hits the ground running as a character. The first really stunning episode of the show is episode 19, ‘Duet’, which I don’t think the show topped till ‘The Visitor’ (more on which later). Kira meets a man she thinks is a war criminal, but who insists he isn’t. I don’t actually want to spoil the plot of this episode. You really should just watch it. It’s really impressive that DS9 delivers an all-time great episode so early on in its run.
Likewise, Odo is a great character. He’s a variation on a key Trek trope, the alien outsider who doesn’t fully understand the human (and Bajoran, Ferengi and Cardassian) people he lives among, but wishes to understand them better, and to be like them in key ways. In TOS and TNG, this role was taken by Spock and Data, who became the most beloved characters on their shows,17 so Auberjonois has some big Beatles boots to fill. The variation the writers came up with is of an alien who is not only living among aliens, but also not in his ‘natural’ state physically: he’s a shapeshifter, a species that doesn’t have a single form and spends most of its time linked to some indeterminately massive number of its fellows in a gigantic ocean of sapient goo, known as ‘the Great Link’, located on the other side of the Galaxy. Just as Spock and Data relied on abstract non-emotional frameworks to guide them (logic and a broadly defined positivism), Odo relies on justice. When he finally meets his fellow Changelings, he soon discovers they’re a race of imperialistic genocidaires, so that his sense of justice forces him to reject them. Again, the series maintains this ambiguity throughout: he recognises both that he can never truly be himself on Deep Space 9, among ‘solids’, out of his natural state, but that he also cannot be himself if he joins the Great Link while they’re still pursuing a war, because that would violate his sense of justice.
Like Kira, Odo came of age in the show’s ‘past’ during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. He likewise had a morally ambiguous role as a sort of police officer on the station, trying to find some balance between the violent, oppressive ‘justice’ of the Cardassians and his own still-evolving ideas of what justice should involve. As we see in various flashbacks, he didn’t always succeed but, as the show also makes clear, it would’ve been impossible for him to achieve justice while working with the Cardassians. As with Kira, the show makes it clear that he could have behaved differently, but never comes down on one side or the other as to whether or what he should have done.
In Odo’s case, his arc ends in a satisfying way, because the contradiction that animates him isn’t actually internal or inherent to him; once the external issue of the war goes away, he’s able to rejoin the Link. It’s still a wrench for him, because he has to leave Kira, but it makes sense: the idea of romantic love was something he’d learned from the Solids, so it’s something he’s able to leave behind.
Shades of… black? Evil? What do you call this colour? War crime grey?
Where the moral grey areas don’t work is when the writers try to create them within the Federation itself. At their absolute worst, major characters are simply allowed to commit crimes – serious crimes – that they get away with when the status quo is restored at the end of the episode. There are three particularly egregious examples of this.
The first is with Jadzia Dax, during one of her early pre-Worf episodes in which Farrell very much fails to give the impression that she’s several hundred years old. Dax goes on a mission of vengeance with a group of Klingons, so she’s party to what, in the Federation, is clearly murder, but to the Klingons is justified as part of a blood feud. Sisko explicitly warns her not to do it. She does it anyway. It’s obviously murder, but her entire comeuppance is that Sisko gives her an annoyed look when she comes back to the station. That’s it. Is this really Starfleet’s attitude to officers violating a direct order in order to take part in a – successful! – conspiracy to murder someone?
Apparently it is! Because, much later, Worf and Dax go on holiday to Risa, the sex pleasure planet. Worf decides that he doesn’t like sex pleasure, so he joins a group of terrorists for the weekend. Again, he is simply allowed to get away with this. Perhaps remembering that she also went on a terrorism-themed jolly once, Dax doesn’t even break up with him. Nobody ever raises the time Worf joined a terrorist organisation for a bit.
Starfleet’s shockingly lax attitude to criminality in its officers continues, however. in ‘For the Uniform’, when Sisko is faced with a (different) terrorist group, the Maquis, he responds by, I’m not kidding, committing an act of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, by poisoning a planet’s atmosphere in such a way that it won’t be able to support humans (or similar) for fifty years. This is, unambiguously, a war crime and a crime against humanity. Having done this, with scarcely a single objection from the crew, he threatens to do it several more times unless the Maquis surrender. By the end of the episode, everyone’s laughing about it.
In a lot of the writing about DS9, it seems to be assumed that the society depicted in the earlier series was a morally unambiguous utopia. However, this is not the case at all and it’s honestly quite odd that anyone thinks so. Apart from the many times the Federation is nearly destroyed by conspiracy or invasion, some of the most celebrated episodes in TOS and TNG depict the Federation, Starfleet and the people within it as deeply flawed characters, who force our heroes into uncomfortable situations. ‘The Doomsday Machine’ sees the crew having to survive when they’re given suicidal orders by a revenge-obsessed captain, for example, and Kirk frequently cheats, bluffs and lies when he has to, including to his superior officers. His senior staff spend the entire time bickering and McCoy is kind of a racist. Utopia?
‘The Measure of a Man’, one of the most celebrated TNG episodes sees the Federation threatening to dismantle Data, potentially killing him in the process, because they think it might be useful to do so. Data has to go through an entire trial to prove to the Federation that he exists. Riker’s forced to act as the prosecution for his friend. Okay, Data and Picard win in the end, but ‘proving you have the right not to be dismantled simply because it seems like it might be convenient to dismantle you’ is hardly the stuff of utopia, is it?
‘The Measure of a Man’ is a perfect example of what makes for a good exploration of ethics in Star Trek (and sci-fi more broadly). It needs to take a moral issue that is not a solved issue, then add a sci-fi element. So, the questions in ‘The Measure of a Man’ are, What does society owe to the individual (and vice-versa)? (A moral issue we haven’t solved, hence the existence of democratic politics); and, Do androids count as individuals with rights? (which is, of course, the sci-fi element). In the episode, we as the audience naturally side with Data, because we know him. But the points made by Bruce Maddox (and by Riker, acting for the prosecution), are valid. Data is a machine. It would be really useful to have a Data on every ship in Starfleet. Where they collapse is in the fact that Data is a machine who can express real views about himself, and he does not want to be dismantled.
In Star Trek: Insurrection, there’s a similar situation in that Starfleet wants to do something and the crew of the Enterprise want to stop them. The reason it works much less well than ‘The Measure of the Man’ is that, while it has the sci-fi element (a mysterious anti-aging energy), the thing Starfleet wants to do is just wrong and it is a solved moral question: it is never okay to forcibly displace an entire population18 (are you listening, Captain Sisko?). We know this is the case, and so we know there’s absolutely no question that Picard and co. will refuse to help the Federation do such a thing once they know that’s what’s happening and, indeed, that they will turn against Starfleet if they have to, in order to prevent it, which they duly do.
Back to ‘For the Uniform’: Sisko decides that he’s going to poison a planet in order to commit ethnic cleansing (displacing the humans and Bajorans so that Cardassians, who aren’t susceptible to that posion, can move in). This is a crime. The sci-fi element isn’t really interesting. It’s not significantly different from using a hypothetical dirty bomb to make an area radioactive. So this episode fails both tests: a solved ethical problem and a sci-fi element that’s not different or interesting enough from what we have in the present, non-fictional world.
It also demonstrates what’s wrong with much of the ‘grey’ morality of DS9. Committing a crime against humanity isn’t morally ambiguous, it’s evil! There isn’t any question about this, that’s just what those words mean. People like to go on about how Janeway murders Tuvix in Voyager, but for some reason Sisko is let completely off the hook here by the fanbase and, indeed, by Starfleet and the Federation, when in fact he should’ve been tried at whatever the Federation’s version of the Hague is.
Another area where DS9 had a negative impact on the series was the introduction of Section 31,19 which is a branch of the Federation that does ‘morally ambiguous’ (again, read: evil) things, apparently without any kind of oversight or approval from the government. This kind of organisation is a dreadful, nonsensical fictional trope. Invariably it’s an excuse for writers to have a group of villains who just do whatever they like with no restrictions whether physical or logical, until the writers get bored and suddenly it turns out they can be stopped20. In the case of DS9, the writers team once again use Section 31 to make what they consider to be an ambiguous argument which in fact boils down to ‘Atrocities are okay when the good guys do them’ and, again, there’s no sense in which this is ambiguous, it’s just false and wrong.
Worse, with Section 31 in particular, it’s just lazy writing. The organisation is absurdly overpowered, with its agents able to walk into rooms without anyone seeing them (until the plot deems that it’s time for them to magically appear) or, equally, to spirit people away without their noticing. Even in a universe with near-infinite resources, it’s impossible not to wonder just how Section 31 gets so many, e.g., spaceships, without anyone questioning what’s going on. Plus, the main characters frequently plaintively ask each other how they can finally ‘reveal’ what Section 31 is up to, without ever considering that the sworn testimony of numerous high-ranking Starfleet Officers, not to mention the evidence of all the corpses lying all over the place or the fact that they’ve literally caught Luther Sloan, he’s right there! – might actually be enough to reveal everything.
But apart from all that…
Despite silly elements like Section 31 and the Pah Wraiths, the show is generally good or even great. Those things are in few enough episodes that I can mostly ignore them and there’s just so much to like that even the regrettable choice of Brooks doesn’t wreck the show.
One episode, in particular, is not only one of the best Star Trek stories but I think one of the greatest works of SFF ever written: ‘The Visitor’ from season 4. I strongly advise you to go and watch this if you haven’t but, in brief, the plot is that Sisko is killed in an accident, leaving Jake an orphan. However, Sisko begins to reappear at brief intervals, first weeks and then years apart, throughout Jake’s life, as a sort of ghost. For Sisko, time doesn’t pass at all between the intervals: he remains the same age while Jake gets older. Thus, eventually, Sisko sees his son as an adult, then an old man – older than Sisko himself. After several failed attempts to bring Sisko back, Jake realises the only way to save him is to commit suicide at the right moment; that this will allow Sisko to return to the time of the accident, and avoid it. The right moment, of course, turns out to be a time when Sisko is there, with Jake, so that Sisko cradles an old man who is also his son in his arms as he dies in order to save him. It’s absolutely stunning.
Brooks, for once, doesn’t overdo it, completely selling this impossible situation. Tony Todd21, as the older Jake, is also fantastic, as is Cirroc Lofton in his regular role as the Jake we know. The reason, though, that it’s such great SFF is that it creates a real, human story that could only be told with some sort of fantastic element (in this case the ‘temporal displacement’ that takes Sisko out of time). You could achieve the broad outline in a couple of ways, but never in a ‘realistic’ plot. Yet, you feel the entire thing as a real human being: Jake’s bereavement at losing his father, the impossible hope when he apparently returns, only to devastatingly vanish again, then Sisko’s sense of loss at his son’s death (even though he understands that this will allow him to live, with his son, again). It’s brilliantly, brilliantly done. You don’t often get a piece of fiction that not only works in itself but singlehandedly justifies22 the existence of an entire genre.
Deep Space 9 is mostly good and, when everything comes together, very good. It proved that you could do Star Trek without a ship called the Enterprise and that you could almost do it without having a ship at all. It increased the alien quotient in the show, finally delivered some really good roles for women and even had a kid in it who wasn’t annoying. I think overall it’s not quite as good as TNG was when it really got going, although you could persuasively argue that it’s average was better. I also think I still prefer the generally under-rated Star Trek: Voyager, though I’ll get back to you about that when I’ve finished watching it.
Book reviews
Queen Macbeth, by Val McDermid
This is a reasonably workmanlike book. It’s not really a re-telling of Shakespeare’s play; rather, it goes back to the source materal and re-tells that. I’m not sure I find Gruoch more compelling or even necessarily more sympathetic than Lady Macbeth, though. Fun fact of the day: While we all call her ‘Lady Macbeth’ and most modern editions of the play give this name in the stage directions, she’s never referred to as such in the First Folio, the only authentic text of Macbeth: she’s referred to simply as ‘His Lady’ and then just ‘Lady’. So, McDermid does her some justice by giving her her name back.
The Malcontent, by John Marston
One of the first tragicomedies, an entertainingly twisty turny play with a fun bit of metatheatre at the beginning, featuring Shakespeare’s pals Richard Burbage (‘Burbadge’ here), Henry Condell (co-editor of the First Folio) and William Sly arguing with each other and the audience. Still, oddly, feels pleasantly surprising when the tragic-seeming play ends happily. I imagine the first audiences were blown away.
Utopia, by Thomas More
Speaking of utopias (utopiae?), I also read the original this month. As David Wittenberg argues in The Philosophy of Time Travel, it’s to later utopian fiction that we owe the concept of time travel. Once there were no new lands to discover, utopian authors had to locate their societies elsewhere in time not, as More and later Swift, parodying the genre, did, on far-flung islands. Being both a hit in Shakespeare’s day and a predecessor to the time travel story, this ticks a lot of boxes for me.
What I found most interesting about it is that More’s Utopia is so similar to the various socialist/communist utopias people have come up with afterwards and also quite similar, mostly knowingly, to Plato’s Republic. I can’t tell if this is because we’re all so collectively unimaginative we can’t come up with anything new or if it just is the case that ‘some sort of communism [that works (somehow)]’ really would be the best way for humans to live. Anyway, it’s an interesting, fairly brief read, well worth the little time it takes to read it.
- With apologies to Ethan Phillips, who I think is a fine actor working with mostly terrible material. My strongest evidence for this is the episode ‘Mortal Coil’ (S4E12), where he gives a fantastic performance making one of Voyager‘s best episodes. ↩︎
- The strongest of which are Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Lower Decks knows that it’s a funny show about Star Trek and Strange New Worlds knows it’s a straight-ahead Star Trek about exploring. Discovery, however, starts off thinking it’s an anthology show, then becomes a show about Michael Burnham, then a show about found family (where we never get to know most of the family), then a show about a dystopian version of the Federation, etc. Star Trek: Picard thinks it’s a nostalgia show but spends season 1 stamping on everyone’s nostalgia (Hugh’s back! Okay, he’s dead now. Also, everyone hates Jean-Luc Picard, now, implausibly. And I bet you thought Riker and Troi would live happily ever after, right? Well, they did until their kid died, fuck you). In season 2 it gets even weirder before, finally, in season 3, giving everyone what they wanted in the first place and doing a nostalgia show but with an incredibly nonsensical plotline in which, at one point, someone gets assimilated by the Borg until someone talks them out of it. It’s a mess, is what I’m saying. Still, at least they brought back the theme music (eventually). ↩︎
- I wrote this sentence before he won the Academy Award the other day, but it does help my point. ↩︎
- As Major (later Colonel) Kira Nerys, ‘Constable’ Odo, Quark and Chief Miles O’Brien. ↩︎
- As Garak, Gul Dukat, Vedek (later Kai) Winn Adami, Nog and Rom. ↩︎
- As Damar, Weyon and Brunt, and General (later Chancellor) Martok. ↩︎
- Another oddity of either the actor or the character is that he always partially reverses the word order in this form of sentence, saying ‘we just can’t’ instead of ‘we can’t just’ every time. ↩︎
- I read somewhere that they planned to have an opening narration in the style of the famous ‘Space: the final frontier’ speech(es), but couldn’t come up with anything good enough in time. It’s kind of a shame because there’s no doubt that Brooks would’ve sounded fantastic doing this. ↩︎
- Out of scope, but I’m inclined to think we’re trending that way. However, trends don’t necessarily continue. ↩︎
- This kind of thing happens all the time in SFF, but it still annoys me: Gul Dukat in this scene has telekinetic powers and is able to kill Winn by waving at her, but then he dies because Sisko pushes him. Come on. Okay, he pushes him into a big fire, but he’s a fire demon who has already been shown to come back from the dead in this scene. Why does this kill him? ↩︎
- The reason we know the Pah Wraiths are baddies is that when they possess people, their eyes go all red and scary. It’s just so lazy. Why not at least make them ice demons or something? ↩︎
- Simply: if God is real and good, why did He create a world with evil in it? ↩︎
- It’s a magic book, don’t worry about it. ↩︎
- Of course, once they are released, instead of immediately destroying the universe they just spend several minutes hanging around in a cave, waiting for Sisko to show up so he can shove them. ↩︎
- I’m phrasing this carefully because strictly speaking it’s possible to argue that some sort of intelligence set up the universe from outside it and to argue that said intelligence may therefore have had some sort of aim in mind. However, that is all you can say about it and you’re already saying ‘may’. ↩︎
- Role, note, not actor. Nichelle Nichols, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis and Gates McFadden were never given very much to do or, as especially in Sirtis’ case, the stuff they were given to do was just silly (‘Captain, I feel this alien, the one screaming at us, is upset about something’). ↩︎
- Well, probably. We all love Kirk and Picard, too, obviously, and most of both casts have their fans. They’re great shows! They have lots of great chaacters! ↩︎
- That such things still occur isn’t relevant to my point. The people who do these things know it’s wrong, which is why they variously pretend they’re not doing it, or that they’re not doing it by force, or that those other people have it coming, or they, the perpetrators, were there first, so it’s self-defence, or some other such nonsense. You don’t need to invent justifications like this for things that are morally right, so if you are saying such things, that’s a clue that you’re doing something wrong. ↩︎
- Which was already a bad idea before the terrible Star Trek: Section 31 film, though I’d like to thank the producers of that film for helping me prosecute this argument. ↩︎
- The worst/best of these is in the show Scandal where there turns out to be some secret government agency that goes around murdering people and making speeches about how unstoppable they are. Eventually, the main characters go, ‘Hey, what if we just shoot them?’ and it works. ↩︎
- In an odd, sad coincidence, Todd died the day after I watched this episode. He also played Worf’s brother, Kurn. ↩︎
- I don’t think it needs justifying and, if you’ve read this far, nor do you do; but you and me ain’t everyone. ↩︎
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Civil Discourse – Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next – Joyce Vance
AI image by WordPress, 2026.Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next
And, a very special Substack Live Sunday morning
By Joyce Vance, Jan 03, 2026
This morning, Donald Trump explained, in a rambling press conference along with others in his administration, that the overnight strike in Venezuela was executed to arrest President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. In other words, it’s not the kind of new hostilities, if you buy the administration’s line, that would require notice to or a declaration from Congress.
This approach, although it’s what I suggested in this morning’s post we should expect, leaves me with a major question: if the U.S. was just going in to Venezuela to arrest a defendant in a criminal case, which has now been done, why is it necessary to stick around to run the country? That is exactly what Trump said this morning that we’d be doing. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” the President said.
Senator Chuck Schumer tweeted: “The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.”
Tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. ET, I’ll host a Substack Live with Jake Sullivan, who served as Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor from 2021 to 2025, and Jon Finer, Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor. We’ll answer your questions about what comes next. Make sure you’re subscribed to Civil Discourse to get a notice when we go live—a free subscription will work for that. And leave any questions you have for us in the comments. Jake and Jon have a fantastic new podcast, The Long Game, that drops every Friday.
The new indictment:
The superseding indictment against Maduro, Flores, and four others was unsealed this morning. It contains three counts and a hefty amount of narrative. It is, as prosecutors say, a speaking indictment:
- Count One: Narcoterrorism Conspiracy; Title 21, United States Code, Section 960a; and Title 18, United States Code, Section 3238
- Count Two: Cocaine Importation Conspiracy; Title 21, United States Code, Section 963; and Title 18, United States Code, Section 3238
- Count Three: Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices; Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(c)(l)(A), 924(c)(l)(B)(ii), 3238, and 2
- Count Four: Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices; Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(0) and 3238
You can read the superseding indictment here. It’s signed by Trump’s new U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, which means it was obtained no earlier than August of this year. It involves fewer defendants than the original 2020 indictment, which named 15 defendants, including Maduro. That could mean that some of the original defendants have become cooperators. We don’t know the details yet, but we will likely learn more in the course of detention hearings, which should follow shortly on the heels of the arraignment.
The superseding indictment adds additional allegations against Maduro and names his wife as a defendant for the first time. The basis for the indictment remains the same: Maduro and his co-defendants used government power to protect and promote drug trafficking crimes. The government alleges that “This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States.”
To prevail on the “narcoterrorism” count (that label doesn’t appear in the statute), the government will have to prove that the defendants trafficked in illegal drugs, “knowing or intending to provide, directly or indirectly, anything of pecuniary value to any person or organization that has engaged or engages in terrorist activity.” This begs the same question raised by Trump’s earlier efforts to deport Venezuelans, who he claimed were part of the Tren de Aragua gang (it turned out many of them weren’t), and the justification for so-called kinetic strikes that have killed more than 100 people to date. The administration’s justification is that drug cartels are terrorist forces attacking the United States. Now we’ll see how that holds up in court.
Even if the government prevails on the legal argument, the indictment doesn’t offer much insight into how the government intends to tie Maduro to Tren de Aragua and other cartels and gangs. It offers more detail about FARC activity from 2018 and 2019. But prosecutors aren’t required to reveal all of their evidence in an indictment, simply enough to put a defendant on notice of the charges they have to defend against. Assessment of the strength of the government’s case will have to wait until defense lawyers file preliminary motions.
Maduro could be facing life in prison if he is convicted. The two drug counts carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, and mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years on Count One and 10 years on Count 2. The firearm charges carry a 30-year minimum prison term.
Will Congress do anything?
A Senatevotewill take place next week on a bipartisan war powers resolution to block Trump from engaging in further hostilities against Venezuela. It was already in the works, but there will be an increased sense of urgency around it now. Along with Schumer, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, and California Senator Adam Schiff, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul has signed on as a co-sponsor. The resolution is privileged, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune will not be able to prevent it from coming to the floor. The resolution only needs a simple majority to pass the Senate.
Delaware Democrat Chris Coons, the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Defense Appropriations, issued a statement that read, “This military action is the next stage in President Trump’s incoherent and arguably illegal Venezuela operation. In recent briefings to Congress, senior administration officials said they were focused on combatting (sic) drug trafficking, not regime change, and made clear they had no plan for what would happen if Maduro was removed or overthrown. This was clearly false, and furthermore, a military operation to capture and overthrow a president – even an illegitimate one – is an act of war that must be authorized by Congress. Not only has the Trump administration not sought congressional approval, they did not even notify members of either party in Congress until after the strike had concluded. Protecting democracy should not be done through illegal means.”
Editor’s Note: The featured image at top was generated by WP AI. Below is also the embedded column/article for easy access. –DrWeb
Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next by Joyce Vance
And, a very special Substack Live Sunday morning Read on Substack
Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next by Joyce Vance
And, a very special Substack Live Sunday morning
Read on Substack Tags: Cilia Flores, Civil Discourse, Donald Trump, Illegal, January 3 2026, Joyce Vance, Kidnapping, Maduro, Military Attack, Press Conference, Southern District of New York, Sovereign Nation, Substack, Sunday Live Event, U.S. District Court, Venezuela
#CiliaFlores #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Illegal #January32026 #JoyceVance #Kidnapping #Maduro #MilitaryAttack #PressConference #SouthernDistrictOfNewYork #SovereignNation #Substack #SundayLiveEvent #USDistrictCourt #Venezuela -
@Holocluck Henly @Jerralyn Franzic Many of their products are available on the #Hypergrid. But not through them.
Signature Gianni has been available since the second half of the 2010s, but neither by buying it from Signature nor, for the longest time, under that name. Signature Gianni was copybotted, re-scripted and renamed "Apollo" to make it a) less obvious what was stolen and therefore even less likely for the content thieves to be DMCA'd and b) look like they've created the body themselves from scratch. Ever since, it has been offered as a full-perm freebie.
The same happened to Maitreya Lara ("Athena", still the number one female mesh body on the Hypergrid), Slink Physique Male ("Adonis" and "Decadence Male"), Slink Physique Hourglass ("BBHG", "Decadence-HG", "Je'Thai HG" with the original box art, only with the Slink logo removed and the new name added) and Belleza Jake ("Ares").
The renaming probably happened to conceal that these bodies were stolen in a reaction upon legal threats against #OpenSim grids in 2015: At least one #SecondLife creator forced multiple OpenSim grids to remove any and all of their content from freebie stores, or they'll take legal action which may end up in the grid being closed by the authorities. This included fairly big grids which then had to start take according action.
But since no actual legal actions were ever taken, not even against US-based grids, the copybotters and content importers feel safe now. They usually no longer rename anything. Genus heads, Lelutka products, more recently Kupra, Legacy, Legacy Perky and eBody Reborn and many other products are brazenly being offered under their Second Life brands and names. Renaming only happens when someone wants to offer copybotted Second Life content as their own original creation.
The mass-copybotting that started in late 2014 or 2015 has killed off a great deal of OpenSim's own creativity. Creators saw no chance for themselves to compete with stolen premium luxury payware from Second Life. By now, there's hardly an avatar out there that doesn't wear anything illegal unless the avatar is still devoid of mesh, and the vast majority of avatars is decked out entirely in illegal content and never wears anything legal. That's also because most freebie stores don't even offer anything legal, so legal content is hard to find.
However, there are actually free and legal mesh bodies in OpenSim, basically two families of bodies that started with two mesh bodies named Ruth 2.0 (after the old Second Life standard avatar which still exists in OpenSim today) and Roth 2.0 (after the same avatar when you switch the shape to male). The names are somewhat confusing because the "2.0" is part of the names rather than a version number.
These two bodies were born out of necessity: Just like Second Life, some OpenSim grids offer starter avatars instead of creating all new avatars as Ruths. These used to be classic layer-and-prim avatars, often complete avatars made by Linda Kellie (known in Second Life as Karra Baker until 2007 and as Linda Kellie since 2017). But since illegal mesh bodies and matching illegal mesh clothes had started spreading, these avatars were considered outdated.
Grids that wanted to offer decent-looking starter avatars were in a catch now. They only had two options: either outdated classic layer-and-prim avatars or up-to-date mesh avatars on which everything was stolen from Second Life, maybe except for the hair. The latter would mean that the grid owners themselves would officially distribute illegal content. Some simply shrugged it off and went for it.
However, it was clear that OpenSim had to become able to offer modern mesh avatars that'd consist out of entirely legal content made in and for OpenSim. The obvious starting-point was to create mesh bodies so that rigged mesh clothes could be made for these then.
And so a team of volunteers made two open-source mesh bodies under free licenses. The first to come out was Ruth 2.0, starting with a test release in, I think, 2017. On the same day in December, 2018, that the final release candidate, RC#3, came out, so did the only release candidate RC#1 of the male body Roth 2.0. However, the project leader must have abandoned the project before final versions could be released.
Since both bodies are free and open-source, forks happened. In 2018, @Hyacinth 🏳️⚧️ ☮️ forked Ruth 2.0 RC#2 into Ruth Reloaded from which she then derived #LuvMyBod which is slightly more voluptuous without going as crazy as eBody Reborn or Slink Physique Hourglass. The latest incarnation is still-unfinished Diana which offers basic BoM support and is targetted at Athena converts. She also forked Roth 2.0 RC#1 into Roth Reloaded and eventually R00Fie! which was never finished. And she was the only one to ever make an alternative head for Ruth 2.0 (unlike Second Life bodies, Ruth 2.0 and Roth 2.0 come with a head that's usually seamlessly attached).
In 2019, @Sean Heavy ✅🤙🏻☯🏳️🌈 forked Ruth 2.0 RC#3 and Roth 2.0 RC#1 into #RuthToo RC#3 and #RothToo RC#1 respectively. He did some work on both meshes, and he gave RothToo the mesh fingernails and toenails which the other bodies in the male family still lack. Both bodies became available with basic BoM support in complete avatar boxes several months ago.
It must have been later in 2019 that @Austin Tate took over as the new official project leader. Not only were both bodies thoroughly reworked, including the meshes, but both bodies were given full-blown scripted BoM support with features that you won't find on any commercial Second Life body. Since version numbering became necessary, but the "2.0" would have collided with it, the bodies had to be renamed. Ruth 2.0 RC#3 and Roth 2.0 RC#1 were declared stable releases and renamed #Ruth2 v3 and #Roth2 v1 respectively, and the new versions were named Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2.
This time, Roth2 v2 was the first to come out in late May 2020, OpenSim's first BoM-enabled mesh body that was actually announced and somewhat advertised. Thus, it predates both Athena 6 and Adonis 4 which were rushed out in summer with not only basic, but halfway botched BoM support that led almost all OpenSim users to believe that BoM doesn't support alpha masks. Austin's avatar and in-world representation, @Ai Austin, was probably the first adopter. And I feel like I was the second; I still use Roth2 v2 today.
Ruth2 v4 followed in September. Some more work was necessary here due to several extra features, not all of which are related to the even more extensive BoM support. My little in-world sister @Juno Rowland may have become the "poster child" of Ruth2 v4 if there's such a thing.
It's said that new versions are being worked on by a new team of creators. But they work "behind closed doors" and only communicate through an unadvertised Discord server, probably not even noticing what may happen on GitHub.
Clothing, on the other hand, is still an issue. I know three clothesmakers who have made clothes for Ruth 2.0 RC#2 or RC#3 which have identical meshes AFAIK, but these clothes are far from covering all use-cases. I think there's exactly one bikini and one pair of underpants for Ruth 2.0. For Roth 2.0, so little has been made that you're basically forced to wear Second Life clothes and alpha away your entire body underneath. In addition, there are some mesh clothes by Hyacinth and Sean which are offsets of Ruth 2.0 RC#2, LuvMyBod and RothToo RC#1 respectively.
In fact, Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2 seem to have made making mesh clothes for these bodies even less attractive because their meshes have changed so much. On Ruth2 v4, Ruth 2.0 clothes are as hit-and-miss as Maitreya Lara/Athena clothes and as rigged or fitted mesh clothes made for the system body. For Roth2 v2, the situation is even worse because Roth 2.0 RC#1 is already completely incompatible with everything else. So I guess some aspiring clothesmakers are now sitting and waiting for new versions that seem definite and stable rather than transitional again so they can make clothes that won't be outdated again soon.
In fact, BoM support on these bodies is a bliss because you have to resort to layer clothes for underwear, swimwear and hosiery. At the same time, converts from stolen Second Life bodies as well as from the older non-BoM versions are likely to be irritated because Ruth2 v4 and Roth2 v2 are the only BoM mesh bodies in OpenSim that have done away with fine-grained alpha HUDs in favour of alpha masks, but the only clothes in OpenSim that come with alpha masks were made for the system body before 2015.
By the way, I've started working on a wiki for the Ruth2 and Roth2 families. It's still a very early WIP, and while both bodies are also available in Second Life, it's OpenSim-centric. -
𝗝𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗺 𝗸𝗮𝗻 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘁 𝘇𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗮𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻: '𝗥𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘇𝗮𝗹 𝗡𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗶𝘁 𝘇𝗶𝗲𝗻'
De verloving van Jutta Leerdam (26) en Jake Paul (28) heeft niet alleen de wereld versteld doen staan door de romantische setting en het spectaculaire huwelijksaanzoek, maar ook door de ongelooflijke verlovingsring die Jake aan zijn geliefde gaf. Maar...
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The #16th issue of this week's Entra newsletter just went out featuring posts from Sandeep Deo, Stuart Kwan, Sayali Kale, Darren "Doc" Robinson, Pim Jacobs, Michael Morten Sonne, Jake AdminDroid, Samuel Eng, Nathan Hutchinson, Sean McAvinue, Tony Redmond, Daniel Krzyczkowski, Rio Hindle, John Hammond, Dean Cefola, Andrew Jones, and MSEndpointMgr!
Read the full post at https://entra.news/p/entranews-16-your-weekly-dose-of
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Neben Touren- und Wildwasserkanu ist open canoe freestyle eine feine Möglichkeit sich auf dem Wasser zu bewegen. In Europa hat sich die Szene dazu entschlossen keine Wettbewerbe zu veranstalten und so ist das 'Kringeln' sich selbst genug. Mitunter wirkt das paddeln zu Musik und ein euphorisches Publikum auf Betrachtende etwas befremdlich. Ja nu, hier paddelt Jake aus den Niederlanden. #opencanoe #americanfreestyle #canoe #kringelfieber
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Time traveling the <select> element. The request to style it predates its creation. By Jake Archibald at #WebDayOut