- Michelle Yeoh Says Oscar Snubs Happen and ‘There’s No Guarantee’ You Get Nominated Amid ‘Barbie’ Controversy: ‘It’s So Competitive Out There’ Variety
- Why Diablo Cody Doesn’t Fixate on Those Barbie Snubs: ‘I Would Trade My Oscar for a Billion-Dollar Movie’ (Exclusive) PEOPLE
- Bill Maher Chimes in on ‘Barbie’ Oscars Controversy on ‘Real Time’: “Is This Really the Patriarchy?” Hollywood Reporter
- Whoopi Goldberg pushes back against ‘Barbie’ snubs at 2024 Oscars: ‘Everybody doesn’t win’ USA TODAY
- Opinion: The ‘Barbie’ outrage is missing a very important point’ CNN
Tag Archives: competitive
Kate Middleton and Prince William are revealed to be ‘super competitive’ as they appear on Mike Tindall’s podc – Daily Mail
- Kate Middleton and Prince William are revealed to be ‘super competitive’ as they appear on Mike Tindall’s podc Daily Mail
- Kate Middleton and Prince William Make Surprise Appearance on Another Royal Family Member’s Podcast PEOPLE
- Prince William & Kate Middleton Might Be Taking a Page Out of Harry & Meghan’s Book with This Latest Media Venture Yahoo Entertainment
- Meghan Markle, Prince Harrys major critic praises Kate Middleton Geo News
- Kate Middleton Plays Beer Pong! Mike Tindall Shares Princess’ ‘Uber Competitive’ Side on Podcast PEOPLE
- View Full Coverage on Google News
High school volleyball player urges legislators to ban transgender people from competitive sport – Daily Mail
- High school volleyball player urges legislators to ban transgender people from competitive sport Daily Mail
- Female Volleyball Player Testifies to Physical, Mental Trauma since Injury by Trans Athlete Yahoo News
- High school volleyball player says she suffered concussion after being injured by trans athlete, calls for ban Fox News
- Injured North Carolina volleyball player urges transgender ban for female sports teams in schools New York Post
- High School Girl Injured By Trans Volleyball Player Still Suffering, Calls For Ban Of Biological Men In Women’s Sports OutKick
- View Full Coverage on Google News
DeSantis may just have made the Republican National Committee chair race a lot more competitive
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may have made the race for the new Republican National Committee chair a lot more competitive on the eve of the election.
Ronna McDaniel, seeking her fourth term as chair, appeared to have her reelection bid locked up, with over 100 members declaring their support for her. But that was before DeSantis weighed in on the race during an interview with “The Charlie Kirk Show” Thursday.
“We’ve had 3 substandard election cycles in a row, ’18, ’20, and ’22, and I’d say ’22 was the worst…I think we need a change,” DeSantis said. “I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC. I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said.”
The Dhillon team had DeSantis as one of her endorsements on her website, but then an a short time later took it down — something Mc Daniel supporters quickly pointed out to CBS.
Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group via Getty Images
Dhillon herself said it was “not an endorsement” but her supporters at RNC winter meetings have been touting it as such. Dhillon herself told CBS News that it adds momentum to her candidacy. The DeSantis remarks had shaken up the election but McDaniel is still the favorite to win Friday’s election.
But Dhillon told CBS News that she was happy to have the vote of confidence from the popular Florida governor.
“I’m gratified that a party leader of Gov. DeSantis’ stature recognizes the problem,” she told CBS News after his remarks. “Recognizing the problem was the first step in fixing your problem. So, I hope to work with leaders across the party spectrum.”
She said that DeSantis’ comments, along with the recent endorsement of the Young Republicans of New York has given her candidacy “a lot of momentum.”
McDaniel needs to get to 85 and she is expected to do so. One Dhillon supporter said it was still “an uphill climb” for the California challenger.
Dhillon has maintained that the party must make changes in order to win in 2024, a sentiment echoed by DeSantis. Dhillon said, “I’m saying if we don’t make these changes, we will not win.”
The Republican National Committee is meeting in Dana Point, California, this week to select a new chair to lead the party’s infrastructure going into the 2024 election cycle after the party’s disappointing showing in the midterm elections. Republicans won a slim majority in the House but failed to flip the Senate.
Dhillon, an attorney for former President Donald Trump and Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are competing to unseat McDaniel.
Trump has said he’ll “let them fight it out.”
On Thursday night, the three candidates spoke at a forum and took questions from the 168 members.
McDaniel spoke the longest, according to RNC officials in room, and she was the only one given a standing ovation following her remarks, according to McDaniel supporters in the room.
One Of Competitive Pokémon’s Top Picks Is Freaking Murkrow
While competitive players continue to plumb Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s strategic depth and tease out its tactical wrinkles, one creature has gotten a shocking amount of playtime over the last month: Murkrow. The unevolved flying dark type isn’t a heavy hitter and its stats are absolute trash, but it does have a unique advantage over every other Pokémon in the game that’s sent it straight to the top of the competitive charts.
Browse social media, hang out on the Smogon message boards, or climb the ranked ladder and you won’t be able to escape Murkrow. The tiny black bird first introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver is finally back in the spotlight, and former Pokémon World Champion Wolfe “WolfeyVGC” Glick explained the reasons why in a recent TikTok:
The first is Tailwind, a move the Gen 2 bird has had from the jump, but which is supremely important in the current landscape, providing all other Pokémon on the team bonus speed for four turns. The second is Prankster, a passive ability that lets Murkow’s non-damage-dealing moves, like Tailwind, take increased turn priority during battles, thus allowing it to strike first. In Scarlet and Violet’s Gen 9, Murkrow is the only Pokémon who has both, guaranteeing a match-defining speed boost on turn one.
But why Murkrow and not its evolved form of Honchkrow? Well, Murkrow’s evolved form loses Prankster in exchange for the damage-oriented passive ability Moxie, ruining the whole strategy. Plus, players can mitigate some of Murkrow’s drawbacks by equipping the held item Eviolite which boosts the normal and special defense of Pokémon who aren’t fully evolved.
“Don’t get me wrong, the combination of Prankster is really good but it isn’t the only reason that Murkrow is popular,” WolfeyVGC added in his recent TikTok. “Murkrow also gets the attack Haze which removes all stat changes from the battlefield. This is relevant because one of the most powerful new Pokémon added is Dondozo who has a way to boost all of its stats by 2.” Haze completely nullifies that, making Murkrow a perfect counter to Dondozo in addition to being a major utility pick for boosting the rest of your team.
That’s been enough to make Murkrow the second most picked Pokémon in competitive play for December, just one percentage point behind all-star crypto coin mascot Gholdengo. As WolfeyVGC wrote in a Twitter thread a couple of weeks ago, Gholdengo’s dual ghost/steel type make it a great defensive pick, while special ability Make it Rain does a ton of damage.
The Swords-Dance-wielding Garchomp and Bulk Up defensive tank Annihilape are also top contenders, as is Hydreigon who can finally use the new games’ Terastalization mechanic to mitigate its traditional 4X weakness to Fairy-type moves. The mushroom bug Amoonguss, meanwhile, has been tearing things up thanks to Rage Powder which forces opponents to target it rather than buff themselves.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Reportedly Getting Price Cut By Mid of December To Make It Competitive Against AMD’s 7900 XTX
NVIDIA is reportedly going to offer an official price cut on its GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card by the mid of December, as reported by Chinese Board Channels.
NVIDIA Reportedly Preps GeForce RTX 4080 Price Cuts For Mid-December, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Threat Reconsidered?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card has been a miss so far when it comes to performance per dollar value. The graphics card has been the largest price bump for an 80 series card that we’ve ever seen at $1199 US and despite shipping lower quantities than the higher-end RTX 4090 cards, the new graphics card doesn’t seem to be selling well and is still available in abundance at retailers. Even scalpers who got the card on launch day have been struggling to get the cards off their hands.
Now, as per a report by the Chinese Board Channels, certain sources have pointed out that NVIDIA is prepping up a price cut for the GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card. The price cut is expected to be announced by the mid of December which is right when AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 series cards will be available on retail shelves.
According to boardchannels, RTX 4080 will be adjusted price in mid-Dec.
However, the source emphasized price cut isn’t afraid of RDNA3, but from its own considerations. Price is appropriately reduced to improve price-perf ratio and stimulate sales.https://t.co/M0bXfHqDZI
— 포시포시 (@harukaze5719) December 5, 2022
The board channels also report that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 price cuts are not in fear of the imminent competition by the Radeon RX 7900 XTX & RX 7900 XT graphics cards but in fact due to NVIDIA reconsidering the cost and performance value to allow for better sales figures on the card. Personally, I’d say it’s a mix of both as the Radeon RX 7900 XTX at $999 US being the $200 US lower in pricing is definitely far more attractive to consumers than NVIDIA’s offering. A price cut on the GeForce RTX 4080 would also mean that the RTX 4070 Ti which launches in January may also not feature the $899 US pricing of the “Unlaunched’ GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB graphics card as it was supposed to.
We can’t say for sure how much price NVIDIA will be dropping for the GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card but one could expect to bring it closer to the 7900 XTX, say $1049 or $1099 US. Whether the performance holds against the Radeon offering remains to be seen since the benchmarks for the competition aren’t out yet. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is also now available below the MSRP in the European market thanks to the US/EU currency adjustment.
What would you consider a decent price for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card?Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.
News Source: MyDrivers
Competitive Pokémon community Smogon bans 4 powerful Pokémon
With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet being out for a couple weeks now, Pokémon players are quickly learning the ins and outs of each and every Pokémon. The competitive community, in particular, is quick to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of new Pokémon and their moves. And one of those communities, Smogon University, has already eliminated four overpowered Pokémon from its competitive community.
Smogon is a community with forums and matchmaking for competitive battles; it’s got a number of different formats for a variety of Pokémon games, including Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It’s a huge community with thousands of active battlers, and its most popular format is called OverUsed, or OU. It’s not an official competitive community, and it’s unaffiliated with the Pokémon Video Game Championship (VCG), which is run by The Pokémon Company. Smogon’s rules apply only to their community, not official Pokémon events. (Additionally, most of Smogon’s rulesets are for singles matches, while the VGC format uses double battles exclusively.)
Rules and Pokémon tier levels are managed by a group of nine council members who are particularly skilled at Pokémon battles — for a Pokémon to be banned, seven out of nine members have to vote in favor of a ban. Why ban a Pokémon from a competitive community? Well, these Pokémon would quickly overpower the meta, making the format much less fun or fair. And if you do want to use these Pokémon, you’re welcome to move over to another (less popular) format.
The first two Pokémon to be banned were Flutter Mane, a Paradox Pokémon, and Houndstone, the Greavard evolution, as GameRant reported. Flutter Mane, for one, is a Pokémon that’s hard to match — it’s got powerful advantages as a fairy/ghost Pokémon, along with huge special attack and speed stats, Smogon wrote. Houndstone, on the other hand, isn’t especially overpowered, but a single move is — Last Respects. The move gains strength as other Pokémon faint, giving it a massive blast of power if it’s the last Pokémon standing, or close to it. This is a bigger deal in single battles in the OU tier than in VGC’s double battles, since singles teams have six Pokémon — doubles teams only have four, so Last Respects can do more damage in singles. Smogon considered banning just the move, but Houndstone is currently the only monster in Scarlet and Violet that can use it; if that changes, this ruling may, too.
Image: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo via Polygon
On Friday, Smogon’s council voted to ban two more Pokémon: Palafin and Iron Bundle. Palafin is the adorable dolphin Pokémon with a super powerful ability called Zero to Hero, which turns the dolphin into a superhero, basically. Like Houndstone, Palafin looks relatively harmless, but the Zero to Hero ability is what takes it over the edge. Councilmembers called it “far too powerful, demanding, and low-cost.” As Smogon’s council explained, in its Hero form, Palafin has a base stat total of 650; for context, this is higher than that of Mega Charizard as well as some popular legendary Pokémon in the competitive scene, like Cresselia, Thundurus, and Landorus. Only a handful of Pokémon, most of them legendary, have higher base stat totals, and most of those have similarly not been allowed in Smogon’s OU tiers.
Iron Bundle, the Delibird-like Paradox Pokémon, was the next to get cut, due to its exceptional offensive abilities that are too hard to defend against, though it was the only one of the four banned Pokémon whose banning was not unanimous. The group’s gone in depth on why each of these creatures was banned on the Smogon forums.
At that time, Smogon’s council voted on a few other Pokémon, too, like Cyclizar, Chien-Pao, and Annihilape. As the OU metagame changes, the council will likely analyze these and more Pokémon again. After all, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are still in the early days, and there’s a lot more to discover.
But look, here’s the thing: If you’re just playing with your friends, use these Pokémon to absolutely wreck them. No rules there!
[Disclosure: Kallie Plagge worked for Nintendo as a localization writer and editor from April 2021 to March 2022 for the games Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Dragalia Lost, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Mario Kart Tour. This affiliation will be disclosed in any content that relates to Nintendo-published games, and she will not cover any games she directly worked on.]
Tiger Woods returns to competitive golf at Hero World Challenge
Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf for the first time in nearly five months when he tees it up in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Dec. 1-4, he announced on his Twitter account Wednesday.
Woods, 46, hasn’t played since missing the cut at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews on July 15. The 15-time major champion made just three starts this past season; he was 47th at the Masters in April and withdrew after 54 holes at the PGA Championship in May.
The Hero World Challenge, which benefits Woods’ foundation, will be played in Albany, outside Nassau. The 20-man field also includes Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. Norway’s Viktor Hovland is the defending champion.
Woods announced Wednesday that Kevin Kisner and Tommy Fleetwood would round out the field.
Woods is still recovering from serious injuries he suffered in a car wreck outside Los Angeles in February 2021. He said doctors nearly amputated his right leg because of his injuries.
Woods announced Monday that he will be playing in The Match at Pelican Golf Club outside Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 10. He’ll team up with Rory McIlroy in a 12-hole match against Spieth and Thomas under the lights.
Woods is also expected to play with his son, Charlie, in the PNC Championship in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 17-18. He hasn’t yet officially announced that he’ll play in that event.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Competitive Play Trailer Reveals Cyclizar Alongside New Moves and Items
A new competitive play trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet was released and it revealed new moves, new items, and Cyclizar, a Dragon and Normal type Pokemon that very well may be the pre-evolution of these new games’ legendary Pokemon Miraidon and Koraidon.
The trailer was revealed during the 2022 Pokemon World Championships and gave us another look at battles in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Cyclizar was one of the main focuses of the new footage and, as you can see below, the new Pokemon not only resembles the previously mentioned legendaries in look, but it can be used as a mount in-game like Miraidon and Koraidon. Their connection hasn’t been confirmed one way or another, but the clues are there to lead to the possibility.
Cyclizar, Koraidon, and Miraidon
On Pokemon.com, it is reaveled that Cyclizar “has lived in many households in the Paldea region since ancient times. It has a mild disposition, and people riding Cyclizar are a very common sight. It appears Cyclizar don’t mind being ridden because the warmth of a rider helps stave off the cold.”
It can also sprint over 70 MPH while carrying a human, and it comes with a new move called Shed Tail that “creates a substitute for [Cyclizar] using its own HP before switching places with a party Pokémon in waiting.”
We were also shown a few items in the trailer and on Pokemon.com, and they are as follows;
- Mirror Herb: This herb will allow the holder to mirror an opponent’s stat increases and boost its own stats–but only once.
- Covert Cloak: This hooded cloak conceals the holder, protecting it from the additional effects of moves.
- Loaded Dice: If a Pokémon holding this item uses a multistrike move, that move will be more likely to hit more times.
Lastly, Terastallizing was showcased and teased the phenomenon in the Paldea region that makes Pokemon “shine and glimmer like gems.” Alongside looking extra sparkly, Terastallizing in battle changes the type of your Pokemon to its Tera Type.
There is also a TM that can teach Pokemon the Normal-type move Tera Blast which will become a move of the same type as the Pokemon’s Tera Type.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be released on Nintendo Switch on November 18, 2022. For more, check out how these new games will have three story campaigns that you can tackle in any order, our wiki page that has gathered all the new Pokemon revealed so far, and what it was like for IGN’s Joshua Yehl to compete in the Pokemon TCG World Championships for the first time.
We were also given a glimpse of Koraidon and Miraidon in the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and they will obviously be two of the cards featured in the upcoming Scarlet and Violet sets.
(ex)pect the unexpected, #PokemonTCG: Scarlet & Violet! pic.twitter.com/xg5bcpKMPN
— Pokémon TCG (@PokemonTCG) August 21, 2022
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Trump considers rescinding his endorsement of Mo Brooks in Alabama’s competitive Senate primary
“I am baffled by the view that we can do something right now to put Donald Trump into office today,” Brooks said in a local radio interview Thursday, one day after he told an Alabama newspaper there was no “legal” mechanism by which Trump could be reinstalled as president.
“Whoever is giving him that advice is misleading President Trump,” Brooks told AL.com.
While Trump has been seething over Brooks’ lackluster campaign performance for several months now, four people familiar with the situation told CNN that he has reached his breaking point and is weighing when and how he might pursue a course correction in the contentious Republican primary to succeed retiring Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby. Two of these people said a phone call that took place between Trump and Brooks earlier this week precipitated Trump’s decision to publicly criticize Brooks in an interview with the Washington Examiner that published Wednesday.
“He basically said, ‘What is wrong with you? Why aren’t you doing better?’ and Mo said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,'” recounted a person familiar with their conversation.
Trump endorsed Brooks last April, saying in a statement at the time that “few Republicans have as much courage and fight” as the Alabama congressman, who was the first House Republican to challenge the tally of Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021.
A person close to Trump, who told the Examiner that Brooks has been “disappointing,” said the former President felt that Brooks shrugged off his concerns during their most recent conversation and has been taking his endorsement for granted. Brooks is competing against Katie Britt, who served as chief of staff to Shelby and later became president of the Alabama Business Council, and US Army veteran Mike Durant, both of whom have benefited from heavy spending on their behalf from outside groups involved in the race.
Brook has been “a bad candidate running a bad campaign,” said veteran GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin, a Trump campaign pollster who is not affiliated with any of the three candidates.
The dust-up with Brooks has left Trump in an uncomfortable position, said people close to the former President. On one hand, many of his top allies have strongly advised him against issuing a second endorsement in the race. They are fearful that it could dilute the power of his endorsement in other contests, making it less desirable in primaries where he hasn’t already chosen a candidate and causing long-term damage to his reputation as a kingmaker inside the Republican Party. On the other hand, Trump is highly sensitive about picking losing candidates and has become increasingly convinced that Brooks is not going to make it to the runoff contest that is likely to follow Alabama’s May 24 primary.
“He is definitely in a bind, and it’s one of the reasons why he wants to wait until the last minute to endorse in other races. This has been a lesson in the danger of an early endorsement,” one Trump adviser said.
The Brooks campaign disputed that the Alabama congressman is at risk of losing his Trump endorsement anytime soon, suggesting that he has several allies inside Trump’s orbit who may talk the former President out of co-endorsing another candidate or abandoning his support for Brooks.
“Mo Brooks has a lot of strong allies in the MAGA movement and a lot of allies who do have the President’s ear, and it’s a safe guess that Trump is going to have a lot of Mo Brooks’ friends going to bat for him,” a Brooks campaign aide said.
In a statement to CNN, Brooks campaign spokesman Will Hampson accused Britt’s campaign of circulating a poll commissioned by the Alabama Forestry Association (and conducted by McLaughlin’s firm) that showed Britt and Durant leading Brooks, in an effort to catch Trump’s attention. Hampson also said Brooks has embraced Trump’s false claims about massive voter fraud in the 2020 election and still has a May 4 fundraiser scheduled at Mar-a-Lago, which Brooks’ campaign touted to CNN.
On Thursday, Brooks also released his first ad of the cycle, claiming he is the only candidate in the race who stood with Trump “against voter fraud on January 6th.” However, neither of his competitor were serving in Congress at the time the House voted to certify the 2020 election results.
Brooks commits a ‘cardinal sin’
Trump has been irritated with Brooks’ messaging about 2020 ever since August, when the conservative congressman told a MAGA-friendly audience gathered for a Trump rally in Cullman, Alabama, that they should put the last presidential contest behind them. The comment garnered a cold reaction from the crowd and led to Trump griping privately to aides that Brooks embarrassed himself and the former President.
Over the next several months, as Trump watched Britt and Durant outraise his choice in the primary and was reminded of Brooks’ anti-Trump comments during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, he grew increasingly frustrated with the state of Brooks’ campaign. A person close to Trump said the former President backed off his criticism after Brooks shook up his campaign staff earlier this year but noted that Trump’s frustration returned after witnessing no discernible improvement over the course of several weeks.
“He feels he has been more than patient and that Mo hasn’t risen to the occasion despite many opportunities to do so,” the person close to Trump said.
It was the phone call earlier this week that finally put Trump over the edge, leaving him so frustrated with Brooks that he unloaded on the Alabama congressman in his comments to the Examiner, this person said.
“I’m disappointed that he gave an inarticulate answer and I’ll have to find out what he means,” Trump said, referring to Brooks’ comments about 2020 at the Cullman rally. “If it meant what he sounded like, I would have no problem changing [my endorsement] because when you endorse somebody, you endorse somebody based on principle.”
Trump continued, “If he changed that principle, I would have no problem doing that. I’m determining right now, has Mo Brooks — has he changed?”
Several aides and advisers were shocked late Wednesday when Brooks responded to Trump’s criticism by appearing to suggest that the former President was asking him to break the law “to remove Joe Biden from office so he can be president.”
In his interview with AL.com, Brooks said Trump was being told “that there are mechanisms by which he could have been returned to the White House in 2021 or in 2022, and it’s just not legal.”
“The law doesn’t permit that,” Brooks said.
Then, on Thursday, he reiterated in an interview with the “Alabama’s Morning News” podcast that Republicans “have to focus on the 2022 and 2024 elections.” Brooks also said he has not spoken to Trump since he publicly criticized him, adding that he was “totally baffled” by the former President’s comments.
One Trump adviser said Brooks committed a “cardinal sin” by suggesting that the the results of the 2020 election cannot be overturned, something Trump has remained fixated on since losing to now-President Joe Biden in November 2020. Even though this adviser and others in the former President’s orbit agree that there is no scenario in which Trump could be reinstated as president — in part because his claims of massive voter fraud have been repeatedly disproved in a number of states — the adviser said Brooks was saying “the quiet part out loud and it might cost him (Trump’s) support.”
One of Brooks’ top backers — the conservative Club for Growth — has stood by him even as his relationship with Trump has soured. In the hours after Brooks made the comments about the 2020 election on Wednesday, the group launched a new ad buy targeting Britt over her support for the 2019 state gas tax increase in Alabama when she was leading the Business Council. Reached by CNN on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the club said they did not have any further comment to add about Brooks or Trump’s criticism of him.
As he looks to turn his campaign around in the final two months of the Senate primary, Brooks will be joined next week by one MAGA heavyweight, Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, who has largely embraced Trump’s conspiracies about the 2020 election. The duo will host five events together across the state, according to the Brooks campaign aide.