Categories
US

Democrats urge DHS inspector general step aside over Secret Service texts

Democrats urge DHS inspector general step aside over Secret Service texts

Two top House Democrats alleged Monday that there’s evidence of a cover-up in the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general investigation into deleted US Secret Service messages related to the Capitol riot.

Driving the news: House Oversight chair Carolyn Maloney and House Homeland Security chair Bennie Thompson urged Inspector General Joseph Cuffari in a letter to “step aside” and demanded his office provide documents and interviews, citing emails indicating his staff may have tried to stop efforts to obtain the USSS messages .

  • These include deputy inspector general Thomas Kait writing to a DHS official on July 27, 2021, “please use this email as a reference to our conversation where I said we no longer request phone records and text messages from the USSS relating to the events on January 6th,” according to the letter.
  • Thompson and Maloney allege they learned that Kait “removed key language” from a February memorandum to the DHS that “highlighted the importance of text messages” to the inspector general’s investigation and criticized the department for not complying with the December 2021 request on text messages.

Note: Thompson and Maloney cited a CNN report over the weekend on allegations that Cuffari learned of the missing Secret Service messages concerning the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection four months after it occurred.

Why it matters: The letter highlights the tensions between the Trump-appointed Cuffari and House Democrats after news of the missing Secret Service text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, emerged last month.

  • The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, which Thompson also chairs, has since subpoenaed the Secret Service, and Cuffari has launched a criminal investigation into the matter.
  • Cuffari told Politico on Monday that while protocols can prevent him from publicly responding “to untruths and false information about our work… I am so proud of the resilience I have witnessed in the face of this onslaught of meritless criticism.”

What else they’re saying: “We are writing with serious new concerns about your lack of transparency and independence, which appear to be jeopardizing the integrity of a crucial investigation run by your office,” Thompson and Maloney state in their letter.

  • “The Committees have obtained new evidence that your office may have secretly abandoned efforts to collect text messages from the Secret Service more than a year ago,” they continued.
  • “These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records, raising further concerns about your ability to independently and effectively perform your duties as Inspector General.”

What to watch: Thompson and Maloney have requested that Cuffari make Kait and Kristen Fredricks, the IG office’s chief of staff, available for transcribed interviews, no later than Aug. 15.

  • Representatives for Cuffari did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.

Read the letter in full, via DocumentCloud:

Go deeper: National Archives asks Secret Service to “look into” deleted texts

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with further details from the letter and more context.

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Categories
Technology

Video Game Consoles Are Somehow Spared From Inflation in Japan

Video Game Consoles Are Somehow Spared From Inflation in Japan

(Bloomberg) — The weaker yen has triggered price hikes on electronics from iPhones to refrigerators across Japan this year, with one glaring exception: the video game console.

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Sony Group Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. have held fast to a 100-yen-to-the-dollar conversion rate that today sees their consoles as much as $100 cheaper in Japan than elsewhere in the world. No company wants to be first to break the unwritten rule against raising prices after a console’s release, for fear of losing players and game developers to rivals, and all three believe they can recover any losses through international software sales. But that may be changing.

The consensus among analysts is that the current business model is unsustainable and overdue for revision. Part of the problem is a growing arbitrage market that sees people buying consoles in Japan and selling them overseas, exacerbating difficulties for companies already beset by supply chain and logistics challenges. Sony’s PlayStation 5 is jokingly referred to as a financial asset in its home country, something one buys to resell at a profit rather than to play games on.

“Consumers in Japan are getting used to price hikes,” said Morningstar analyst Kazunori Ito, pointing to higher prices of TVs, headphones, monitors, fridges, dishwashers and printers on the back of the weak yen. “I don’t see them getting upset if game consoles followed suit.”

That change could come as pressure builds to protect margins and address a slowdown in software sales attributable to shortages of hardware on store shelves. Sony cut its profit outlook for the year because of slumping game sales on Friday, triggering a 3.2% fall in its share price the next trading day, and Nintendo is expected to report its own drop in profit on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, fellow gadget makers from Apple Inc. to Xiaomi Corp. have raised prices in Japan to address the currency imbalance — the iPhone is now 25% pricier and Xiaomi’s health gadgets and tablets got a hike on Monday.

As the yen softens, every console sold in Japan becomes less lucrative for its maker, because manufacturing costs are denominated in US dollars. And the final push toward more realistic pricing may come from the flipping of consoles on resale markets. Emboldened by a 21% fall in the yen over the past year, scalpers and opportunistic resellers have increased their activity because they now earn more per console.

Turbocharged by flea market apps, they are snatching up consoles at Japanese prices and holding onto them until the best opportunity to maximize profit, such as the release of a must-have blockbuster title. That will become increasingly untenable for Sony et al as the scalping activity constricts console supply and slows the virtuous cycle between hardware and software sales.

The industry is losing potential customers, Famitsu Group Representative Katsuhiko Hayashi said. “More gamers are trying out alternatives, such as PCs, when they can’t buy the console they want.”

The latest generation of consoles, Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series, have been in tight supply globally since their launch in late 2020, owing to Covid-19 disruptions to the electronics supply chain and global shipping. The component shortages that stifled Sony’s output are improving, but the logistics challenge remains as great as ever, Sony Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said after his earnings report last week. The CFO declined to say whether the company would raise prices in Japan.

Nintendo said it has no plans to raise Switch prices. Microsoft declined to comment.

Sony Cuts Profit Outlook on Weaker PlayStation Prospects

“Arbitrage is a healthy function of the market, suggesting the retail prices are too low for underlying demand,” Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda said. Japan’s scalper market has thrived since the launch of the PS5, which was so in-demand that units of the sought-after console were initially sold through a lottery system. Without raising prices in their domestic market, Sony and Nintendo are creating room for scalpers to operate “and their shareholders are losing profits they should be pocketing,” he said.

PlayStation 5 Scalpers Use Bots to Hunt Down Scarce Consoles

The Nintendo Switch OLED model is priced at $350 plus tax in the US, but costs 37,980 yen (roughly $290) in Japan. Hardware resellers around Tokyo currently offer to buy it for over 40,000 yen apiece, relying on that price delta for their profit. Sony’s PS5 costs about 55,000 yen in stores, yet can be resold immediately for 80,000 yen or more at retailer Noah Trading Co. in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro. The company boasts on its website that it generated 10 billion yen in revenue in 2020, selling electronics domestically and to countries and regions such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the US.

Until now, Nintendo and Sony have been able to offset hardware losses stemming from the weak yen with corresponding yen-inflated profits from overseas software sales. With most of its costs in Japanese currency, Nintendo has been able to largely resist raising prices. Console makers have traditionally cut prices of consoles as they age — not the other way around — and appear wary of killing demand or losing market share to rivals.

“The best scenario is to be second, after someone else has tested the waters; the worst is to be first and alone,” said Atsushi Osanai, a professor at Waseda Business School in Tokyo. “Companies tend to settle with the second-best, which is to stand pat.”

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Sports

2011 Rugby World Cup advice still rings true for Whitelock » allblacks.com

2011 Rugby World Cup advice still rings true for Whitelock » allblacks.com

All Blacks veteran lock Sam Whitelock says the onus is on the players to produce the goods in the Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship Test against South Africa at Nelspruit on Sunday (NZT).

Coming off their 1-2 series loss to Ireland, it fell on the players to go out and perform.

“It doesn’t matter who is coaching us, it comes down to how we perform on the field.

“We’ve got to perform for 80-plus minutes. It’s not about performing for periods of the game. We’ve got to be consistent right across the board. Through set-piece, round the field, breakdown, defense etc.

“That’s something we need to drive as players,” he said.

In the situation the All Blacks were in with their recent losses, Whitelock recalled the advice he received when first making the side, ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup when there was so much pressure to win the trophy for the first time in 24 years.

Older players said to forget all the media and comment outside the team and to concentrate on what the team could control. And that was what he had told the younger members of this year’s side.

“Controlling how you are playing, how you’re training, how you’re preparing. That’s the best thing I got given as advice and it’s still true now as one of the older boys,” he said.

In the wake of the lost series to Ireland, the All Blacks were looking to improve. And that was the same whether they won, lost or drew games.

“At the moment we do know there are some areas we need to be better at. Conceding a couple of maul tries is the obvious one for me as a tight forward. That is a key area I am focusing on and making sure we can get better.”

All members of the forward pack were involved in doing that.

South Africa would play to their strengths.

“But in saying that, you never want to go in there and think you have their game plan in your head. They’re smart guys. They’ve got a number of guys who play around the world and different styles they can go to.” .

“That’s something for us to make sure that we can stop their plan A, and from that, if they change it, then we’ve got to be able to stop that as well.

“That’s the beauty of rugby, sometimes you go out there, and you know how they are going to play. It’s just stopping it, that’s the major one.

“That’s the cool thing about the challenge of playing against South Africa, the old foe as such, and it is nice when you get out there to play when you’ve spent all the time training,” he said.

Whitelock said he loved being back in South Africa, as did many of his team-mates.

“It is an awesome spot to play. It’s one of those spots that’s hard to play, but that’s why I enjoy it so much,” he said.

Whitelock said while they were not at home, there was no escaping the pressure on the side.

“For us as players, as a team, we’re always trying to put pressure on ourselves, but it is good for us. It’s great for the team to be over here together. We’ve got time to work on what we need to work on.

“We’ve got a great facility here, a training facility close to our hotel so we can get into it and have a little bit more time on-field to improve. That’s what we’re trying to do, improve a number of areas of our game.”

Categories
Australia

Greens in heated debate over position on climate change bill

Greens in heated debate over position on climate change bill

“The targets set a floor on Australia’s emissions reduction ambition, not a ceiling,” said the explanatory memorandum for the bill introduced into the lower house last week.

“There is nothing in this bill that would prevent these targets being surpassed or achieved early.”

The bill also requires the federal government’s Climate Change Authority to advise on the targets and publish its findings.

“Finally, there will be periodic independent reviews of how this bill is operating, with the first
such review to take place within five years, and thereafter every 10 years,” the memorandum said.

Bandt said last week the Australian people wanted the Greens and Labor to work together and the Greens were “up for that” in the talks on the climate bill.

“We will continue these negotiations in good faith to see if we can reach a position where we can pass legislation that allows us to start taking climate action because that’s what people want,” he said.

Greens NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi criticized the Labor target ahead of the party room meeting to decide the Greens’ position.

“We know that 43 per cent, obviously, is not enough to deal with the crisis we are facing,” Faruqi told the ABC on Tuesday afternoon.

“We have been able to get the Labor government to move and to rewrite parts of that bill.”

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Faruqi said the negotiations were “ongoing” and Labor had already agreed the target could be increased over time but flagged the Greens would also put amendments to phase out coal and gas, a call Labor has rejected.

A key point of contention is the demand from the Greens for changes to environmental approvals to insert a “climate trigger” into federal law so authorities including the federal environment minister would have to consider the impact of a project on carbon emissions before deciding whether to mine or major infrastructure should proceed.

“The government has not said no to a climate trigger,” she said.

“It is really important that we enshrine this in law so that it forces corporations and big mine developers to be honest about the pollution they are causing, and it forces the minister to consider the assessment of climate emissions in terms of assessing developments.

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“I mean, it does not make sense to not do that in such a climate-constrained world.”

Dutton gained support in the Coalition party room on Tuesday to vote against the government bill and launch a process to decide on a new climate policy to update the 2030 target of a 26 to 28 per cent emissions cut, set when Tony Abbott was prime minister.

Liberals including Bridget Archer, Andrew Bragg and Warren Entsch have signaled support for deeper cuts but did not tell the party room meeting they reserved their right to cross the floor.

Several Liberals said it was more important to focus on a more ambitious Coalition policy rather than the government bill, given Bowen had said he could go ahead with his policies even if the bill were defeated.

“Chris Bowen made it clear Labor don’t need the legislation to implement their emission reduction policies,” said Liberal MP James Stevens, the member for Sturt in South Australia, after the meeting.

“I’m focused on working with the Coalition team on the emission reduction targets we take to the next election for 2030 and 2035.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

Categories
US

Eastern Kentucky: Hundreds are still missing after flooding as death toll reaches 37

Eastern Kentucky: Hundreds are still missing after flooding as death toll reaches 37

As rescue and recovery crews worked to reach isolated areas Monday, the number of people confirmed dead in last week’s flooding rose to 37, Gov. Andy Beshear announced. The death toll is expected to rise.

“We are still looking for people, and sadly we are still finding those bodies,” Beshear told CNN on Monday evening.

Rescue efforts have been complicated by washed-out infrastructure, officials say. Though cell service is being restored, some areas are still without it, leaving many unable to contact loved ones or emergency services.

Stifling heat won’t help. Wednesday will be the driest day of the week, but that will allow temperatures to climb into the 90s. Because of the humidity it will feel like nearly 100 degrees, CNN meteorologists say.

“We still have back roads and county roads that are broken off, and our bridges are out. And so it’s really difficult to get to some of the most remote places,” Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman told CNN Monday.

The challenges make it “nearly impossible” to get a grasp of the exact number of people still missing, Beshear said Monday.

Since it began last week, the flooding has devastated several counties and displaced scores of people from their homes. The strong floodwaters wiped houses from their foundations, snatched away entire livelihoods such as farms and businesses, and left residents with catastrophic damage to their properties, vehicles and belongings.

Rescue crews have been battling the weather for days as they work to reach trapped residents.

In one stunning video, an 83-year-old woman is seen being airlifted to safety by a Blackhawk helicopter in Breathitt County. A rescue team learned that she and four other family members were trapped in an attic Thursday, Wolfe County Search & Rescue Team spokesperson Drew Stevens told CNN.

The woman was unharmed, Stevens said, but a male family member suffered a broken collar bone and was taken to the hospital. He has since been released.

A Kentucky Army National Guard helicopter crew surveys flood damage in eastern Kentucky Saturday.
The disaster also knocked out essential power and water utilities, which repair crews have been struggling to restore because of dangerous flood conditions. At least 7,000 customers in eastern Kentucky were still without power early Tuesday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
More than 25,000 service connections were without water Monday and an additional 44,119 were under a boil water advisory, according to the governor’s office. Twenty-two water systems and 17 wastewater systems were operating at a limited capacity, the office said.

State grieving after several catastrophes

Flooding is just the most recent disaster to strike Kentucky, which has lost more than 16,000 people to the Covid-19 pandemic and is still recovering from a tornado outbreak that tore through the state in December, killing more than 70 people.
Two ultra-rare floods in a single week; a wildfire generating its own weather. Here's how it's connected

Beshear spoke at an event in western Kentucky on Monday for those impacted by the tornadoes and acknowledged that Kentuckians have been impacted across the state by deadly natural disasters.

“The flooding in eastern Kentucky has been hard, just like these tornadoes,” he said, adding that natural disasters “tear at the fabric of who we are.”

“I was at a breaking point the other night because that happens to all of us — it’s ok not to be ok,” Beshear said. “We’re going to get through it because we have to. We don’t have any other choice.”

Resident Louis Turner carries water to friends and family along flood-ravaged Bowling Creek, Kentucky.

The death toll from the flooding spans at least five counties and includes four siblings from Knott county who were swept away by the strong current. The children were identified to CNN by their aunt as siblings Chance, 2; Nevah, 4; Riley Jr., 6; and Madison, 8.

“I went to the location of what used to be their home yesterday,” Beshear said of the family that lost the four children. “I stood there in front of what would have been their front door and I saw one of the kid’s swings in the back. I think the oldest one would have been in second grade. They didn’t even get the same time on this Earth as my kids have already enjoyed.”

The governor launched a relief fund for victims of the flooding and those impacted, the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund, which will first go toward paying for the funeral expenses of those killed in the disaster. Beshear told CNN that families will not be required to go through an application process to get the funeral funds.

CNN’s Michelle Watson, Dakin Andone, Caroll Alvarado, Amy Simonson and Monica Garrett contributed to this report.

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Categories
Technology

Redesigned Eve Aqua has Thread and improved valve mechanism

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The redesigned Eve Aqua has improved mechanics and a new look to help HomeKit owners keep their gardens well-watered.

Following the release of the all-new Eve Motion, smart home accessory maker Eve Systems is out with its latest product. It has redesigned the Eve Aqua, with a refreshed design and durability improvements.

“Eve Aqua looks gorgeous and makes smart gardening easy, safe and joyful,” says Jerome Gackel, CEO, Eve Systems. “Thread eliminates the need for a digital bridge, while the brass faucet adapter ensures a rock-solid physical connection. And of course, our beautiful Eve app brings it all together, making scheduling, and monitoring consumption, a breeze.”

The new Eve Aqua has an IPX4 resistance rating and runs on a pair of AA batteries. It has a sleek new space gray body with a matte black front. The physical watering button has increased in size to make it easier to control.

It requires no bridge outside of your existing Home Hub and supports up to seven watering sessions per day.

On the inside, Eve has upgraded it to a brass faucet connector and magnetic valve that provides increased durability, helps prevents leaks, and is near-silent when opening or closing.

Like the second-generation Eve Aqua, the new model is able to connect via Bluetooth as well as Thread. This marks the 14th product Eve has released with support for Thread.

When Matter is released this fall, Eve Aqua (third-generation) will be updated for free to support the new standard and be compatible with other smart home platforms.

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Categories
Sports

Inside the ‘weird’ and ‘disrespectful’ training camp that robbed Eddie Betts of his passion for football

Inside the 'weird' and 'disrespectful' training camp that robbed Eddie Betts of his passion for football

AFL champion Eddie Betts has opened up on the notorious Adelaide Crows camp, revealing he lost passion for football after the “weird” and “disrespectful” experience.

Betts, who retired last year after a glittering 350-game career, has detailed the significant fallout from the Crows’ 2018 pre-season camp in his autobiography.

Ahead of the release of The Boy from Boomerang Crescent on Wednesday, excerpts of the eagerly-anticipated book have emerged via Nine newspapers.

Betts, an Indigenous icon and one of the AFL’s greatest small forwards, has claimed the group — which he chose not to name in the book — running the camp misused personal and sensitive information.

“There was all sorts of weird shit that was disrespectful to many cultures, but particularly and extremely disrespectful to my culture,” Betts wrote in the book and published in The Age.

“Things were yelled at me that I had disclosed to the camp’s ‘counsellors’ about my upbringing.

“All the people present heard these things.

“I was exhausted, drained and distressed about the details being shared.

“Another camp-dude jumped on my back and started to berate me about my mother, something so deeply personal that I was absolutely shattered to hear it come out of his mouth.”

Betts said what happened at the camp on the Gold Coast and the group’s involvement with the club impacted on his mental health and form during the 2018 season.

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Categories
Australia

‘The most expensive Maccas meal’: Traveler from Indonesia fined $2664 for undeclared sausage and egg McMuffins at Darwin Airport

'The most expensive Maccas meal': Traveler from Indonesia fined $2664 for undeclared sausage and egg McMuffins at Darwin Airport

A passenger who arrived in Australia from Indonesia has been fined $2,664 for failing to declare McMuffins in their luggage amid an outbreak of foot and mouth disease overseas.

The Labor government has rolled out biosecurity dogs at Darwin and Cairns airports as part of a $14 million package to bolster Australia’s protection from FMD.

Detector dog Zinta inspected the passenger’s backpack at Darwin Airport and found two egg and beef sausage McMuffins from McDonalds in Bali and a ham croissant.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt said the seized meals would be tested for FMD before being destroyed as Australia remains “FMD-free”.

“This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger ever has, this fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali,” he said in a statement on Monday.

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“But I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught.

“Zinta was placed at Darwin Airport as part of the Albanese Government’s tough new biosecurity defences, and it’s excellent to see she is already contributing to keeping the country safe.”

FMD is a highly contagious disease of livestock causing fever followed by the development of vesicles (blisters) in the mouth and on the feet.

Indonesia is currently battling an FMD outbreak, which has sparked fears it could spread to Australia and cripple the $80 billion livestock industry.

The viral disease has also been reported in countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.

Mr Watt reinforced that biosecurity is “no joke” as goods must be declared to enter Australia.

“Biosecurity is no joke—it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy,” he said.

“Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures.”

FMD affects all cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, sheep, goats, camelids, deer and pigs.

The virus is carried by live animals and in meat and dairy products, as well as in soil, bones, untreated hides, vehicles and equipment used with these animals.

The government has rolled out sanitation foot mats at all international airports, along with support on the ground for Indonesia and neighboring countries.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is adamant Australia’s strong biosecurity will stop the incursion of foot and mouth disease.

The package contains $9 million for frontline biosecurity and industry preparedness measures.

A further $5 million is used to provide technical expertise and support to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea to assist their work in combatting livestock diseases.

“The Federal Government is taking this seriously, and we need every traveler to do their bit too,” Mr Watt said.

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Categories
US

Aug. 10 primary elections: What to expect in Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Washington

Aug. 10 primary elections: What to expect in Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Washington

The meddling has come under fire from not only Meijer, but Democrats worried it will undermine their attempts to criticize extremism in the GOP and backfire in the November elections.

On the Democratic side, Michigan is home to a handful of competitive House primaries, including one that pits a pair of incumbents, Reps. Haley Stevens and Andy Levin, against one another in a campaign that has attracted heavy investments from competing pro-Israel groups.

Kansas, meanwhile, will host one of the first major post-Roe votes when the state conducts a referendum to determine whether its constitution protects the right to an abortion. If the measure succeeds, state lawmakers are expected to quickly move to enshrine a ban.

Here are eight things to watch on Tuesday:

Arizona governor primary pits Trump against Pence

The race to replace term-limited Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, pits Ducey’s chosen candidate, Karrin Taylor Robson, against a Trump-endorsed former television journalist Kari Lake.

Lake has built her campaign around lies about election fraud. She referred to the refusal of her leading rival, Ducey-backed Robson, to indulge those lies as “disqualifying.”

Robson, meanwhile, is also backed by former Vice President Mike Pence, who visited Arizona to campaign with Robson and Ducey last month on the same day Trump held a rally at which Lake spoke.

Pence used his Arizona trip to urge the GOP to move past Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election and look forward.

“When you get out and vote for Karrin Taylor Robson, you can send a deafening message that will be heard all across America that the Republican Party is the party of the future,” Pence said in Peoria, Arizona.

Arizona GOP could pick full slate of election deniers

Beyond the governor’s office, the Arizona GOP could be poised to nominate a statewide ticket of Trump-backed election deniers on Tuesday.

The race for secretary of state — Arizona’s chief elections officer — also features an election denier endorsed by Trump in Mark Finchem, a state lawmaker who wrongly claims that Trump on the 2020 election and was in Washington January 6.

Trump-backed Blake Masters, who is seeking to face Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly hasn’t just claimed that Democrats “pulled out all the stops” to cheat in 2020, but has suggested the 2022 midterms won’t be fair. Masters faces other Republicans who have rejected the 2020 election outcome, including businessman Jim Lamon, who touts his efforts to fund the bogus review of Maricopa County’s 2020 results. Another Senate candidate, state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, sent a letter claiming to have uncovered election fraud, without detailing any fraud in how the election was managed.

Trump’s chosen candidate in the race for attorney general, Abraham Hamadeh, said he would “take the fraud in our 2020 election seriously and bring justice to those who’ve undermined our Republic.”

Meijer faces Dem-backed, far-right challenge

Rep. Peter Meijer, the freshman Republican from western Michigan who was one of his party’s 10 House members to vote for Trump’s second impeachment, is facing off against a Trump-endorsed challenger in John Gibbs.

Gibbs has fully embraced Trump’s election lies. He wrongly claimed in a debate with Meijer that the results that led to Biden’s win in 2020 were “simply mathematically impossible” and said that there were “anomalies in there, to put it very lightly.”

What’s unique about the GOP contest in the Grand Rapids-based 3rd District is that Democrats have attempted to boost Gibbs with ads casting him as a Trump-aligned conservative.

It’s a calculated gamble for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has spent more than $300,000 on ads in the race: They believe Gibbs would be much easier to defeat in November, so they are attempting to elevate him Tuesday, and then turn and immediately cast him as a threat to democracy in the general election.

A pro-Meijer group launched a television ad over the weekend highlighting Democrats’ involvement in the Republican primary. “Fox News confirms it: Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect their hand-picked candidate for Congress in the Republican primary, John Gibbs,” the group’s ad warns. “West Michigan must say no to Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked candidate for Congress.”

Trump hedges on scandal-plagued Greitens in Missouri

A little more than four years ago, Eric Greitens resigned as Missouri governor as he faced an ethical probe and allegations he abused and tried to blackmail a woman with whom he had an affair. Prosecutors ultimately dropped felony charges.

More recently, his ex-wife accused him of violent and unstable behavior in a court filing related to a child custody dispute. (Greitens denied the claims.)

Now, the former Navy SEAL is one of the frontrunners in what recent polling suggests will be a tight Missouri GOP Senate primary, with a field that includes Greitens, state Attorney General Eric Schmitt and US Rep. Vicky Hartzler.

Even Trump, whom Greitens has sought to align himself with, is hedging — likely because he fears Greitens could be defeated in a general election. On Monday evening, Trump put out a statement endorsing “Eric.” Which one? On that question, Trump wrote, Missouri Republicans would need to “make up their own minds.”

Rep. Billy Long, Missouri state Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and Mark McCloskey, a lawyer who became famous after he and wife wielded firearms from their property as a protest against police violence passed by in June 2020, are also part of a crowded field of Republican hopefuls.

Democrats will choose from Trudy Busch Valentine, a retired nurse and beer fortune heiress; attorney and Marine veteran Lucas Kunce; and Spencer Toder in their primary.

Abortion on the ballot for the first time since SCOTUS decision

For the first time since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the right to an abortion will be on a ballot.

Kansas voters will decide, via a somewhat convoluted question, whether to keep the constitution as is, which the state Supreme Court previously ruled protects abortion rights — a “no” vote — or vote “yes” and change the state’s constitution to specify that the right to an abortion is not guaranteed in the state.

The vote, in addition to being key to the future of abortions in Kansas, is widely seen as a referendum on whether abortion politics have truly shifted in the wake of the Supreme Court decision earlier this year. Democrats are hopeful that the decision has invigorated voters to oppose anti-abortion measures.

This will be part of a big election year in Kansas. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who opposed the amendment, is up for reelection in November, representing one of the most vulnerable Democratic gubernatorial incumbents in the country.

“The amendment is written in such a way that the proponents of the amendment want to suggest that this would just leave things as they are in Kansas. But that’s not true,” Kelly said in late July. “What would happen if that amendment would pass is that the Legislature would immediately come back with some very severe restrictions on a woman’s ability to control her own fate.”

Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is all but certain to be the party’s nominee for governor, has said he would vote yes for the amendment.

Whitmer gets her challenger

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was on the short list for Biden’s vice presidential nod less than two years into her first term, gets her Republican challenger in Tuesday’s primary.

Trump on Friday endorsed Tudor Dixon, a conservative commentator who has falsely claimed that Trump won the 2020 election. She is also backed by Michigan’s GOP establishment, including former US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s family, the state Chamber of Commerce and Michigan Right to Life.

That GOP gubernatorial primary features several other election deniers, as well. One candidate, Ryan Kelley, was in Washington on January 6, 2021, and has pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from allegations of his participation in the riot at the Capitol. Retired pastor Ralph Rebandt said he is “convinced that we would find the fraud” in the 2020 election with a “full forensic audit.” And chiropractor Garrett Soldano has touted a film that promotes an unproven conspiracy theory about the 2020 election.

Republicans in Michigan are poised to nominate election deniers for their entire slate of statewide offices.

The party is also expected to pick Trump-backed election deniers in the races for secretary of state and attorney general. At a convention in April, the state GOP endorsed Kristina Karamo, an educator and right-wing commentator who claimed to have witnessed irregularities in 2020’s election, for secretary of state, and Matthew DePerno, who was a lawyer on a case challenging the 2020 results , for attorney general. But those races aren’t on Tuesday’s primary ballot; instead, Republicans will make their choices official at a party convention in August.

Democratic House incumbents clash after redistricting draws them into new district

Redistricting in Michigan laid the groundwork for a Stevens-Levin contest in the state’s newly-drawn 11th Congressional District. Both candidates have claims to the seat, though some moderate Democrats expressed frustration that Levin did n’t try his hand at him in the open 10th District.

But the bigger story here has been animated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee involvement and spending by its new super PAC, United Democracy Project, with the latter having backed Stevens with more than $4 million in outside expenditures.

Levin, a Jewish progressive whose family has a storied history in Michigan politics, now enters primary day as an underdog despite a late boost from J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group attempting to blunt some of AIPAC’s influence with an ad buy worth about $700,000 .

Notably, Israel policy has not been a theme — it’s barely mentioned — in either candidate’s campaigns or the ads from the competing groups. But Levin, the lead sponsor of the Two-State Solution Act, has been more willing to criticize the Israeli government.

Progressives have been scathing in their criticism of Democrats, like Stevens, who have accepted help from AIPAC, which also contributes to Republicans, including many who voted against certifying Biden’s 2020 election win. (AIPAC has essentially ignored the backlash, pointing to the Democrats it backs and saying it can’t advance its policy goals without bipartisan support.)

Another well-known progressive, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, has attracted less attention from pro-Israel groups and, despite an influence of moderate outside cash against her, is the favorite to win nomination again in the redrawn 12th District.

How much does Trump’s impeachment still matter?

A lot has changed in the last 18 months since Trump was impeached for a second time. But two Republican incumbents — Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse — will face voters for the first time since joining Democrats to impeach the then-President.

A flurry of factors — not only how removed politics is from that impeachment vote — have Republicans in Washington skeptical that both Herrera Beutler and Newhouse will be ousted: Both incumbents have outspent their challengers, the fields are large and fractured and Washington State’s open primary system allows people to vote for any candidate, regardless of affiliation.

“If the vote was held a month (after the impeachment decision), they probably would have lost,” said a top Washington Republican operative. “But given 9% inflation, given the high gas prices we saw, if you are talking with conservative voters, they may be more concerned with the current situation in the country than they are 16 or 18 months ago.”

Herrera Beutler is facing author Heidi St. John, who has received a burst of super PAC money; state Rep. Vicki Kraft; and retired special forces officer Joe Kent, who Trump has backed. While Newhouse faces former NASCAR driver Jarod Sessler, state Rep. Brad Klippert and vocal election denier Loren Culp, who has been endorsed by Trump.

Herrera Beutler and Newhouse aren’t the only decisions for Republicans on Tuesday. The party will also look to nominate a candidate to face Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. Tiffany Smiley is seen as the leading Republican in the race, but Washington voters have not been represented by a Republican in the Senate since 2001.

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Overwatch 2 Could Start Trialling $45 Skins

Overwatch 2 Could Start Trialling $45 Skins

Overwatch 2 is officially going to be free-to-play, which is great news for the game’s predicted concurrent players at launch – but some long-term fans aren’t so enthused. There are a lot of nerves that the fact the hero shooter won’t be making its income from the price of entry means that Blizzard could turn to shadier means to leech cash out of their fans.

Though Blizzard isn’t expected to make use of loot boxes in the upcoming sequel, its reluctance to let go of the practice in the first game doesn’t exactly spell good news for players who are trying to simply enjoy the game without being forced to shell out. And now, it looks like Blizzard is starting to think about really pushing its luck in Overwatch 2.

Will Blizzard Introduce $45 Skins In Overwatch 2?

According to some fans, a survey is being sent out to Overwatch players asking them if they’d be willing to fork out $45 for a Mythic grade cosmetic skin. Guess what they think about it…

The survey was first noted by Twitter user Portergauge – saying that their friend had been sent the questionnaire that indicates a severe uptick from Blizzard. It asks how likely the user would be to pay $44.99 for a Mythic Skin, a Legendary Skin for $24.99, a collection of 3 sprays for $4.99, and a weapon charm for $9.99.

This is something that a lot have fans have been nervous could be coming toOverwatch 2and it’s not exactly a great sign despite only being a theoretical survey – and now Blizzard has had to respond.

Blizzard Responds To Overwatch Skin Controversy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp80HzXWsOM

In a response issued to IGN, Blizzard has commented on what the survey actually means for Overwatch 2. “This survey is entirely intended to better understand player preferences for different types of Overwatch 2 cosmetics,” the statement reads. “Prices displayed in the survey were randomized per user and are not indicative of final pricing. We plan to share details on our shop and battle pass system closer to our Oct. 4 launch.”

Though it’s not a direct reflection of the skin pricing that’s yet to come, it’s still a little unnerving to see our worst fears for the game’s cosmetics come to life in an official survey. Here’s hoping Blizzard is good on its word, but given the shady dealings of developers and publishers in the past, we wouldn’t hold our breath on this one.