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Mission Improbable: A onetime Republican is trying to prove Democrats can win in Florida
David Jolly, a former Republican now running for Florida governor as a Democrat, is trying to revive the state's political battleground status.
Swiatek into first final of her 'toughest season'
Iga Swiatek will meet Elena Rybakina in the Canadian Open final after both players battled through their semi-finals in three sets.
49ers insider shares growing concern over key position battle
The 49ers might have a tough decision to make at left guard between two underwhelming players.
Tigers Show Fight But Come Up Short in Loss
Spencer Torkelson’s clutch hitting and Gleyber Torres’s solo blast couldn't overcome Riley Greene’s injury absence and a shaky bullpen in a gritty divisional battle at Comerica Park.
In Senate race, Flanagan and Tafoya bring vastly different politics, experience
Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michele Tafoya have come to politics from very different routes and backgrounds. As the two battle it out for an open U.S. Senate seat, analysts expect a large amount of money to flow into the race.
‘Barbie 2’ in Crisis: Sequel Could Be Shelved Amid Pay Battle and Crumbling Deal Talks
“Do you guys ever think about dying?” Margot Robbie asks at the start of 2023’s “Barbie.” It’s one of many moments of existential dread that her character faces on the journey to becoming a real woman...
Predicting Winners of 49ers Biggest Position Battles
Position battles are one of the most interesting things about training camp and the preseason. The San Francisco 49ershave an elite roster, but that doesn't mean some spots still aren't being fought for. Since then, we've seen several more practices and we've had a depth chart release.
Ramp: Anthropic's Fable 5 lagged behind OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol in July
Although OpenAI trails Anthropic in business adoption, it won a moneymaking battle in July with its most advanced model, GPT-5.6 Sol.
Most Interesting Takeaways From Jaguars' First Depth Chart
Intense battles at running back and linebacker highlight Jacksonville’s initial depth chart full of surprises and interesting nuggets.
8 Takeaways from Tuesday’s Primaries
A Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin remained neck and neck early Wednesday, leaving a national battle between progressive and moderate wings largely unsettled.
Bills Roundtable Podcast: The Preseason Is Here!
Buffalo football returns as the Bills debut their new stadium against Carolina. Dive into training camp surprises, depth chart battles, and roster bubble standouts in this episode.
What does Trump’s executive order on vaccines mean for my kids?
Implementing the president’s directives would require a lengthy administrative process and probably a legal battle.
Cutter Boley impressing in ASU QB battle
Kenny Dillingham has not said the quarterback competition is over, but Cutter Boley has looked like the best of four options so far.
It’s Kyler Murray’s Team Now, for Better or Worse
The Vikings have finally announced the results of the team’s contentious quarterback competition, and according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Kyler Murray has been named the Week 1 starting quarterback for the 2026 season, putting an end to the much-talked-about position battle and handing the keys to the Vikings offense to the former Cardinals veteran. After an open battle to start camp got going, Murray put distance between himself and now-backup quarterback J.J. McCarthy over the past few weeks, and while there were some recent struggles that might have put into question Murray’s lead in the QB race, it ultimately didn’t matter to the Vikings brass, who felt they needed to make a decision before the Vikings’ preseason opener against the Giants this Saturday.
One of Southern California's biggest entertainment hubs has become a battleground over billboards
Vikings name Kyler Murray starting QB over J.J. McCarthy, per report
The Vikings' QB battle has ended prior to the beginning of the preseason
'Blue Bloods' star Jennifer Esposito says she was locked in psych ward as health battle spiraled
Jennifer Esposito reveals how celiac disease caused liver failure, a psychiatric ward stay and thoughts of suicide before doctors finally diagnosed her.
How one of Southern California's biggest entertainment hubs has become a battleground over big-money billboards
How one of Southern California's biggest entertainment hubs has become a battleground over big-money billboards
Overwatch Battle Pass Revamp Is Helping With The FOMO
The game’s shift to a Battle Pass structure in 2022 has made it difficult to get cosmetics if you’re not playing consistently each season
One of Southern California's biggest entertainment hubs has become a battleground over big-money bil
Democratic progressives and establishment set to clash in more primaries
Tuesday’s competitions in Wisconsin and Minnesota follow similar battles for the direction of the party, including last week in Michigan where progressive Abdul El-Sayed triumphed
Bangladesh and India battle to save cricket series after political turmoil
Bangladesh and India white-ball series under threat due to tensions that arose when Bangladeshi PM Hasina toppled.
Yankees legend says goodbye as he battles health issues: ‘Thank you & God Bless’
Former MLB pitcher Tommy John, a four-time All-Star, missed New York Yankees' Old-Timers' Day this past weekend.
Darline Graham faces battle for her brother's seat in South Carolina senate primary
Republican voters in South Carolina return to the polls Tuesday for the second time in two months to decide who will take the place of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Wisconsin weighs a democratic socialist governor and other key races to watch in Tuesday’s primaries
The next battles over the Democratic Party’s ideological direction come Tuesday in a slate of primaries that includes showdowns in two upper Midwestern political battlegrounds.
Democratic rebellion against older politicians reaches new battleground
Former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, 47, is challenging Rep. John Larson, who is 78 and running for his fifteenth term representing Connecticut's first district.
Who for captain? Miley or Murphy?
Miley has jumped up the pecking order in midfield with the departure of Bruno and Tonali. The club's longest serving player and a long standing member of the dressing room's leadership team, Murphy will undoubtedly be part of the group of players setting the example in the new season. With Anthony Gordon's departure meaning Harvey Barnes is more likely to play on his favoured left-side, the right wing is a battle between Murphy and Anthony Elanga.
Long list of embarrassing WNBA incidents is what happens when sports leagues made politics their primary focus
From Caitlin Clark's treatment to Sophie Cunningham's stance on trans athletes, the WNBA's political battles are overshadowing the sport itself.
Long list of embarrassing WNBA incidents is what happens when sports leagues made politics their primary focus
From Caitlin Clark's treatment to Sophie Cunningham's stance on trans athletes, the WNBA's political battles are overshadowing the sport itself.
Deadline passes for Rep. Max Miller to be replaced on Ohio ballot as he faces domestic abuse claims
Embattled Republican Rep. Max Miller is staying in the race for his Ohio congressional district
Trump wades into data center debate amid political battle
{beacon} Technology Technology The Big Story Trump backs data centers as Texas sets new standards President Trump is touting the benefits of AI data centers after Texas mov…
Battlefield 6 Player Successfully Refunds Game After 470 Hours of Game Time Due to Game Modes Being Removed by Devs
One Battlefield 6 player managed to successfully issue a refund for the game, and this is despite pouring in 470 hours of playtime.
Battlefield 6 Player With Over 400 Hours Gets Full Refund from Steam After Key Modes Were Removed
A Battlefield 6 player with hundreds of hours of playtime has scored a full refund of the game after Battlefield Studios removed key modes from the game's quick-play matchmaking.
Todd Blanche sworn in as attorney general after bruising confirmation battle
With the confirmation fight behind him, Blanche now faces the challenge of having to navigate the demands of a president who has made no secret his desire to use the law enforcement agency to target his political foes.
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
Beloved bald eagle Jackie dies after health battle and 'critical' illness
Jackie, the internet-famous bald eagle of Big Bear Valley, has died after a weekslong health battle.
Battlefield 6 Removed A Fan-Favorite Mode, As Devs Look For "Best" Way To Bring It Back
Battlefield Studios is, however, looking for the "best" ways to bring it back.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Secret Easter Egg Found After 20 Years
Oh nice, I have another reason to boot up the original Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Sonic the Hedgehog is Joining Fortnite, and Yes You'll Be Able to Dash Up Walls in the Green Hill Zone
Sonic the Hedgehog is joining Fortnite as part of the battle royale's upcoming gaming-themed season.
UConn Football Not Worried About State of Quarterback Battle Yet
With less than one month until the regular season opener, new head coach Jason Candle isn't rushing to name a starting signal-caller.
Alabama Position Preview: The Future vs The Veteran at Quarterback
Five-star phenom Keelon Russell battles seasoned veteran Austin Mack as Kalen DeBoer weighs explosive potential against established trust to lead the Crimson Tide's post-Simpson era.
Vulnerable battleground Dem embraces 'no tax on tips' after voting against Trump bill
Gabriel Vasquez voted against the big beautiful bill's no tax on tips provision, then called for a permanent version through his TIPS Act weeks later.
With Medicaid cuts ahead, Louisiana’s rural health providers battle over payments
As the pool of Medicaid patients shrinks and Medicaid funding runs up against new limits, independently owned health clinics will receive a much larger share of what’s available once their new reimbursement rates go into place.
Surprise nominees, candidate scandals scramble the battle for Congress
Unexpected primary results have complicated both parties’ paths to control of the House and Senate.
Eagles' QB2 Battle Is Still Too Close to Call
One of the key training camp battles for the Philadelphia Eagles was who would be the backup for Jalen Hurts: Tanner McKee or Andy Dalton. While Dalton currently has the slight edge, the race is not over just yet. Last season, McKee served as the second quarterback, starting in Week 18 against the Washington Commanders when the Eagles decided to rest their starters heading into the playoffs.
ABC Sports magnified USC-UCLA football rivalry at the perfect time
As great as the 1967 USC-UCLA football game was, its impact was magnified many times over by the ABC Sports presentation of the epic battle
Brian Schottenheimer’s challenge keeps door open in Cowboys’ LT competition
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer spoke on the state of the team's battle for the left tackle starting job.
Forgotten Cowboys QB is Quietly Winning Position Battle
The position battles at Dallas Cowboys training camp are only going to get more intense as the weeks go on.One that is sparking interest from the fan base is the QB2 battle behind Dak Prescott. Joe Milton III and Sam Howell have been in a very close race through two weeks.With not much separating Milton […] The post Forgotten Cowboys QB is Quietly Winning Position Battle appeared first on HEAVY.
Steam reportedly refunds Battlefield 6 player with 470 hours logged after EA quietly pulled Rush mode from Quickplay
A Battlefield 6 player "upset" at the removal of the popular Rush mode claims to have secured a full refund from Steam despite having clocked up 470 hours.
Four 49ers Position Battles Still Ongoing at Training Camp
The San Francisco 49ers have one of the most talented rosters in the league. There are a few interesting position battles going on, though, such as at left guard and free safety. A month ago, it was assumed that Mike Evans and Ricky Pearsall would be the top two options and it would be a solid room.
Blazers' Moda Center Battle Has Become a PR War
Local influencers and hundred-million-dollar ultimatums take center stage as the franchise deploys new tactics to secure massive public funding for a high-stakes arena renovation project.
Eagles preach patience as Makai Lemon continues to battle hamstring injury
The Eagles' 2026 first-round pick has missed four consecutive practices.
Poll: Voters See Political Parties as More Extreme Than Their Own Candidates
In a New York Times/Siena poll of battleground states, national parties were seen as too far to the right or the left, while nominees were viewed as more moderate.
Battleground Texas - Talking the latest Texas politics
The "Battleground Texas" team are talking the latest politics news in Texas. Check out the full show now!
Former Washington football star prioritizing health over starting job
Former UW star Michael Penix Jr. is nearing a return from a knee injury, and a battle for Atlanta's QB1 job.
Blake Lively shares rare look at family life with Ryan Reynolds
Blake Lively has shared another glimpse of a recent family outing with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, following her tumultuous legal battle with her "It Ends With Us" costar Justin Baldoni.
Tommy John pens goodbye to Yankees for Old-Timers' Day during health fight
Tommy John, the longtime pitcher known for the elbow surgery named after him, has penned his goodbye to the Yankees while in a health battle.
Crews battle early morning fire at Cambria Co. business
WJAC provides news, weather and sports information for Johnstown, Altoona, State College and DuBois, Pennsylvania. Our coverage area includes Bedford, Everett, Somerset, Meyersdale, Ebensburg, Windber, Hollidaysburg, Huntingdon, Mount Union, Tyrone, Bellefonte, Philipsburg, Clearfield, Punxsutawney, St. Marys, Brookville, Emporium, Treasure Lake, Ridgway, Centre Hall, Reynoldsville and Curwensville.
Colton Hood Explains Approach to Giants' CB Battle
The New York Giants' No. 2 cornerback spot is there for Colton Hood to grab. The rookie cornerback spoke about his ongoing competition against Deonte Banks and veteran Greg Newsome II and addressed why he's not concerning himself with the depth chart just yet. Hood was the Giants' second-round pick (No. 37) and is perceived as the cornerback of the future.
Norwegian soldiers training Ukraine's soldiers for 'Viking mentality'
Norwegian troops are bringing battlefield skills and a Viking-inspired warrior mentality to training Ukrainian soldiers on NATO soil.
Trump questions Texas data center move in surging political battle
President Trump is touting the benefits of AI data centers after Texas moved to more strictly regulate the industry, which has rapidly become a political lightning rod across the political spectrum…
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Will Allow You To Strategise With Mouse Controls
"Intuitively move units across the battlefield"
Vikings QB Race Heating Up With One Name Pulling Away
The Minnesota Vikings quarterback battle has been one of the biggest stories for training camp to this point. Friday gave another chance for the quarterbacks to showcase their skills. J.J. McCarthy had the better day on Friday according to statistics, but SKOR’s Judd Zulgad pointed to one metric that worked in Murray’s favor.McCarthy had a […] The post Vikings QB Race Heating Up With One Name Pulling Away appeared first on HEAVY.
Vikings Receive Eye Opening Training Camp Update
Kyler Murray commands the quarterback battle with elite playmaking, while star receiver Jordan Addison faces an injury scare that tests the depth of Minnesota’s high-powered offensive arsenal.
They’re Battle-Tested Democrats. Do Voters Care?
Haley Stevens and Angie Craig were celebrated by Democrats in 2018. This year, they’ve faced tough primaries.
Trump urges GOP to keep Senate in session until college sports bill passes
President Trump on Friday ramped up the pressure on Senate Republicans to cancel part of their August recess, urging embattled GOP senators to stay in Washington until they pass a bill to reform ru…
Mississippi Senate race highlights shifting map as Democrats and Republicans battle for majority
Mississippi does not top the list of hotly contested U.S. Senate races this fall
Flo Anthony Dies: Page Six Entertainment Journalist Was 74
Flo Anthony, a Page Six entertainment journalist who frequently made history, died Thursday after a battle with cancer. She was 74.
Upcoming PBS docuseries, 'Bucks County, USA,' to examine suburbs' political division
Filmmakers Barry Levinson and Robert May delve into community tensions in the political battleground. The first episodes premiere Sept. 20.
Is Beaver’s Mini Mart a small business or ‘Beavermart’ chain?: Here’s what we know
The legal battle between the behemoth Buc-ee’s gas station chain and Beavercreek carryout Beaver’s Mini Mart took a turn this week when Buc-ee’s founder and CEO Arch Aplin III reportedly
Beaver's Mini Mart support spreads to Columbus amid Buc-ee's battle
The beaver controversy roiling southwestern Ohio has spread to Columbus, with local businesses showing their support of a small business.
Peru Heals Rift With Mexico by Freeing Leftist Politician
Peru’s government cleared an embattled former prime minister to leave the country and travel to Mexico in a move that eases diplomatic tensions between the two estranged Latin American countries.
BUSINESS BEAT: Application deadline for fall classes at KCC is August 14
BATTLE CREEK, MI (WTVB) - The deadline for new students to apply to take classes at Kellogg Community College ...
Trump unbound: the making of an imperial presidency
Donald Trump’s second term is unlike his first. The politicians who challenged him are gone. The lawyers who once pushed back now choose their battles. What remains is an imperial president with almost no internal checks - using executive power to reshape everything from the economy to immigration and even the presidency itself.
The midterms are taking shape. So are the problems
After a major primary day this week in Michigan and other states, the battle for the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms has largely taken shape.
Budget Battle Erupts in Nation’s Capital Over Opioid Settlement Money
Washington, D.C.’s 2027 fiscal-year blueprint reflects a debate playing out around the U.S.: whether opioid settlement money should be used to free up taxpayer dollars by paying for existing responsibilities instead of new programs.
TikTok star Sydney Towle, who documented her health journey online, dies at 26 after rare cancer battle
Sydney Towle’s family revealed the 26-year-old influencer has died after entering hospice care. Her death comes after a three-year-long battle with a rare bile duct cancer.View on euronews
Kyler Murray Continues Building Momentum in Vikings' Quarterback Competition
Vikings reporter believes Wednesday's practice offered another significant clue in Minnesota's ongoing quarterback battle.
Central Ohio small business comes to aid of store in Buc-ee’s fight
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) — A central Ohio bakery is helping a Dayton-area business in its legal battle against travel center chain Buc-ee’s. Buc-ee’s has filed a trademark lawsuit a…
Money, politics, and the ‘beautiful game’: FIFA battles to win back trust
Dissent has kicked off over the future of the soccer World Cup, leading to calls for a change at FIFA.
Legendary sports broadcaster laid off following battle with cancer
Longtime Bay Area sports broadcaster Greg Papa has been let go by KNBR just over a year after being diagnosed with cancer.
El-Sayed win kicks Democrats’ Midwest ideological battle into high gear — and some Dems fear November fallout
Progressive Democrats scored key wins in Michigan's primary, and now Wisconsin's governor race and Minnesota's senate primary are the next battlegrounds.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword Preview Teases More Capcom 2026 Domination
This is the way (of the sword)
Bears’ Left Tackle Battle Is All but Settled
Braxton Jones lined up with the first team offense at left tackle for a third straight practice on Monday, and the writing is on the wall for the Chicago Bears starting job at the position. The post Bears’ Left Tackle Battle Is All but Settled appeared first on HEAVY.
Progressive Victory in Michigan Senate Primary Deepens Democratic Divide
Abdul El-Sayed showed the far left can win a battleground state, but the fight for control of the party is far from over.
Florida Python Challenge winner slayed 96 snakes
Veteran hunter Tom Rahill has battled the invasive species for over 10 years.
House GOP anxiety spikes as scandals pile up in critical battleground seats
A series of serious allegations against GOP congressmen in key House districts have rattled party insiders this week, fueling Republicans’ anxiety that they could lose seats once considered mostly safe and further endanger their majority.
Video Game Giant Electronic Arts Closes $55 Billion Go-Private Sale of Its Business
CHICAGO (AP) — Video game giant Electronic Arts officially has new owners. The California-based maker of popular titles like “Battlefield” and “The Sims” announced Tuesday that it closed the $55 billion sale of its business to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, investment firm Silver Lake ...
Saudi Arabia's PIF completes acquisition of Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, the gaming company known for franchises like "The Sims" and "Battlefield," has officially been acquired by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners for $55 billion.
Republicans move to oust embattled Florida GOP lawmaker in bitter primary fight
Reps. Cory Mills, Chuck Edwards and Max Miller face misconduct allegations that now threaten GOP control of Congress heading into midterms. Edwards has dropped his campaign.
Broncos' backup quarterback battle heating up
Sam Ehlinger seems to be pushing Jarrett Stidham for the Broncos' backup quarterback job.
Post-Primary Recap: The Electability Argument Falls Flat
Kingmaking isn’t what it used to be in Democratic politics.In Democratic primaries for governor of Kansas, Michigan’s 7th district, and Michigan’s open Senate seat, battle-tested and popular Democratic elected officials urged voters to select the candidates they said would be stronger general election choices. Instead, Democratic primary voters picked candidates who were more progressive, despite warnings that those nominees could tank the party’s chances of clawing back control of Congress.
Paramount CEO says politics fueling Warner Bros. merger battle
In a combative op-ed published in The New York Times, David Ellison argued that 'the issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner's CNN. There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions.'
Michigan’s top election official wins Democratic primary for governor, advances to battleground race
Jocelyn Benson defeated Chris Swanson in Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial primary and will face either John James or Perry Johnson this fall.
St. Louis Cardinals vs New York Yankees Game Discussion Tuesday
It’s game 2 in the Big Apple Tuesday night as the Cardinals do battle with the Yankees. The St. Louis Cardinals have announced Hunter Dobbins will be their starter for Tuesday’s game while the Yankees will give the baseball to Ryan Weathers. First pitch scheduled for 6:05pm central time at Yankee Stadium and the TV […]
The Beauty Of Settled Science
Commenters convinced me I made a subtle mis-step in my framing of Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine. My framing emphasized that social priming studies had failed to replicate, but that many other subfields of psychology hadn’t. This naturally led commenters to point to failed replications in other subfields. Although none of these were as bad as social priming, few or none were entirely problem-free. Instead of emphasizing the difference between social priming and other subfields, I should have emphasized the difference between settled science and novel research. Here are some of my favorite psychology findings: The brain is sculpted by reinforcement learning, and a key driver of this learning is a prediction-error-based algorithm located in the nucleus accumbens and implemented through dopamine. Psychedelic drugs exert their effects through 5-HT2A receptors, pointing to a role for these receptors in some sort of construct like the balance between priors and new evidence. Certain cognitive functions are localized to certain brain areas (for example, impulse control to the frontal lobes; linguistic structure to Broca’s area, linguistic meaning to Wernicke’s area. But injure one of these areas, or render a certain function useless (eg a blind person having no more use for their visual cortex), and these mappings can gradually shift - suggesting that neurons are general-purpose compute whose specialization is a contingent fact about convenience and efficiency rather than a necessity. Most personality traits and general capabilities are about 50% genetic and 50% random, with little role for family environment or childhood history, with a few notable exceptions like partisan preference. Recent research complicates this story, but the further you go from this basic picture, the gnarlier the chains of indirect causation you require. Neurons fire together in “brain waves”, whose exact frequency corresponds with the character of consciousness; These divide neurons into natural subpopulations and linked graphs. The gamma rhythm corresponds surprisingly well to items in conscious awareness. GABA receptors seem to be involved in something like relaxation. By hitting different GABA receptors in different ways, you can modulate the exact type of relaxation you produce. Hitting GABA-A directly is too powerful and can cause dangerous levels of sedation, but allosteric modulation of GABA is an incredibly fruitful strategy that underlies drugs from benzos to barbituates to alcohol. If you know your GABA-A subunits, you can target specific subtypes of relaxation; for example, Ambien hits GABA-A1 and induces sleep. Memory divides somewhat fuzzily into bins of immediate-sensory, short-term, and long-term, with separate retrieval and storage functions, and separate systems for declarative vs. procedural learning. These can be harmed selectively, usually by hippocampal injury, so that some patients can remember their life stories but not form new long-term memories, or learn new skills like bike-riding but not new facts. The exact substrate of memory is unclear but seems to involve new synaptic connections between neurons in at least some way. The ability of modern psychology and psychiatry to treat mental illness is real but limited. SSRIs work for half or slightly fewer than half of patients; antipsychotics work with extreme side effects; benzodiazpines work but produce addiction and tolerance in many (not all) people. Most supplements are stuck in Poor Quality Study Replication Crisis Hell, but melatonin and l-theanine stand out as especially promising. Psychotherapy works with moderate effect size, but (with a few exceptions) seems to be more about the relationship with the provider than the details of the therapy itself. Mental hospitalization can sometimes defuse immediate crises but work less well than mental hospitals would like, with some studies showing overall negative effects. Schizophrenia is mostly genetic, but risk also increases with prenatal infection (especially rubella) and obstetric complications; there is suggestive evidence for roles of social stress and drug use (with psychedelics and marijuana making things worse, and nicotine if anything making things better). Bipolar and schizophrenia are so closely linked on a pathophysiological level that it seems like they might be the same disease; on the clinical level, they do seem to follow two separate courses/prognoses but can sometimes surprise clinicians by eg someone who seemed condemned to permanent schizophrenia unexpectedly recovering. The brain’s native reinforcement learning algorithms cash out in the phenomena of classical and operant conditioning; different reinforcement schedules reinforce at different levels, which can be exploited by bad actors to make especially compelling products (eg slot machines). None of these are immune to doubt. A few are speculative; one or two are genuinely unorthodox. But they’re all a step above one p = 0.049 paper that might not replicate. If they get overturned, they’ll be overturned by the same sort of genuine scientific shift that replaced Ptolemy with Copernicus or Lamarck with Darwin, not some sort of sordid discovery about someone entering random numbers into a spreadsheet. In 2008, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote about The Beauty Of Settled Science: If you only care about scientific issues that are controversial, you will end up with a head stuffed full of garbage. The media thinks that only the cutting edge of science is worth reporting on. How often do you see headlines like “General Relativity still governing planetary orbits” or “Phlogiston theory remains false”? So, by the time anything is solid science, it is no longer a breaking headline. “Newsworthy” science is often based on the thinnest of evidence and wrong half the time—if it were not on the uttermost fringes of the scientific frontier, it would not be breaking news. Scientific controversies are problems so difficult that even people who’ve spent years mastering the field can still fool themselves. That’s what makes for the heated arguments that attract all the media attention. Worse, if you aren’t in the field and part of the game, controversies aren’t even fun. Don’t be embarrassed to read elementary science textbooks, either. If you want to pretend to be sophisticated, go find a play to sneer at. If you just want to have fun, remember that simplicity is at the core of scientific beauty [...] A steady diet of science news is bad for you: You are what you eat, and if you eat only science reporting on fluid situations, without a solid textbook now and then, your brain will turn to liquid. Psychology isn’t centrally the new paper in Annals Of Recently-Breaking News saying that an n=5 study showing that large portion sizes increase support for terrorism. Psychology is centrally ideas like brain waves, GABA receptors, reinforcement learning, twin studies, and connectionism. People who think differently are worrying too much about BREAKING NEWS!!!, and should stop. The key distinction isn’t “recent research in social psychology” vs. “recent research in cognitive/bio/behavioral psychology”, as my essay last week unfortunately implied. It’s recent research in general vs. the deposit of settled science, battle-tested hypotheses, and carefully-earmarked speculation. And part of the reason social priming in particular was such a disaster was that it defied that heuristic, building itself up over hundreds of studies until it approached or even entered the pantheon of settled science - before collapsing (5-HTTLPR was also sort of like this). This isn’t a claim that settled science is always right - Freud was “settled science” for a long time - just that there’s an intuitive distinction between the level of credence you should have in the existence of power posing vs. the existence of Broca’s Area. (I compounded this error by calling the last post “Psychology Research Is Mostly Fine”, which suggested I was talking about the new research rather than the settled science. I actually meant to distinguish between research-psychology-the-field vs. clinical-psychology-aka-therapy, but this framing unintentionally pushed against the point I wanted to make) Some commenters on the previous article understood this point, but challenged its weight. It’s very cool, they said, to know how many neurons are in which brain lobe, but the main way that Psychology affected their lives was through bad clickbait studies used to buttress dumb policies; some p = 0.049 study says that exposure to microaggressions makes minorities’ brains shrivel into raisins, and now their company has to implement punitive DEI or be sued for hazardous work conditions. I won’t dispute this as an accurate description of how the sausage gets made, but it’s worth examining the trains of thought that connect this observation to a campaign against psychology in general: The dumb woke psychology was wrong and bad, and I don’t have good heuristics for distinguishing dumb woke psychology from other psychology, so I’m going to assume it’s all wrong and bad. The dumb woke psychology was wrong and bad; it seems useful to punish/discredit psychology as a whole to assist my campaign against it, so for propaganda purposes I will try to discredit psychology as a whole. To people in the first camp, my response is: come on, your heuristics aren’t that bad. “Microaggressions makes minorities’ brains shrivel up like raisins” is in the woke category; “the hippocampal theta rhythm seems to be associated with both memory and pathfinding, suggesting an unexpected yet surprisingly compelling relationship between the two” is in the not-woke category, don’t play dumb here. To people in the second camp, my response is: deliberately exaggerated propaganda campaigns are bad and this is a confession, not an excuse. Inability to view science through anything but a political lens was what got us into this problem; doubling down on it is a temporary solution but a recipe for permanent disaster. If you pronounce entire fields of science to be acceptable collateral damage in your campaign against bad political actors, you will alienate not just scientists but patients, clinicians, and general lovers of truth. Instead, you can say the thing you mean - that woke partisans shouldn’t try to occupy and exploit the otherwise-noble science of psychology for their own political gain - and wage the same campaign with a halo rather than a comic-book-villain goatee. From the font of oracular wisdom that is Weird Sun Twitter: [ Vessel Of Spirit@VesselOfSpirit i love you all conditionally but i love the good part of you unconditionally. even if it becomes a very small part 2:11 AM · Jan 22, 2015 1 Reply · 5 Reposts · 29 Likes ](https://x.com/VesselOfSpirit/status/558084551772471298) This is how I feel about psychology1, too, but with a touch more optimism. The good part of psychology is enormous, a hoard of endless treasures. You just have to look past the headlines! 1 To play devil’s advocate - should one always be so magnamious? Astrology? Phrenology? These seem different in that their entire orientation was flawed from the start; they didn’t simply fail to find the correct constellation-personality connections, the whole project of searching for connections between constellations and personality was doomed from the start. More difficult might be asking the same question about education research, which is notoriously bad. I don’t know enough about education research to know if there’s some settled science of correct and enlightening results lurking in the background beyond the day-to-day froth of poorly-conducted and politically-motivated studies. I think if it’s 90% bad, 10% good, it’s correct to call it bad as a compact way of communicating a useful truth; I think psychology is better than that, but admit it’s a tough judgment call.
Paramount CEO says politics fueling Warner Bros. merger battle
Paramount CEO David Ellison said Tuesday that the legal battle over his proposed multibillion-dollar takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery was fueled by politics rather than concerns over market share.