Lando Norris crossed the line at Sunday afternoon’s Hungarian Grand Prix in seventh, 62 seconds behind the Ferrari driven by Charles Leclerc in sixth place. And the downbeat McLaren driver admitted he had hoped for a little bit more in Sunday’s race after starting on the second row…
Norris qualified in fourth in Budapest – his joint-highest qualifying position of the year – after showing strong pace for much of the weekend. And after making a good start on the soft tyre, he maintained his position and held off the challenge of Lewis Hamilton in the opening laps.
However, after being passed by Hamilton and then Max Verstappen on Lap 11, Norris came into the pit lane for the medium tire and made his way back up the field, before running a lonely race on the hard tire for his final stint, finishing 62.2 s behind sixth-placed Leclerc – much to his irritation.
READ MORE: Hamilton says Mercedes have ‘potential to win’ after ‘pretty epic’ drive to second in Hungary
“We did [have a good performance] against the people we are racing really,” said Norris. “Just if you think of P4 as a grid position then you expect a little bit more on Sunday. And to end up 62 seconds behind just the next car ahead of me, it’s a big challenge to do anything more from that, so therefore our race was against Alpine and the cars behind me.
Norris could not keep Hamilton and Verstappen behind for long
“The first stint, I think I destroyed my tire after like six laps, and I was very worried, because we aimed [to pit on] Lap 20 or 25 or something.
“Our pace on the medium tire, and I think our pace when there weren’t any issues with tires and management, was strong. And stronger than Alpine today, which is good news and a good sign but yeah, we just seemed to destroy those tires a lot quicker than everybody else.
READ MORE: ‘We made all the right calls’ says Verstappen, as he pulls off spin-and-win in Hungary to extend lead to 80 points
“It didn’t really go to plan at all… So, that’s the only thing we have to really work on, but the middle stint was strong and the final stint was easy, I was just on my own and hoping for the race to end. Challenging but we did everything we could, and P7 I have to be happy with.”
Race ‘didn’t go to plan’ for Lando Norris, with P7 finish in Hungary
Speaking after the race, McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl said Norris’s seventh-place finish was the maximum they could have hoped for in Hungary, as he lauded the improvements made by his team over the last two races.
“Lando executed a clean race today to take that seventh place,” said Seidl. “With all six cars from the top three teams finishing the race, P7 was the best we could achieve today, and we did it. The upgrade we introduced at Paul Ricard and improved our understanding of here put us into position to be the fourth-fastest team, which is a great achievement.”
Former President Donald Trump on the eve of the Missouri primaries gave his much-coveted endorsement in the republican primary for Missouri’s open Senate seat, but there was some confusion about who had been selected.
“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds, much as they did when they gave me landslide victories in the 2016 and 2020 Elections, and I am therefore proud to announce that ERIC has my Complete and Full Endorsement!” Trump wrote in a statement Monday night.
And with that, Trump apparently rejected anyone in the field of 19 who is not named Eric. There are two leading candidates who share the first name: Attorney General Eric Schmitt and former Attorney General Eric Greitensand one candidate trailing them.
The semi-endorsement came as Schmitt has broken ahead in recent polls, including one by Emerson College released in late July where he led Rep. Vicky Hartzler by 12 points. Greitens was third in that poll.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a ‘Save America’ rally in support of Arizona GOP candidates on July 22, 2022 in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Arizona’s primary election will take place August 2.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Greitens, a controversial candidate who resigned in 2018 after a sex scandal and misuse of campaign funds, has been dropping in the polls since June after more than $11 million has been spent on the airwaves by outside groups to keep him from winning the primary and potentially putting this state at play in November’s general election.
Earlier this year, Greitens’ ex-wife has also claimed he abused her and their son, allegations that the Greitens campaign has denied. Sheena Greitens repeated the allegations on Twitter on Monday.
Shortly after Trump’s statement, both Greitens and Schmitt claimed to have Trump’s full support.
“President Trump has looked at the candidates and all that’s at stake in this race, and he has given me his COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” read a campaign fundraising email from Schmitt.
“Honored to have the support of President Trump! We will MAGA!” Greitens tweeted. Greitens also has ties to Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, and he tweeted a video of Guilfoyle backing him.
Making matters more complicated, there is a third Eric in the race: Eric McElroy. In a statement, Hartzler said “Congrats to Eric McElroy. He’s having a big night.”
Trump said in July that he explicitly would not endorse Hartzler.
Aaron Navarro
Aaron Navarro is an associate producer for the political unit at CBS News, focusing on House and gubernatorial campaigns as well as the census and redistricting.
You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license.
To measure vegetation in the wild, researchers set up a Microsoft HoloLens as a mixed-reality sensor to feed their application called VegSense.
A proof-of-concept study by Rice University graduate student Daniel Gorczynski and bioscientist Lydia Beaudrot shows VegSense could be a suitable alternative to traditional classical field measurements at a low cost.
Their study in Methods in Ecology and Evolution shows the hardware-software combination excels at quantifying relatively mature trees in the wild, which is one measure of a forest’s overall health.
Gorczynski came up with the idea to try HoloLens, commonly marketed as a productivity tool for manufacturing, health care, and education. He developed the open-source software for the device and notes that while the combination is less effective at picking up saplings and small branches, there’s ample room for improvement.
Gorczynski says he first encountered mixed-reality sensing while an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University and recognized its potential for biological studies. “It seemed sort of like a natural fit,” he says. Gorczynski brought the idea to Beaudrot in 2019 shortly after his arrival at Rice.
The combination of stock hardware and custom software costs far less than systems based on lidar (for “light detection and ranging”) most often used in three-dimensional field studies, says Gorczynski, who developed VegSense on a platform geared more toward 3D games and interactive experiences than hard science.
Field tests at Houston’s Memorial Park showed that at least for mature trees, the smaller solution is just as good. In their case study, VegSense easily detected 48 of 50 such trees in the target area, a circle about 30 feet in diameter that Gorczynski walked, looking up, down, and around to build the 3D database. (“Imagine an asterisk with a circle around it,” he says, describing the data-capture pattern.)
“For this study, we wanted to be really deliberate in trying to replicate more traditional understory vegetation structure measurements,” Gorczynski says. “We tried to get that level of detail.”
What he sees as he scans the environment is a holograph-like grid pattern that tracks the surfaces of vegetation. “What’s really cool about that is you can see what the scanner is picking up, but also the spots you missed,” Gorczynski says. “The idea is to get the mesh to cover as much of the vegetation as possible because that’s what gets you the best scan.”
“The results were so nice that Dan quickly wrote it up for publication,” Beaudrot says, noting that Gorczynski expanded his validation of the gear during a subsequent field trip to Tanzania, the focus of one of 15 tropical forests in a recent rainforest study by the group.
“This device can facilitate a lot of great ecological research, particularly because it’s so cost-effective,” she says. “Collecting vegetation information on the forest floor right now is really hard to do without a lot of manual labor, or a really expensive lidar system.”
“So this is a groundbreaking, cost-effective device,” Beaudrot says. “It’s not going to give you the same resolution data that lidar will, but this is just the first application. We hope making VegSense open-source to the ecological research community will spur all the potential ways it can be developed.”
Northrop Grumman, Conservation International, and Rice supported the research.
The Rabbitohs were left to rue missed opportunities in a golden point loss to Cronulla but they need to regroup quickly against the unpredictable Warriors outfit on Saturday.
With matches against heavyweights the Eels, Panthers, Cowboys and Roosters to come after this weekend’s assignment the Rabbitohs can’t afford to slip up against a team that took them to the wire in Magic Round.
The Rabbitohs led 26-6 at half-time in that match at Suncorp Stadium but clocked off to concede four tries in 15 minutes and almost let the victory slip away.
Finals are out of the question for the Warriors but they’ll happy to play spoiler to any contenders who dare take them lightly.
The Rundown
teamnews
Rabbitohs: Taane Milne returns from a finger injury in the centers, filling the hole left by Jed Cartwright (hamstring). Bench forward Tom Burgess (suspended) is out, replaced by Mark Nicholls. The other new face on the interchange is Blake Taaffe, who is recalled for his first game since Round 15. Kodi Nikorima is out.
Warriors: Euan Aitken has been moved from the back row to the centers in place of Adam Pompey who drops to the reserves. Five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita is out with a knee injury so Wayde Egan moves from hooker to the No.6 jersey and Freddy Lussick has been promoted to start in the No.9.
Aaron Pene (illness), Bayley Sironen (eye socket) and Jack Murchie (parental leave) all return in the pack. Josh Curran goes to the bench and Jazz Tevaga drops out with a shoulder injury. Taniela Otukolo will play his first game since round 13 on the bench.
key match-up
Lachlan Ilias v Shaun Johnson: The young Rabbitohs playmaker has bounced back strongly from a tough outing against the Dragons in Round 15, coming up with some big plays as Souths have won four of five since that night. Ilias has come up with 13 forced dropouts and nine try assists so far in 2022 and he looks ready to handle the heat in the final month of the season as the Rabbitohs look to climb into the top four. Johnson’s kicking game has delivered 19 forced dropouts for the Warriors and the veteran will look to finish the year strongly and get some momentum to carry into 2023.
Stat Attack
Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston leads the competition in tries (22) and line breaks (27). The Warriors’ top tryscorer is Dallin Watene-Zelezniak with seven while Reece Walsh is their best line breaker with eight.
White House issues image of Biden being briefed ahead of strike on Zawahiri
The White House has issued an image of President Joe Biden being briefed about the drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In a tweet describing the image, the White House said:
On July 1, President Biden meets with his national security team to discuss the counterterrorism operation to take out Zawahiri. At this meeting, the President was briefed on the proposed operation and shown a model of the safe house where Zawahiri was hiding.
On July 1, President Biden meets with his national security team to discuss the counterterrorism operation to take out Ayman al-Zawahiri. At this meeting, the President was briefed on the proposed operation and shown a model of the safe house where Al-Zawahiri was hiding. pic.twitter.com/W0A0mDk9Lr
The US drone strike that killed al-Zawahiri was cheered by someone who knows a bit about hunting al-Qaida leaders: Barack Obama.
The former American president who approved the 2011 special forces raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden tweeted in approval of the bombing that killed al-Zawahiri, which was carried out on the orders of Joe Bidenwho served as his vice president:
More than 20 years after 9/11, one of the masterminds of that terrorist attack and Osama bin Laden’s successor as the leader of al-Qaeda – Ayman al-Zawahiri – has finally been brought to justice.
It’s a tribute to President Biden’s leadership, to the members of the intelligence community who have been working for decades for this moment, and to the counterterrorism professionals who were able to take al-Zawahiri out without a single civilian casualty.
Tonight’s news is also proof that it’s possible to root out terrorism without being at war in Afghanistan. And I hope it provides a small measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of al-Qaeda.
In an appearance on CNN, the White House’s national security spokesman John Kirby said the United States has confirmed al-Zawahiri’s death visually, but doesn’t have access to his DNA.
“We have visual confirmation, but we also have confirmation through other sources,” Kirby said in the interview, according to Reuters. “We do not have DNA confirmation. We’re not going to get that confirmation. Quite frankly, based on based on multiple sources and methods that we’ve gathered information from, we don’t need it”.
Congressional lawmakers go on lots of trips, but few attract the attention of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
A sign of that: the US air force jet thought to be carrying her to Taipei is the most popular plane being watched on flight tracking website Flightradar 24. Follow along here.
Foreign cyber attack takes out Taiwan government website
With US House speaker Nancy Pelosi said to beon her way to the island, Reuters reports a cyber attack from abroad hit the website of the Taiwanese presidency on Tuesday, leading to it briefly “malfunctioning”.
Though a source said the website has since been brought back online, as of the time of this post, its English-language page still appears to be down.
Reuters also reports that a US air force plane which could be carrying Pelosi to Taipei left Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia earlier in the day and headed east before turning north towards the Philippines – a route that avoids South China Sea, where China has sought to press a number of contentious territorial claims.
Nearly a year after the US military’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan, al-Zawahiri’s killing raises questions about the involvement of Taliban leaders in sheltering a mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks and one of America’s most-wanted fugitives, Rahim Faiez and Munir Ahmed write for the Associated Press.
The Taliban initially sought to describe the strike as America violating the Doha deal, which also includes a Taliban pledge not to shelter those seeking to attack the United States — something al-Zawahiri had done for years in internet videos and online screeds. The Taliban have yet to say who was killed in the strike.
“The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri has raised many questions,” said one Pakistani intelligence official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. “The Taliban were aware of his presence in Kabul, and if they were not aware of it, they need to explain their position of him.”
The house where Zawahiri stayed was the home of a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a senior US intelligence official. The AP says that Taliban officials blocked their journalists in Kabul from reaching the damaged house on Tuesday.
White House issues image of Biden being briefed ahead of strike on Zawahiri
The White House has issued an image of President Joe Biden being briefed about the drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In a tweet describing the image, the White House said:
On July 1, President Biden meets with his national security team to discuss the counterterrorism operation to take out Zawahiri. At this meeting, the President was briefed on the proposed operation and shown a model of the safe house where Zawahiri was hiding.
On July 1, President Biden meets with his national security team to discuss the counterterrorism operation to take out Ayman al-Zawahiri. At this meeting, the President was briefed on the proposed operation and shown a model of the safe house where Al-Zawahiri was hiding. pic.twitter.com/W0A0mDk9Lr
Israel’s prime minister says ‘world a safer place’ after al-Zawahiri death
The official social media accounts of the prime minister of Israel, Yair Lapidare carrying the following statement:
The world is a safer place today. I congratulate President Joe Biden and all who took part in the successful American operation targeting Ayman al-Zawahiri. Terrorist groups and their sponsors must know: You’re living on borrowed time. The forces of freedom will bring you to justice.
PM Lapid: The world is a safer place today. I congratulate @POTUS and all who took part in the successful American operation targeting Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Terrorist groups & their sponsors must know: You’re living on borrowed time. The forces of freedom will bring you to justice
Salamn Masood, Pakistan correspondent for the New York Times, has tweeted that it is his understanding the US did not ask for cooperation from Pakistan on the attack on Ayman al-Zawahiri, nor did the US use Pakistan’s airspace to launch the strike.
Breaking — Senior Pakistani security officials say Americans did not ask for and neither did they require intel cooperation in the drone strike that killed Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
Officials also say Pakistani airspace was not used for the drone flight.
Amy Cheng of the Washington Post has gathered some of the bipartisan support that has followed the announcement of the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri. She writes:
Senate Majority Leader, charles schumercalled the mission “a major accomplishment” for Biden that brought justice to one of the people “who helped orchestrate the cold-blooded murder of thousands of my fellow New Yorkers on 9/11.”
Senator Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, similarly credited Biden for approving the drone operation, saying “the world is a better, safer place” without Zawahiri. But McConnell urged the administration to come up with a comprehensive security plan in Afghanistan in light of the fact that Zawahiri appeared to have been living in central Kabul.
Rep Ilhan Omarone of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, wrote on social media that Zawahiri was “a monster responsible for the deaths of thousands around the world”.
Away from the death of al-Zawahiri, US president, Joe Bidenwill name top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to serve as White House coordinators to combat the monkeypox outbreak.
Associated Press reports that, later today, Biden will announce Robert Fentonwho helped lead Fema’s mass Covid-19 vaccination effort, as the White House coordinator. Dr Demetre Daskalakis of the CDC will be named his deputy. Daskalakis, director of the agency’s HIV prevention division and a national expert on issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, previously helped lead New York City’s Covid-19 response.
The White House said the pair would coordinate “strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak, including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments”.
The researchers develop an amphibious artificial vision system with a panoramic field-of-view based on the Fiddler crab’s eye structure
GWANGJU, South Korea, Aug 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Artificial vision systems are implemented in motion sensing, object detection, and self-driving vehicles. However, they are not suitable for changing external environments and are limited to a hemispherical field-of-view (FOV). Addressing this issue, researchers from GIST have now developed a novel artificial vision with 360° FOV that can image both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The system, modeled after the eye structure of the fiddler crab, could help realize the all-weather vision and panoramic object detection.
Researchers from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea have developed, in a new study, an artificial vision system modeled after the fiddler crab eye structure, which is suitable for both land and underwater environments, and provides a panoramic imaging ability.
Artificial vision systems find a wide range of applications, including self-driving cars, object detection, crop monitoring, and smart cameras. Such vision is often inspired by the vision of biological organisms. For instance, human and insect vision have inspired terrestrial artificial vision, while fish eyes have led to aquatic artificial vision. While the progress is remarkable, current artificial visions suffer from some limitations: they are not suitable for imaging both land and underwater environments, and are limited to a hemispherical (180°) field-of-view (FOV).
To overcome these issues, a group of researchers from Korea and USESincluding Professor Young Min Song from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, have now designed a novel artificial vision system with an omnidirectional imaging ability, which can work in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Their study was made available online on July 12, 2022 and published in Nature Electronics on 11 July 2022.
“Research in bio-inspired vision often results in a novel development that did not exist before. This, in turn, enables a deeper understanding of nature and ensure that the developed imaging device is both structurally and functionally effective,” says Prof. Song, explaining his motivation behind the study.
The inspiration for the system came from the fiddler crab (uca arcuata), a semiterrestrial crab species with amphibious imaging ability and a 360° FOV. These remarkable features result from the ellipsoidal eye stalk of the fiddler crab’s compound eyes, enabling panoramic imaging, and flat corneas with a graded refractive index profile, allowing for amphibious imaging.
Accordingly, the researchers developed a vision system consisting of an array of flat micro-lenses with a graded refractive index profile that was integrated into a flexible comb-shaped silicon photodiode array and then mounted onto a spherical structure. The graded refractive index and the flat surface of the micro-lens were optimized to offset the defocusing effects due to changes in the external environment. Put simply, light rays traveling in different mediums (corresponding to different refractive indices) were made to focus at the same spot.
To test the capabilities of their system, the team performed optical simulations and imaging demonstrations in air and water. Amphibious imaging was performed by immersing the device halfway in water. To their delight, the images produced by the system were clear and free of distortions. The team further showed that the system had a panoramic visual field, 300either horizontally and 160either vertically, in both air and water. Additionally, the spherical mount was only 2 cm in diameter, making the system compact and portable.
“Our vision system could pave the way for 360° omnidirectional cameras with applications in virtual or augmented reality or an all-weather vision for autonomous vehicles,” speculates Prof. Song excitedly.
And it might be soon!
Reference
Title of original paper: An amphibious artificial vision system with a panoramic visual field
Journal: Nature Electronics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-022-00789-9 *Corresponding authors’ emails: [email protected] and [email protected]
About the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)
website: http://www.gist.ac.kr/
Contact: seulhye kim 82 62 715 6253 [email protected]
SOURCE Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology
Several of the game’s superstars were rumored to be switching teams ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline – but in the end, August 1 came and went with minimal fuss.
There is talk that the June 30 deadline will return, giving clubs one less month to finalize their rosters.
This seems like a logical step to take when you consider the COVID-19 related aspects of why the deadline was changed in the first place.
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Plenty have criticized the deadline being just a month before the end of the regular season, including Darren Lockyer and Phil Gould.
Oliver Gildart will join the Roosters until the end of the season. (Getty)
Three premiership hopefuls bolstered their squads for the final weeks of the season, with Matt Lodge signing until the end of the year with the Sydney Roosters and Oliver Gildart moving there on loan, just days after his Tigers teammate David Nofoaluma did likewise with the Melbourne Storm .
Daniel Suluka-Fifita completed a permanent move back to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, after the Roosters released him.
While the latter has already had an impact in the red and green, playing three first grade games (as has Lodge in the tricolours), we’ll have to wait to see what either Gildart or Nofoaluma do in their temporary homes.
Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now
The Roosters needed some depth after a season-ending knee injury to Billy Smith, and English international Gildart will likely challenge Paul Momirovski for the final spot in a backline that also includes James Tedesco, Joseph Manu, Daniel Tupou and Joseph Suaalii.
Melbourne’s outside back crisis has been well documented, and the arrival of Nofoaluma will help cover for the losses of Reimis Smith, George Jennings, and Ryan Papnhuyzen, all of whom won’t play again until 2023 – while Nick Meaney and Xavier Coates are nursing niggles as well.
Billy says Penrith can use Cleary ban as a positive
But it’s interesting to note some of the mooted transfers that didn’t get off the ground – some of which were far more high-profile.
Parramatta was hopeful of securing either David Klemmer or Martin Taupau before the deadline, and either potential move was somewhat eyebrow-raising given the Eels’ relatively clean bill of health, but both could have made an impact down the stretch.
Neither transfer eventuated, nor did the Storm’s rumored approaches for Reece Walsh, Josh Addo-Carr or Adam Doueihi – and when you consider the quality of those players, perhaps it’s better for the integrity of the competition that they didn’t.
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Commonwealth Games in pictures: Indian rider Meenakshi Meenakshi injured in horror cycling crash
Washington— A federal judge on Monday sentenced Guy Reffitt, the Texas man convicted of bringing a handgun to the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, to 87 months in prison, the longest sentence so far related to the 2021 assault.
A member of the far-right militia group the Texas Three Percenters, Reffitt was the first defendant to stand trial on charges stemming from the attack. He was found guilty in March of five criminal counts, including obstructing Congress’ certification of President Biden’s Electoral College win.
The 7.25-year sentence was far shorter than the 15 years sought by prosecutors, who argued that the punishment should be more severe since Reffitt’s actions amounted to terrorism. At a sentencing hearing on Monday in federal court in Washington, DC, Judge Dabney Friedrich disagreed, citing another Jan. 6 cases in which prosecutors did not seek such an enhancement.
Still, the sentence is the lengthiest handed down for a Jan. 6 defendant to date. Two other defendants received sentences of 63 months earlier this year for their roles in the attack. Reffitt’s defense team had urged the judge to sentence him to no more than two years behind bars.
Reffitt will also be on probation for three years upon his release, and must pay a $2,000 fine.
Addressing the court during Monday’s hearing, Reffitt admitted he acted like a “f***ing idiot” on Jan. 6 and said he regretted his actions, apologizing to Congress and the officers he encountered that day.
Guy Refitt addresses a federal judge in Washington, DC, on Monday, August 1, 2022, ahead of his sentencing for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
William J. Hennessy, Jr.
“I was a little too crazy,” he said to a skeptical Friedrich. “I was not thinking clearly.”
The judge said it was difficult not to see the apology as anything but “halfhearted,” particularly given some conspiratorial statements he has made about the events of Jan. 6 since his arrest.
“What he and others who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 did is the antithesis of patriotism,” the judge said before handing down the sentence.
In seeking the lengthier sentence, prosecutors said in court filings that Reffitt played a central role as part of the mob on Jan. 6, and intended “to use his gun and police-style flexicuffs to forcibly drag legislators out of the building and take over Congress.”
Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told Friedrich that Reffitt “puffed himself up” as the leader of the mob, waving the rest of the rioters on as he confronted police on the Capitol’s west front.
“He didn’t just want President Trump to stay in power,” Nestler said. “He wanted to physically and literally remove Congress.”
The prosecutor alleged that Jan. 6 was “the beginning” for Reffitt. “He wanted the rest of his militia group to start taking over state capitols all around the country,” Nestler said.
Former US Capitol Police Officer Shauni Kerkhoff, who confronted Reffitt outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, implored the judge to sentence Reffitt to the maximum sentence possible under the law.
“His actions weren’t acts of patriotism. They were acts of domestic terrorism,” Kerkhoff said.
Prosecutors said Reffitt also threatened his children when they wanted to report him to authorities.
At his trial, Reffitt’s 19-year-old son Jackson — who turned his father in to law enforcement — told the jury that he had learned of his father’s membership in the mob when he saw his mother and sister watching news coverage of the events that day. jackson described the threat his dad had made against him and his sister, Peyton, when they tried to turn him in: “If you turn me in you’re a traitor, and traitors get shot.”
In court on Monday, prosecutors read a letter from Jackson to the judge, in which he described the “painful, slow story” of his father’s descent into conspiracy theories. He said his father needed mental health care, which Friedrich said she would require as part of the sentence.
During the trial, Reffitt’s attorney at the time called no witnesses, and Reffitt did not testify in his own defense.
F. Clinton Broden, Reffitt’s new attorney, disagreed with prosecutors’ characterization of his client. He argued in written memos and in court that Reffitt never actually entered the Capitol, never removed the handgun from his holster and “never gave any indication he would actually harm his children.”
Peyton, the defendant’s daughter, spoke emotionally in court on Monday in support of her father and explained that his mental health was a real issue.
Wiping away tears, Peyton said, “My father’s name wasn’t on the flags that were there that day, that everyone was carrying. It was another man’s name,” referring to former President Donald Trump, who addressed his throngs of supporters near the White House before they marched on the Capitol.
Friedrich, the judge, appeared most concerned with Reffitt’s mental health and prospects once he is eventually freed, at one point asking, “What is this man going to do after he is released from prison?”
“It’s really disturbing that he repeatedly persists with these views that are way outside the mainstream,” she added, “His claims [about attempts to overthrow the government] are wrong.”
Friedrich also took issue with Reffitt’s violent threats against lawmakers like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
“To this day, he has not disavowed those comments,” she said.
Since Reffitt’s conviction by a 12-person jury, five more defendants have been found guilty by juries. Five others have been convicted by judges at bench trials. One defendant, matthew martinwas acquitted of multiple misdemeanor counts by a judge.
Outside of court on Monday, before the sentence was imposed, Reffitt’s wife Nicole told CBS News she believed prosecutors’ representation of her husband was a “misrepresentation.”
PlayStation owner Sony Interactive Entertainment believes that Microsoft’s upcoming Activision Blizzard acquisition – and ownership of the Call Of Duty franchise – may inspire users to switch consoles.
Sony made the statement in response to Brazil’s own regulatory body, which published documents online concerning its investigation into the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard (via ResetEra and VGC).
The regulatory body asked for an opinion on the acquisition from a number of companies like Ubisoft, Warner Bros and Riot Games, with Sony’s answers published here.
In the document (translated via Google), Sony says it’s comparatively very difficult for companies to create best-selling rival franchises to the likes of Call Of Duty and FIFAadding that there are few developers or publishers capable of producing Triple-A games and long-running franchises outside of Activision.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Credit: Infinity Ward
The Brazilian regulators then asked for Sony’s opinion on whether or not Activision have any close competitors with its franchises, to which the company responded:
“Activision’s Call Of Duty is an essential game: a “blockbuster”, an AAA-like game that has no rival. According to a 2019 study: “The importance of Call Of Duty to entertainment in general is indescribable. The brand was the only video game IP to break into the top 10 of all entertainment brands among fanatics, joining powerhouses like starwars, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.”
“Call Of Duty influences users’ choice of console and its network of loyal users is so ingrained that even if a competitor had the budget to develop a similar product, it wouldn’t be able to compete,” added Sony.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Credit: Infinity Ward.
Sony was then asked what factors would make it difficult for a franchise of that scaleto be replaced or find competition from other developers:
“Call Of Duty generates strong connections with players. The franchise’s memorable narratives and characters lead to a rich gameplay experience and its long history has created an unparalleled level of familiarity.
“Activision has published Call Of Duty titles every year since 2003,” Sony continued. “Players have become familiar with the game’s setup and mechanics. They’ve honed their skills in the game’s multiplayer over the years, striving to climb to the top of the leaderboards.
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Credit: Activision.
“There’s even a sports space just for Call Of Duty. the Call Of Duty League – with prizes for winners running into the millions. To say the least, players would hardly switch to alternative games as they would lose that familiarity, those skills, and even the friends they made while playing the game.”
Whilst Sony’s concerns about Microsoft acquiring Activisionmay be justified, Microsoft itself made it clear earlier this year that it intends to keep the franchise on PlayStation and available across different platforms.
In other news, InnerSloth says it almost ended development on Among Us in 2019.
News that Fernando Alonso will join Aston Martin for the 2023 Formula 1 season goes a long way to completing next year’s grid.
Alonso was a central figure in the silly season, with the 41-year-old expected to remain with Alpine for another two seasons.
That stability was expected to see Oscar Piastri forced to find a berth elsewhere, with Williams the most likely option.
Monday’s announcement means that it is now not the case and, barring official confirmation, we can safely assume the Aussie will slot into the seat vacated by Alonso.
There is, in reality, no other choice for Alpine – to do anything else would totally undermine the very existence of its driver academy.
With Esteban Ocon on a long-term deal, the Enstone squad’s line up for 2023 is therefore complete.
And so it joins the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren with confirmed pairings going into next season.
Despite rumors and constant speculation surrounding Daniel Ricciardo, there is little to no chance of the Australian being moved aside.
There could always be a shock move – it’s often said contracts in Formula 1 come with lubrication – but in reality, there are no drivers on the market who could parachute in and do a better job.
Elsewhere, there are a number of other teams yet to confirm their line-ups, though much can be inferred from their current form and attitudes.
Aston Martin, for instance, has never formally stated what the duration of Lance Stroll’s contract is, but it can safely be assumed he will continue driving for the team owned by his father next season.
At Scuderia AlphaTauri, Team Principal Franz Tost has suggested that Yuki Tsunoda will get a third year in Formula 1 as he continues his development.
It’s fair to take that on face value too, as there is also nobody currently on the Red Bull conveyor belt ready to replace the at-times wild Japanese driver.
Similarly at Alfa Romeo Sauber, Valtteri Bottas is on a long-term deal while Guanyu Zhou is almost certain to retain his seat.
The Chinese driver has performed well enough and the team, most notably Fred Vasseur, its Team Principal, is happy with how the rookie has progressed.
The same can be said of Haas, where Mick Schumacher has bounced back from a rocky start to the 2022 campaign, scoring points in Silverstone and Red Bull Ring.
Though he earned the scorn of Guenther Steiner at times, the relationship there remains positive and, besides, there is seemingly nobody in the market applying pressure to the German.
Kevin Magnussen in the other car has a deal until at least the end of 2023, having been signed on to a ‘multi-year’ contract when he rejoined the squad in place of Nikita Mazepin.
And so it leaves Williams, which has Alex Albon on the books for next year and seemingly the only seat with any serious question marks on it.
Nicholas Latifi has been under pressure for some time, with suggestions earlier in the season Piastri could replace him mid-year.
The team has thrown its support behind him for now, though the Canadian’s contract is up at the end of the year, and there is no shortage of promising youngsters available with links to the team or its technical partner, Mercedes.
Chief among them, though hardly a youngster, is Nyck de Vries, who was linked with the seat now filled by Albon a year ago.
The Dutchman is a Mercedes contracted driver and won last year’s Formula E world championship, a competition he’s continued to compete in this year.
He’s also had a Free Practice 1 outing with Williams in Spain, and was in action for Mercedes at Paul Ricard last month.
With Mercedes pulling out of Formula E at the end of the current campaign, the talented 27-year-old is seemingly without a job – though he has been linked with a move into the World Endurance Championship with Toyota.
The other possibility is Logan Sargeant, the American Formula 2 racer who has enjoyed something of a breakout season.
However, he is currently ineligible for a superlicence and will only qualify for one if he finishes this year’s F2 campaign in the top five.
While that’s a reasonable expectation, it is not guaranteed, so while he may be one the team is keeping an eye on, it feels premature to suggest he’s ready for Formula 1 just yet – give him another year.
The most likely outcome therefore seems to be de Vries slotting into the car alongside Albon, a move that would all but complete the 2023 driver line-up.
