Author: George Lanington

In season one of Raised By Wolves, we learned the influence of the Mithraic god, Sol, whose teaching and implied messages were filtered through the minds of human men who then twisted them into meaning whatever best suited their needs, as all religion can be made to do. In season two, we're seeing how that very practice is put into play by the opposing side, the atheists, who claim not to be governed by faith but by the cold, steely reason of a machine; although putting trust in a machine is just another version of putting faith in something you have no real control over. A person can push and pull the levers. Throw the switches. But outside forces still intervene. Just like a person presses play on their defe...

The Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers rekindle a high-profile rivalry on Thursday. The matchup, set to take place at a shared venue of Crypto.com Arena, is the second of the season between the teams, with the Clippers winning the first game in early December. The Clippers, who are operating as the home team, are 26-27 overall and on full rest, while the Lakers (25-27) are on the second night of a back-to-back set after beating Portland on Thursday. LeBron James (knee) hasn't played since Jan. 25 and is out for this game as well. The Clippers officially list Ivica Zubac (calf) as questionable, while Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Paul George (elbow) remain out. Tipoff is at 10 pm ET. The Clippers are 3.5-po...

This image released by Amazon shows Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in a scene from the Amazon series “Reacher.” (Amazon Studios via AP)NEW YORK | Adaptations of books to film and television often take liberties or stray from the original text. Tom Cruise played Jack Reacher twice on film but didn't match the physical description of the character described by author Lee Child. Child's Reacher is 6 foot, 5 inches tall. Cruise is under 6 feet. A new Amazon Originals series “Reacher” has found an actor closer to the author's profile of the former US Army officer who travels the country without a plan, but finds trouble wherever he goes. Alan Ritchson, (“Titans,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) who stars as Reacher in the series, is 6 foot, 2 inches tall. In the series, his Reacher tower...

The head of Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, died as he lived most of his life: off the grid in the jihadist underworld.Little is known about the ISIS leader, whose real name is Amir Muhammad Said Abdel-Rahman al-Mawla, or other members of the group's senior command. But his death of him in a raid by US commandos in Syria on Thursday was a significant blow to the terror group and a victory for US counterterrorism efforts.While he was nowhere near as prominent as his predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died in a similar US operation in 2019, “Mr. Qurayshi still commands a lot of respect within jihadi circles and is known to be highly intelligent and able to think strategically,” said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consul...

The leader of the violent Islamic State (IS) group was killed during an overnight raid carried out by US special forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, US President Joe Biden said Thursday.The raid targeted Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who took over as head of the militant group on Oct. 31, 2019, just days after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a US raid in the same area. Biden said al-Qurayshi died as al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, as US forces approached.The operation came as IS has been trying for a resurgence, with a series of attacks in the region, including an assault late last month to seize a prison in northeast Syria holding at least 3,000 IS detainees, its boldest operatio...

amazon . com reported strong fourth-quarter results on Thursday, driven by strong growth in both its AWS cloud unit and its growing advertising business. The results could be a relief to some investors given the weak numbers on Wednesday from Facebook-parent Meta Platforms . Amazon shares jumped 18% in after hours trading, more than reversing a nearly 8% decline in the day's regular session. Even with the after hours rally, the stock is down slightly for the year to date. Amazon also said it is increasing the price of its Amazon Prime membership for the first time since 2018. Amazon will now charge $...