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Several Democratic members of Congress are requesting the House Ethics Committee investigate their colleague, Congressman Max Miller (R-OH), over allegations that he assaulted his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and possibly injured their child.

“The recent reports of domestic violence and child abuse against Representative Max Miller are deeply disturbing, and Congress can’t ignore them. Allegations of violence against women and children have to be met with the utmost seriousness. We therefore call on the House Committee on Ethics to swiftly and thoroughly investigate these allegations,” said a statement by the 96-member Democratic Women’s Caucus chairwoman Leger Fernandez (D-NM), and vice chairs Hillary Scholten (D-MI) and Emilia Sykes (D-OH).

Their calls for a formal probe into the embattled Congressman follow the publication of a July 18 profile in Mother Jones that drew from thousands of pages of public records alleging numerous episodes of misconduct. As I wrote in the story:

The summary of the Zoom meeting and investigative report are among more than 2,000 pages of court filings and police reports pertaining to Miller that Mother Jones obtained through public records requests. The trove of documents contains allegations of drug use by Miller, misogyny and verbal abuse, and violent behavior against multiple women. The filings also include evidence that Miller implicitly threatened his ex-father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno.

Some of the allegations were documented in a police report regarding an investigation into potential child abuse after Miller’s daughter wound up with a broken collarbone.

Neither the child’s father, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), nor mother, conservative policy adviser Emily Moreno, admitted to knowing what caused their daughter’s injury or that it occurred while their daughter was under their care. Miller’s primary theory was that the bruising resembled marks from a seat belt. Moreno, who discovered the bruises and took the child to an emergency room, suggested the cause may have been something more sinister. Records of the investigation into potential child abuse show that Moreno told detectives that Miller had previously thrown hot water at her, shoved her, and held a gun to her head; therefore, she couldn’t rule out that Miller caused their daughter’s fracture. Moreover, a child protection specialist reviewing the incident had characterized the bruising near the fracture as resembling a “handprint.”

The police investigation into possible child abuse was ultimately “unsubstantiated.” That means there was not enough evidence to support a finding of neglect or abuse.

Though Miller repeatedly declined to answer questions from Mother Jones, he has elsewhere denied ever being violent towards women.

“Every woman and child deserves to live free from fear of violence, especially within the sanctity of their own home, and we will not stop fighting until that’s the reality,” wrote the leaders of the Democratic Women’s Caucus in a statement first provided to Mother Jones.

The caucus was joined in calling for the investigation by several lawmakers. Rep. Sam Liccardo, a California Democrat, wrote on X Wednesday, “Allegations that Max Miller abused his wife and child demand an immediate House Ethics Committee investigation. Congress must never serve as a safe harbor for abusers.”

He was joined by Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat who has previously spoken about surviving domestic violence, told Mother Jones, “The domestic abuse allegations against my colleague, Rep. Max Miller, are disturbing.” She added, “I am especially concerned about the claims of abuse against his 2-year-old daughter whose collarbone was broken. Every child deserves to feel safe in their home, and that is the responsibility of all investigative authorities involved.”

No Republican members of Congress have yet called for an investigation into Miller—including Miller’s former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno.

⚡ Quick Take

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three’s showrunners and cast explained new character Marnûkh, an orc with an arc.

If there was one character that was close to my heart in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s first two seasons, it was that of the Orc (Uruk) Father, Adar. Adar knew that every one of his children “has a name, a heart… Are creations of the One, Master of the Secret Fire, the same as you. As worthy of the breath of life, and just as worthy of a home.” And although his execution lacked a little bit to be desired, Adar’s aim to create a life for his orc children, one where they could thrive and be seen as just as important as any other race, was a truly noble one. Alas, Sauron, the Great Deceiver, turned Adar’s softest parts against him, convincing his children to slay their own father. “They are not children anymore,” Sauron told Adar as he lay dying. But is that so? Are the orcs now definitively orcs, or are they Uruk? For me, it has been a central question of The Rings of Power. And now, a new “orc with an arc” has come to the forefront of the narrative, ready to test the question of nature vs. nurture one more time. At SDCC, I spoke with The Rings of Power‘s showrunners and cast about Marnûkh, the latest and greatest hope for Uruk Nation. Here’s what I learned about his new orc with an arc.

Prime Video

At The Rings of Power season three’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, it was revealed that Marnûkh, played by Adam Young, “claims that he has turned his back against Sauron and he wants to now help the elves defeat the Dark Lord. But can you trust an orc?” That is THE quandary. And it’s not an easy one to come to a conclusion on, share The Rings of Power showrunners, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, when I ask after Marnûkh in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three.

And it turns out Marnûkh, himself, doesn’t make it any easier. Payne revealed more about the orc with and arc in The Rings of Power, “Marnûkh and [actor]Adam Young bring such a wonderful quality to this orc character, where part of you thinks, ‘Oh, he’s sort of sweet and funny, and there’s something sensitive to him.’ And even dare I say, poetic and soulful about him. But then, also, he’s constantly sort of undercutting things, and there’s part of him that’s gross and frightening. And so he constantly keeps everyone guessing.” Listen, who among us isn’t sometimes sweet and funny and sometimes gross and frightening? It sounds to us like Marnûkh is just a multi-faceted character trying his best to be more than what fate has decided for him on The Rings of Power season three.

Prime Video

But what will Marnûkh’s relationships with the other characters in his orc-arc, Galadriel and Arondir, look like this season on The Rings of Power. Payne notes of Galadriel meeting Marnûkh, “It puts Galadriel in a really interesting place, because as we’ve seen in previous seasons, she despises the orcs and she’s fought against them for years and years and years because they’ve taken everything from her that she loves. But now in this season, she’s in a position where she has to decide if she can trust an orc or not.”

Of course, Galadriel went on something of a journey with Adar in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two. And though she doesn’t ever quite apologize for slaying many of his children on her quest for vengeance, she does appear to come around to the idea that orcs/Uruk may have a purpose for existing beyond just evil, and potentially a heart worth saving, by the end of The Rings of Power season two. But does she remember those times with Adar after so many years of war against Sauron and the Orcs?

Prime Video

McKay laughs when I ask that very question, “Well, I think Marnûkh is hoping she does.” When I follow up wondering if Marnûkh remembers Adar, I don’t receive a clear answer. So we’ll have to wait and see.

Of course, Galadriel isn’t the only elf that Marnûkh will have to win over in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three. The trio becomes complete with Arondir. At the SDCC panel, Arondir’s actor, Ismael Cruz Córdova, shared about Arondir and Marnûkh, “We have this relationship, this odd couple relationship, we don’t trust each other, we don’t like each other. He stinks.” But despite everything, Cruz Córdova shares with me that Arondir wants to trust the orcs.

RELATED ARTICLE

The Orcs, The Ents, and the Question of Peace on THE RINGS OF POWER

Cruz Córdova reveals, “I think Arondir has been surrounded by darkness from minute 1, second 27, of the first episode of The Rings of Power. And he hasn’t been able to really have a lot of redemption from that. And I think that experience of leaning into that darkness and being curious about that darkness is at the core of who he is. That deep curiosity of ‘What’s at the other side, what is my purpose? Who are the ones that I can trust?’ But also, I think he wrestles with not liking orcs because I think he sees them… I think he sees them as one of his own. I think he sees orcs as victims. I think his vendetta with Adar was because I respected him in a certain way. And then he still turned around and killed the love of my life. So I think it’s a very emotional knee-jerk reaction and it’s understandable, but I don’t think he’s completely has given himself to that darkness.”

Prime Video

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: Arondir is the most elfy elf of all. And his ability to see beyond the hard lines drawn in the sand to the common origin of orcs and elves, and the way the orcs could not help but become what they were, is truly so beautiful. For Arondir and Marnûkh, this understanding could be a key to both their healing, if they can find a way to fully trust one another. Cruz Córdova concludes, “There’s a softness and openness and different colors that we placed in this story this time around.”

Whatever happens between Marnûkh, Arondir, and Galadriel, we know this is one The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three storyline that we’ll be seated for.

The Rings of Power season three premieres on Prime Video on November 11. The full release schedule can be found here.

The post Meet Marnûkh: RINGS OF POWER Showrunners Talk Orc with an Arc appeared first on Nerdist.

The deal gives Okta identity threat detection capabilities as enterprises seek to secure AI agents and other non-human identities across cloud environments.

Elon Musk is planning to revive his shady America PAC to help out President Donald Trump’s party in the midterm elections.

Despite the billionaire technocrat’s pledge last year to stay out of politics, his America PAC is planning to direct its efforts toward door-knocking, direct mail, and digital advertising, sources told Axios Wednesday.

“America PAC was an essential partner for our historic GOTV operation in 2024, and their return for 2026 is a huge boost for Republicans across the country,” James Blair, Trump’s senior political advisor told Axios.

“We will again outsmart our opponents and ruthlessly execute our mission for the GOP between now and Election Day,” he added.

The news of Musk’s return to politics came alongside reports that his company SpaceX had landed a $1.6 billion military contract.

It’s not clear how much Musk plans to spend, but given the $288 million he personally poured into Trump’s reelection effort, the number is expected to be high.

America PAC has a history of using shady means to drum up the conservative vote.

During the 2024 presidential election, America PAC launched a series of digital ads using the image of Trump’s assassination to invite people browsing Google to “register to vote.” In key battleground states, users were directed to a very different page, prompting them to enter their phone number, address, and age. Once complete, users were then greeted by a “Thank You” page, with no actual link to voter registration in sight.

The information collected from user responses to this ad campaign informed the PAC’s canvassing efforts in those states. So, in effect, collecting private data that went right back to the Trump campaign.

Musk also waded into murky legal waters with his direct mail scheme. In Georgia, residents received partially pre-filled absentee ballot applications from Musk’s America PAC, in violation of state law. Members of the Georgia State Elections Board voted to issue a formal letter of reprimand to Musk’s America PAC—but it seems that nothing happened after that.

And Musk’s door-to-door efforts weren’t exactly a breeze. Canvassers reported that the app they used was buggy, and some even exploited its technical issues to fake door knocks. Other canvassers said they were tricked and threatened as part of Musk’s get-out-the-vote efforts.

If Musk’s America PAC is really coming out of dormancy, then Americans can expect even more misleading ads, illegal mailers, and chaotic canvassing efforts.

It’s been a while since I wrote about California Forever, the billionaire-funded effort to build a new 400,000-person “tech utopia” city in rural Solano County. The project is aligned with the Network State, a Silicon Valley movement that seeks to build new billionaire-owned cities all over the world.

California Forever was supposed to seek voter approval via a ballot measure in 2024, but it abandoned the plan after polls showed it headed for massive defeat. One poll showed 70% of voters opposed to the project, including both Democrats and Republicans.

But that wasn’t the end of the project. As the ballot effort flopped, I predicted that California Forever would try to bypass local voters and get the state government to impose the project against the will of the people.

“They could dream up some convoluted scheme to try to use the courts or state power to force Solano County to allow them to build their tech dystopia,” I wrote in April 2024.

That is exactly what’s happening, and the project appears to have a powerful new champion: Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Gov. Gavin Newsom has been quietly whipping support for California’s billionaire-backed megacity as it faces the loss of a key tenant,” reports the New York Post. “While staying publicly mum on the controversial megaproject, Newsom privately met with California Forever's CEO this spring before launching a behind the scenes push to win support for the project during his final months in office—with his staff even telling lawmakers the project may be a matter of national security.”

The Post reports that Newsom is convening a high-level meeting today in Sacramento to push for the project.

Newsom’s support is not exactly a surprise. Early on, California Forever hired some of his top political consultants. Politico called it “California Forever's A-Team.” But no amount of Sacramento consulting savvy could turn this project into something that could win voter approval. So here comes Plan B: get the governor and the state legislature to impose California Forever on the people of Solano County.

The gambit could work. California Forever has retained Axiom Advisors, the lobbying firm co-founded by Jason Kinney, one of Newsom’s closest friends.

Remember when Newsom created a scandal during the COVID lockdown by attending a dinner at the French Laundry restaurant in Napa County? That was Kinney’s birthday party. The billionaires have also hired two former legislative leaders to advocate for their utopia and lined up support from construction unions.

The strategy is paying off. For months, rumors have swirled that California Forever was seeking support from Newsom’s office. Last week, Newsom’s Office of Business and Economic Development appeared to confirm those rumors by publishing a memo in support of the project.

“GO-Biz believes this is a moment for California to double down on the economy of the future—and to show the country and the world that we remain open for business,” the memo said. “The path forward will require collaboration among state and local government, labor, business, community organizations, and private investors. This memo is meant to frame that conversation—not to prescribe a specific path or outcome.”

Newsom himself has avoided publicly endorsing the project, but the memo says it all. Having worked for a previous California governor, I can say with certainty that the GO-Biz memo states the governor’s position.

California Forever is desperate. A group of tech billionaires spent $900 million to quietly buy up nearly 60,000 acres of land under the leadership of Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader from the Czech Republic with no experience building cities. One way or another, they need their city built—regardless of what voters think. A 2024 Vanity Fair profile of Sramek described him as an Ayn Rand enthusiast who, as a young man, was fond of saying: “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”

The project has cycled through multiple identities since 2024, including a bid to rebrand itself as essential to national security. For the past year, California Forever has touted the possibility of a new shipbuilding facility, but that deal went to Texas. Unable to win voter support, the project has instead worked to cut annexation deals with individual cities in Solano County.

Now it’s trying a Hail Mary: get Newsom, a lame-duck governor eyeing the White House, to secure the deal before he leaves office. It’s not clear he can pull it off.

“I'm not sure he has the ability to turn the screws to pass special legislation,” political consultant Matt Rexroad told the Post. “The governor has a lot less juice than he did five years ago for something like this.”

Still, it’s clear he’ll try. But siding with the billionaires over the voters also carries risk for Newsom, who hopes to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2028.

In my first New Republic piece on the Network State movement, I wrote:

The people of Solano County are fighting a billionaire land grab that they fear will bring traffic headaches and pollution. Without knowing it, they may also be on the front lines of a battle over whether tech plutocrats can buy enough power to radically transform the political map by yanking democracy right out from under their feet and replacing it with a dystopia of their own design.

The moment of truth has arrived. Newsom has chosen a side, and it may come back to haunt him.

Weird Billionaire Cities

Why are tech billionaires suddenly trying to build new cities everywhere? From Gaza to Greenland to Honduras to California, the globe is awash in Silicon Valley schemes to build new tech-owned territories. My forthcoming book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, exposes the deeper story of the California Forever project.

Click this link to pre-order. Coming Aug. 18! Use this link to support both independent bookstores and this newsletter.

The milestone means Tesla is halfway to accomplishing one of the four core product goals Elon Musk has to hit to unlock his full $1 trillion pay package.

President Donald Trump’s appetite to put his gross mark on Washington, D.C., simply knows no bounds, and it’s getting exhausting. You’d think a guy who is dealing with a war he started on a whim and cannot extricate himself from, a guy who can’t stay awake, a guy presiding over an ever-deepening affordability crisis, would maybe be a bit too busy to fuss around with wrecking another D.C.

Source

There are fresh signs that fusion power startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems will list in the next two to three years.

The State Department is having some trouble identifying states.

At the annual International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this week, the U.S. State Department unveiled a map of the African continent with every single country mislabeled. Nigeria drifted into the Sahara Desert, landlocked and lost; Mozambique was relocated to the eastern Horn of Africa; and the Ivory Coast, somehow, found itself nowhere near a coast. The map also included a country with no name, while Cameroon, dutifully included in the list of countries, got no real estate on the map at all.

The map was revealed about halfway through a presentation about the State Department’s new international health agreements. It was supposed to depict opportunities for Annual Program Statements by country in Africa, as part of the implementation process for remaining AIDS prevention programming after President Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency dismantled USAID last year. According to an analysis by Reuters, the map contained an artificial intelligence watermark which identified it as made by OpenAI.

Presentation attendees—including high-level officials representing several of the mislabeled countries—took screenshots of the map and posted them online. Photos posted by journalist and AIDS expert Emily Bass were shared across LinkedIn, with one post garnering about 40,000 views, Reuters reports.

“The U.S. government’s failure to catch this error before displaying the slide at the top international AIDS conference in the world, in a session that featured the Director General of Nigeria as an invited guest, is not only disrespectful to African collaborators, it’s also a significant tell,” Bass wrote on Substack. “As this session made clear in so many ways, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy is redrawing the map and rewriting history.”

Matt Petit, who focuses on geopolitics and AI at the Atlantic Council, called the map “beyond embarrassing” in a post on LinkedIn. “Whoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work.”

In a statement following the presentation, the State Department claimed “full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation it caused for attendees, including our African partners.” It went on to blame a staff member for hastily changing the slide deck before the session began. Despite the embarrassing moment, the department said it remains “committed to fighting AIDS.”

Maybe a map that can’t identify a single African country says more about America’s AIDS diplomacy than a briefing ever could.

Meta says AI is making it dramatically easier to build and launch new consumer apps, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling investors the company has more new consumer products on the way following a recent wave of releases for Facebook Groups, Marketplace sellers, Instagram, and gaming.

⚡ Quick Take

• A new special look teaser for Street Fighter shows Ryu vs. Blanka, and it is quite the electrifying fighting scene.

The World Warrior Tournament will dominate the big screen when Street Fighter hits theaters this October. The Paramount Pictures and Legendary film will bring the infamous video game to live-action. Its cast is stacked, with stars like Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson III, Noah Centineo, Eric Andre, David Dastmalchian, Andrew Koji, and Jason Momoa. Speaking of the latter two, who play Ryu and Blanka, respectively, there’s a new special look at Street Fighter that shows them in a tense fighting scene. 

In it, guards drag Ryu into the center of a room with incarcerated men caged and screaming all around them. Bison speaks to Ryu, saying he knows what he’s capable of… and so do we. It appears that he’s going to fight three men in chains, but all of them are soon dispatched by none other than Blanka.

This green and beastly guy does his signature moves, like sending an electric current to shock someone, and Ryu says he does not wish to fight him. Blanka is not trying to hear that and Ryu counteracts with the Hadouken, placing his palms in front of him to send a ball of ki towards Blanka. This Street Fighter Blanka vs. Ryu special look is electrifying, indeed. 

Here’s the synopsis for Street Fighter:

Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!

Paramount Pictures/Legendary

Get ready to put your quarter (well, dollars or credit card) up, because Street Fighter will bring the battle to theaters on October 16.

Editor’s note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks

The post STREET FIGHTER’s Ryu Vs. Blanka Teaser Is Electrifying appeared first on Nerdist.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to The TNR Blue Book. It’s our new daily newsletter that covers Congress and much more, but with a distinctly TNR twist: Our focus will be strictly on Democrats, liberal and progressive groups, and the fight to take back power and save democracy. Every morning, you’ll get a rundown of late-breaking news, what Democrats on Capitol Hill are thinking, quick hits on what you need to know nationally, the latest on what’s coming out of the think tanks and activist groups, short interviews with progressive newsmakers and authors, and more (including some humor and political trivia!). There’s nothing else out there like it.

Sign up and get this newsletter for free. 

Inside Washington

Epstein survivors ask senators to vote “no” on Blanche 

Republican holdouts on Todd Blanche’s confirmation to the position of attorney general are mostly focused on stopping Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund for alleged victims of government overreach. But survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein are fighting against Blanche for an entirely different reason.

“My message would be that if you have a daughter, or you have a son, or you have grandchildren, put them first because Todd Blanche isn’t gonna put them first. He puts himself and the president first. That’s it,” Sharlene Rochard, a survivor of Epstein’s sex trafficking, said about senators who will vote for Blanche’s nomination. 

Survivors have heavily criticized Blanche’s handling of the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation—in particular, releasing files that included the names of Epstein’s victims, not investigating and prosecuting perpetrators, and giving preferential treatment to Epstein’s collaborator, Ghislaine Maxwell, they say. On Wednesday, survivors and advocates railed against Blanche’s nomination at the launch event for the “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Bookmobile,” a mobile exhibit of the Epstein files created by Defiance.org and the Institute for Primary Facts. The bookmobile is intended to bring the Epstein files to voters, particularly those in red states, as it travels across the country. After the morning event, the group decamped to Capitol Hill and went office to office to hand out copies of the Epstein files to senators.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on Blanche Thursday morning, but Republican committee Chair Chuck Grassley announced at the end of the day Wednesday that it would be postponed. Blanche has a razor-thin margin; just one “no” vote would sink his nomination. GOP Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, the main holdouts on Blanche, have said they’re more concerned about his position on President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” than on his attitude toward the Epstein files.

“I’m focused on other issues,” Cornyn said Wednesday when I asked if he had a message for the Epstein survivors. “It’s a terrible tragedy, but that’s between them and the attorney general.” 

Cornyn and Tillis have asked to see Blanche confirm, in writing, that the slush fund is dead in the water. Without that written confirmation, Cornyn said Wednesday, he is “not prepared to vote ‘yes.’”

Some Democrats are optimistic that their Republican colleagues’ opposition could end Blanche’s chance to be attorney general. “But I’ve seen this movie before,” Senator Richard Blumenthal told me. “I have no great optimism that they will act to do the right thing.” Senator Ron Wyden, at least publicly, was more hopeful. “We think we’ve got a real shot at winning,” he said after the bookmobile launch, at which he spoke. “I think [Republicans] are really rattled. They ought to be!”

When asked about the Epstein survivors’ opposition to Blanche, Tillis tried to paint a positive picture: “I just talked to some of the Epstein survivors,” he said. Alongside Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, Tillis had pushed for Blanche to meet with survivors, which Blanche then did on July 16. “Keep in mind: Blanche is the first person, official, senior official from the DOJ since 2007 that’s met with them. That’s something to build on.” 

Jena-Lisa Jones, who grew up in Palm Beach County, Florida, and was abused by Epstein when she was 14 years old, wasn’t impressed by the meeting. “He asked to speak to the survivors, and it was a very last-minute thing, which I think was to cover his own—pardon my French—ass,” she said. “I think it was a waste of our time and, unfortunately, a joke.”

Rochard, for her part, had no interest in attending the meeting with Blanche. “The reason I chose not to go is because it felt forced,” she said, as though Blanche just wanted “to check a box.” She also pointed out that the meeting was just one hour long, while last year, as deputy attorney general, Blanche spent nine hours over two days with Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice and convicted sex offender. Shortly after that meeting, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security prison.

As for Cornyn and Tillis, Jones told me: “We hope that they stand with us and vote ‘no,’ but the way things have played out and how our government runs, anything can happen.”

—Emma Janssen  

Outside Washington

About those gas stoves … 

Remember the gas stove war of 2023? Studies had been steadily emerging for years showing that gas stoves were leaking harmful substances into homes, and in January of that year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg that the government could potentially regulate the devices. Conservatives immediately lost it, falsely claimed the Biden administration was going to “ban all gas ovens,” and started tweeting out “Don’t Tread on Me” and gun rights memes with stove images subbed in.

Now, an update on all that: The Washington Post on Wednesday reported the striking results from a pioneering study led by a Case Western professor: Replacing the gas stoves of people suffering from asthma quickly reduced the number of asthma attacks. The finding comes after the Trump administration canceled the study’s $18 million grant, torpedoing the intended sample size: Researchers could only replace 85 stoves instead of the intended 1,200. Nevertheless, the Post’s Jake Spring reports, “removing the gas stoves relieved the participants’ asthma so much that the results were clear even with only 85 of them, according to two scientists who reviewed the methodology but were not involved in the study.”

The gas stove culture wars are far from over. Last month, a conservative group succeeded in getting a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a “right to natural gas” on the ballot in Colorado—voters will decide on that in November. (Also notable: Back in 2023, 29 House Democrats joined Republicans in a bit of political theater, passing a bill to block a federal gas stove ban that was not in fact being proposed.)

Elsewhere:

• The incident revealed last week, in which OpenAI’s large language model “agent” broke out of its “sandbox” to hack a random company, was worse than initially reported: The agent actually targeted four other companies, too.
• Across the country, budget shortages, driver shortages, and declining public school enrollment are threatening the iconic yellow school bus, The Guardian’s Eric Berger reports. Related, in case you missed it: The Washington Post’s report last week on the rising number of public school closures in recent years. 

—Heather Souvaine Horn

The Ideas Factory

KFF finds Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) enrollment numbers down after “several years of rapid enrollment growth.” The likely culprit: expiring subsidies, which dramatically raised people’s premiums. The GOP decided in late 2025 to let the subsidies expire rather than renew them.

The Center for American Progress releases a report by Gréta Bedekovics and Devon Ombres on the status of state laws resembling the currently stalled federal SAVE Act. These laws require “Americans to provide proof of their citizenship, chiefly a passport or birth certificate, to register to vote or stay registered.” Fourteen states already have laws like this, and more are considering bills or ballot measures. 

Data for Progress crunches the numbers and finds that, perhaps contrary to prevailing wisdom, “compared with a Democratic candidate who rejects outside PAC money, Democratic candidates who take money from AIPAC, AI companies, cryptocurrency companies, and pharmaceutical companies perform significantly worse against a Republican candidate averaged across all funding sources.”

In case you missed it: The Groundwork Collaborative and the Century Foundation find that back-to-school supplies and “lunchbox essentials” are set to cost families “close to $400 more per kid” this year, due to rising prices. “Nearly half of all parents report cutting back on other expenses to make room in the budget for back-to-school expenses, or worse, taking on debt.”

—Heather Souvaine Horn

In Closing

Here’s Why That’s B.S.  

What’s the deal with Mitch McConnell’s health?

Two weeks after Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear asked for an update on absent Senator Mitch McConnell, the senator’s staff still hasn’t released anything aside from a hospital photo of him smiling. Watch TNR’s Edie Olmsted unpack the situation.

Political Trivia Question of the Day

The Senate continues to weigh Todd Blanche’s fate. It’s rare indeed that the Senate has voted down a president’s attorney general nominee. It last happened nearly a century ago. Who was it? (If you know the answer to that, we’ll be impressed!) 

 Meanwhile, an easier question: A fairly recent president nominated two people in a row who were forced to withdraw their nominations. Who were they, and why did they withdraw? The reason was the same in both instances. (Sign up for The Blue Book to find the answer in tomorrow’s newsletter.)

Note to privacy-conscious vandals: If you're going to destroy Flock license plate readers, make sure you also take out the other CCTV cameras in the area that could catch you in your crime. Otherwise, you'll end up like one unlucky Californian. Marcus Bee, 40, was arrested by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, accused of joining the ever-growing band of US citizens damaging the controversial cameras popping up across the country. A police report filed this week stated that Bee, of Pismo Beach, was arrested on suspicion of attacking at least three Flock cameras in Lockwood and Bradley. According to the deflock.org website, which maps Flock camera deployments, there are only three of the automated license plate readers (ALPRs) running in the two communities – one in Lockwood and two in Bradley, roughly 25 miles away. Police allege Bee caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to “public safety infrastructure.” Monterey County Sheriff’s Office added that Bee was caught after “his actions were captured by other surveillance cameras located nearby,” along with other investigative leads. "This arrest sends a clear message that anyone who intentionally damages public safety equipment will be identified, arrested, and held accountable," said Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto. "These cameras have become an invaluable investigative resource that helps us solve crimes, recover stolen vehicles and ag equipment, locate missing persons, and protect our communities. Any attempts to disable these systems will not prevent us from doing our job. “In this case, the suspect's own actions were captured on surveillance cameras, leading directly to his arrest. We will continue to aggressively investigate these crimes and seek prosecution against anyone who targets public safety infrastructure." Bee was jailed with bail set at $30,000. The case follows a similar one in Georgia last week, although local police were unable to identify the suspect(s) behind the two attacks, which involved setting two ALPRs on fire. The two attacks were timed fairly close together, although the phenomenon of inflicting criminal damage onto Flock cameras is something of a long-running trend. Several US police forces have been tasked with arresting alleged Flock vandals, including Jeffrey Scott Sovern, 41, who authorities believe was behind a spate of attacks on ALPR cameras in North Suffolk, Virginia, between April and October 2025. He said, at a hearing in June, that he believed the technology was unconstitutional. Flock cameras: A problem or simply misunderstood? Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said Flock’s cameras “are an important investigative tool” used to help solve various types of crimes, including missing persons cases, car thefts, and violent crimes such as shootings and homicides where suspect vehicles are involved. Contrary to the opinions held by many, it went on to say that the cameras “are used exclusively to support legitimate criminal investigations,” and refuted the notion that they are used to support the US government’s anti-immigration efforts. Likewise, Flock has repeatedly denied offering contracts to agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), although reports suggest police were instead carrying out searches on ICE's behalf. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has also allegedly used Flock data in its own immigration investigations. Other critiques of the technology used by thousands of police departments across the US include problematic abuses, such as police officers using it to stalk romantic interests. The Institute of Justice is aware of at least 26 cases of this behavior, it reported earlier this month, with the majority taking place since 2024. Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) takes issue with the scale of data gathering by ALPRs. It claims that less than 1 percent of the cars scanned are connected to crime, yet they still have details added to a database, such as vehicle manufacturer, model, color, license plate number, bumper stickers, and scratches. Flock CEO Garrett Langley claimed this week in an interview with The Drive that the company’s cameras were used to solve around 1 million crimes across the US last year. Responding to claims such as Sovern’s – that the cameras are unconstitutional, specifically that they violate Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights – Langley said there are no legal issues, and he doesn’t foresee any arising in the future. Flock’s spokespeople have repeatedly condemned the cases of camera vandalism, highlighting the risk of losing evidence that could be crucial to solving ongoing criminal cases. ®

Netflix just signed a massive new licensing agreement worth $500 million to bring The Walking Dead Universe to international markets.

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⚡ Quick Take

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s showrunners confirm a love triangle is brewing between Celeborn, Galadriel, and Sauron.

At San Diego Comic-Con, actor Benjamin Walker, who plays Gil-galad in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, offered the following popular assertion to Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Celeborn in the series. Walker said, “You’ve been in the Middle-earth equivalent of sadistic Alcatraz for a thousand years. You’ve come out and realized Sauron has slid into your wife’s DMs…” And the crowd goes wild. Speaking to the cast and showrunner after the panel, I take these thoughts to the showrunners of The Rings of Power. Was Walker correct to frame the relationship between Celeborn, Galadriel, and Sauron as a complicated relationship tangle, indeed, I say, as “a little bit of a love triangle?” And to that, The Rings of Power‘s showrunners, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, offer me. “Yes.” And then take a beat and confirm again, “The answer to your question is yes, absolutely.” And yes, folks, I did literally say, “Love Triangle.”

Prime Video

So there you have it; something is brewing between Sauron, Galadriel, and Celeborn this season on The Rings of Power. Celeborn and Galadriel, of course, are husband and wife, and the pair share a strong romantic bond tragically complicated by separation… Or is that tragically complicated by Sauron?

Meanwhile, the question of what kind of love Galadriel has for Sauron is a complicated one. But I think we can all agree that during her time spent with Halbrand, and into The Rings of Power season two, Galadriel felt an incredibly strong bond and intimacy with the Dark Lord. She trusted who she perceived him to be, let him into her heart and confidences, and admitted that “fighting at his side” was a feeling unlike any she had experienced before. In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two, Galadriel does tell Sauron that her mind is shut to him… But you can bet she hears Sauron knocking in season three, likely even after Celeborn comes back into Galadriel’s life. And that knocking probably won’t be so easy to ignore.

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Morfydd Clark Dives Into Galadriel & Adar’s Bond, Sauron’s Lasting Hurt, TROP TikTok and All Things THE RINGS OF POWER Season 2

Charlie Vickers tells us that for his part, Sauron probably wasn’t really listening to Galadriel’s rejection all that closely. He offers with a grin, “I think in Sauron’s mind, maybe Galadriel didn’t reject him. I think he just tried to ignore that.” Next to him, Daniel Weyman, who plays Gandalf, chimes in, “Classic denial.” That seems right for us when it comes to the Dark Lord. Sauron offered Galadriel a crown and a kingdom. He wanted her to be his Queen, and his readiness to believe that she’d succumb to that temptation lost him her elven ring and let her get away. That’s seducing the seducer, everyone.

Prime Video

But a triangle has three legs. And it sounds like Celeborn and Sauron have their own fascinating relationship in play, in addition to their feelings about Galadriel. Vickers confirms that Celeborn and Sauron will meet in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season three. And when they do, it doesn’t seem like it will be for the first time. In fact, Vickers notes, “They have their own shared history.” And in full offers, “I mean, the thing with Celeborn is when Sauron meets Celeborn, if Sauron meets Celeborn, well, let’s face it, they’re going to meet at some point. They have their own shared history. They’ve both been around for hundreds of years. So they have their own kind of thing.” Vickers mimes two people meeting and recognizing one another, “Oh, it’s like, oh.” And laughs again, “And then there’s also this other added thing of, by the way, ‘I’ve been hanging out with your wife.” Hanging out with Galadriel will likely make Celeborn and Sauron’s reunion a bit awkward, alright.

Sold to Saurondrielborn? Or is it Celerondriel? Well, whichever it is, we cannot wait for whatever “love triangle” shenanigans ensure between Sauron, Galadriel, and Celeborn this season in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The Rings of Power season three premieres on Prime Video on November 11. The full release schedule can be found here.

The post Sauron/Galadriel/Celeborn ‘Love Triangle’? ‘Absolutely Yes’ Say RINGS OF POWER Showrunners appeared first on Nerdist.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apparently thinks the best use of his time is to co-host a celebrity cooking show.

Kennedy told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview that he’s launching a new cooking series called The Real Food Show Thursday in order to spread the Trump administration’s new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which go all in on meat and dairy.

The show will include celebrity chefs and highlight Kennedy’s favorite fermented foods, including kimchi, yogurt, and sauerkraut. The first episode, available on the Department of Health and Human Services website, features chef Andrew Gruel making “Crispy Salmon Cakes with Apple, White Bean & Green Salad.”

The show comes after Kennedy inverted the food pyramid to prioritize full-fat dairy and protein at every meal, as well as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. He’s pushed beef tallow and butter over seed oils, which he demonizes despite the fact that they are associated with lowering the risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Meanwhile, the government is dealing with several food-related crises, from a parasite outbreak on produce that causes explosive diarrhea to a salmonella scare affecting eggs in Texas. The New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, has infested cattle in Texas and spread to other states, causing an estimated $1 billion in damages. Many of the issues with tainted food can be traced back to last year’s decision to slash a federal-state partnership responsible for overseeing food contaminants.

Why is Kennedy directing his attention to making cooking videos instead of managing these real problems? One reason could be that Kennedy has reportedly “checked out” of his job and barely attends meetings, showing up to work at 10 a.m. only to leave around 4 p.m. He seems to care only about overhauling dietary guidelines and pushing an anti-vaccine agenda. The latter has led to a 35-year record high for measles cases in the U.S.

Kennedy should not have his job, but the only heat he’s getting from President Trump is that he’s not going after childhood vaccines hard enough. As long as he remains a Cabinet secretary, Kennedy will be spending his time doing influencer-type stuff instead of safeguarding the health of Americans.

A new study estimates only 2,000 U.S. engineers have the expertise to deliver meaningful AI ROI, as enterprises race to hire forward-deployed engineers to implement AI at scale.

President Donald Trump’s approval rating took a nosedive this week, with multiple high-quality polls showing Trump in the low 30% range—the floor of support for presidents in the highly politically polarized climate in which we live. The Associated Press on Thursday released a poll showing Trump at 33%, while on Wednesday both CNN and Quinnipiac released surveys showing Trump at 34% and 32%

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