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EXCLUSIVE: ‘Maybe we were asked for a favor?’ Secret Service accused of a ‘cover-up’ over its alleged involvement in police probe when Hunter Biden’s lover Hallie dropped his handgun in a trash can near a school in 2018

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Judicial Watch

From Daily Mail:

The Secret Service has been accused of a ‘cover-up’ over its alleged involvement in a police investigation when Hunter Biden‘s lover dumped his gun in a trash can near a school in 2018.

Judicial Watch, a justice watchdog nonprofit, announced on Friday that it received 487 pages of Secret Service (USSS) records over the incident, and says the documents cast further doubt over the agency’s claims that it was not involved.

Hunter’s lover and brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, left his .38 handgun at the top of a trash can at Jansens supermarket in Wilmington, Delaware in October 2018, sparking a police probe.

Read more here…

The post EXCLUSIVE: ‘Maybe we were asked for a favor?’ Secret Service accused of a ‘cover-up’ over its alleged involvement in police probe when Hunter Biden’s lover Hallie dropped his handgun in a trash can near a school in 2018 appeared first on Judicial Watch.

‘Encanto’ Is Hitting the Road for a Sing-Along Concert Tour: How to Buy Tickets

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, Variety

If you haven’t been able to get the tunes of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” or “Dos Oruguitas” out of your head since “Encanto” came out last November, you aren’t alone. Lin-Manuel Miranda packed ear worm after ear worm in the Academy Award-winning film, which received a nod for best original score at the 2022 […]

Wisconsin Democrats Using Dark Money Front Group To Attack Republican Senator Ron Johnson

Filed Under: Gateway Pundit, THE NEWS

Democrats have been going after Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin for months.

Now there is a new development in that story.

Despite constantly claiming that they want dark money out of politics, Democrats in Wisconsin are using a dark money front group to attack Johnson.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Wisconsin Dems Rely on Front Group To Attack Republican Incumbent While Decrying Dark Money

A “coalition of Wisconsin residents” that has been running TV attack ads against Sen. Ron Johnson (R.) is a front for a massive dark money group based in Washington, D.C., according to corporate registration records.

Opportunity Wisconsin said it has pumped at least $4 million into negative Johnson ads—including one on Friday blasting him for benefiting from a tax cut he helped pass—making it the most prevalent anti-Johnson group on the state’s airwaves. On its website, Opportunity Wisconsin bills itself as a “coalition of Wisconsin residents fighting for an economy that works for all Wisconsinites, not just the wealthy few” and touts a steering committee composed of state-level progressive activists.

But Opportunity Wisconsin doesn’t actually exist on paper. The name is a business alias for the North Fund, which is more than 600 miles away in Washington, D.C. The North Fund filed to conduct business under the name “Opportunity Wisconsin” in January 2020, according to D.C. corporate records. Opportunity Wisconsin did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Ron Johnson is talking to working people in Wisconsin.

And first responders.

Democrats have nothing to run on, so they’re just attacking people.

Cross posted from American Lookout.

The post Wisconsin Democrats Using Dark Money Front Group To Attack Republican Senator Ron Johnson appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Gayming Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

The winners of the Gayming Awards 2022 have been announced, with Life is Strange: True Colors beating out Boyfriend Dungeon, Psychonauts, and Unpacking to win Game of the Year.

The winners of the first ever live Gayming Awards were announced via a stream from the Troxy Theater in London on April 25. The biggest winner of the night was Life is Strange: True Colors, which triumphed in all three categories that it was nominated in, comprising Game of the Year, Authentic Representation, and Best LGBTQ Character.

In total, there were 11 categories honoring a selection of video games, tabletop games, comic books, and esports players that have championed diversity and inclusivity globally in 2022. Additionally, Tanya DePass picked up the Gayming Icon Award in recognition of the positive impact that the author and activist has brought to the LGBTQ community within gaming.

Prior to the event, Gayming Magazine also inducted six streamers into its Rising Star Class, which is new for 2022. The streamers were chosen to be part of this prestigious new class because they have all “made incredible strides in their streaming career over the last year and have made significant contributions to the LGBTQ+ world within the gaming space.”

“It was such an honor to celebrate these amazing creatives tonight,” said Robin Gray, CEO and founder of Gayming Magazine and the Gayming Awards, which initially launched in 2021 as an online event. “In our second year of the awards, it was important for us to again recognize all the LGBTQ representation in game and in the industry.”

The full list of winners from the Gayming Awards 2022 follows:

Game of the Year

  • Life is Strange: True Colors – WINNER
  • Boyfriend Dungeon
  • Psychonauts
  • Unpacking

Gayming Magazine Readers’ Award

  • Resident Evil Village – WINNER
  • Boyfriend Dungeon
  • Forza Horizon 5
  • Metroid Dread
  • Sable
  • Shin Megami Tensei V
  • Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
  • The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Industry Diversity Award

  • Ukie’s #RaiseTheGame pledge – WINNER
  • I Need Diverse Games
  • London Gaymers
  • Women in Games International

Authentic Representation Award

  • Life is Strange: True Colors – WINNER
  • Boyfriend Dungeon
  • Unpacking
  • Unsighted

Best LGBTQ Character Award

  • Alex Chen, Life is Strange: True Colors – WINNER
  • Helmut Fullbear & Bob Zanotto, Psychonauts 2
  • Steph Gingrich, Life is Strange: True Colors
  • Meredith Weiss, Lake

Best LGBTQ Indie Game Award

  • Unpacking – WINNER
  • A Year Of Springs
  • Boyfriend Dungeon
  • Lake
  • Sword of the Necromancer
  • When The Night Comes

LGBTQ Streamer Rising Star Class of ’22

  • ItsMeHollyy
  • Cruuuunchy
  • CoderGirlChan
  • LuciaEverblack
  • Luke_Boogie
  • Trish Olson

LGBTQ Streamer of the Year

  • Aimsey – WINNER
  • BlizzB3ar
  • CriticalBard
  • Eevoh
  • Eret
  • Nihachu
  • ReadySetBen
  • RekItRaven
  • Sammy M Jay
  • Shaaba and Jamie
  • Shawn
  • Toph

Best LGBTQ Comic Book Moment

  • The Pride Omnibus – WINNER
  • DC Pride #1
  • Killer Queens
  • X-Factor #10

LGBTQ Tabletop Game Award

  • Adventuring With Pride: Queer We Go Again – WINNER
  • The House Doesn’t Always Win
  • Thirsty Sword Lesbians
  • Wanderhome

Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports

  • Emi “CaptainFluke” Donaldson – WINNER
  • Amanda Stevens
  • Cloud9 White Valorant Team
  • Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association [CMSA]

If you’d like to find out more about Gayming Awards’ Game of the Year for 2022, check out IGN’s review of Life is Strange: True Colors, which praised Deck Nine for creating “the best game in the series to date,” thanks to “consistent writing for both main and side characters, a compelling mystery story with good pacing, useful supernatural abilities,” and so much more.

Another game will take the coveted top spot in the Game of the Year category when the show returns in early 2023, with the ceremony moving stateside to New York City for Gayming Awards 2023: Live on Broadway. Tickets are also still available for Gayming LIVE, with a 30% discount applied to all ticket purchases using the ‘GaymingAwards’ code up until April 29.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Closer Look At the Inquisitor Highlights Three New Photos

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, IGN

Star Wars fans have been wanting a closer look at Disney Plus’s upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series ever since the trailer dropped. Thanks to the folks over at Total Film, we have three new images to pine over while we wait for the next tease.

Many have wondered exactly what Obi-Wan Kenobi was up to after he dropped a very young Luke Skywalker off on Tatooine, and the series aims to do just that. It follows Obi-Wan ten years after the end of Revenge of the Sith. These new photos give us a glimpse at Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan in both Tatooine and on the neon-lit planet of Daiyu.

We’ve heard from Hayden Christensen on the “surreal” experience of returning as Darth Vader. Darth Vader won’t be the only villain in the series Obi-Wan deals with, though. The final photo highlights the foreboding and sinister Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend. The Inquisitor is known to fans of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, but he’s far from the first animated Star Wars character to make the jump to live-action.

Inquisitors are Jedi-hunting assassins who work for Darth Vader. For a full rundown on these deadly villains, be sure to check out our Sith Inquisitors guide for the low down on who they are and how they fit into the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres Friday, May 27 on Disney Plus.

Casey David Muir-Taylor is a freelance writer at IGN.

NFL Mired in Watson Scandal & Controversy As Draft Nears

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

To say this hasn’t been a banner year for the NFL is a classic understatement. Make no mistake: it’s operating under a dark cloud. Eleven players have been arrested, six for alleged acts of violence. The league keeps embarrassing itself with ridiculous hiring mandates. Additionally, the Deshaun Watson scandal continues to fester. 

Watson faces civil lawsuits by 22 separate women accusing him of sexual misconduct. He sat out the entire 2021 season with Houston. Two grand juries chose not to indict the talented quarterback, who was recently traded to Cleveland and given a $230 million, five-year contract. Cleveland citizens protested his arrival there. 

Attorneys are now wrangling over pre-civil trial discovery issues, and the NFL is monitoring this public relations nightmare (as it focuses instead on race- and gender-related hiring). If it’s found Watson violated the league’ personal conduct policy, he can be suspended. 

USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer has made public many new details on Watson’s alleged pattern of luring in women for ulterior motives. He wrote that Watson used the swanky hotel, The Houstonian, for much of his alleged massage sexual exploitations. 

Watson had an account at The Houstonian, where two women say that in 2020, he exposed himself to them and touched them with his genitals during massage sessions. The hotel offered professional luxury massage spa services at the Solaya Spa & Salon by The Houstonian. He also invited women to his suite at the hotel. 

Watson asked an unlicensed therapist to visit his suite at The Houstonian in July 2020. Her lawsuit says his behavior grew “progressively worse”, and he touched with his genitals and ejaculated in front of her. 

Plaintiffs’ attorney Cornelia Brandfield-Harvey said in a hearing  there was a pattern and a motive to Watson’s behavior. Which was to get sex — not just a massage, “even if that desire wasn’t mutual.” 

Two attorneys not affiliated with the ongoing trials, say it’s a mighty bad look for Watson. 

Los Angeles attorney David Ring, who has represented sexual assault victims, called the quarterback’s behavior “highly suspicious conduct,” and said Watson doesn’t have a lot of legal moves to make: 

This evidence could be used to show that Watson’s plan was to lure a masseuse to the hotel under the guise of a massage, when his real intention was to engage in sexual activities. 

Kenneth Williams, professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, remarked, “The fact that he went to such lengths to obtain massages tends to bolster the credibility of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs probably want the jury to think that a star NFL quarterback wouldn’t have to go to such lengths to obtain a massage unless the massages were a pretext for something else.” 

Plaintiffs charged that Watson used his own home and sites in California, Georgia and Arizona for sexual misconduct. He also flew a woman from Atlanta to Houston for one of his “massages.” 

Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, said the women are lying, they’re out for money and his clients had some sexual encounters that were consensual. 

Barring settlements, the case goes to trial in May. 

Despite all the NFL’s bad public relations, the league will hold its annual draft Thursday through Saturday under the façade that everything is wonderful and it’s a great organization. 

Wisconsin Dems Rely on Front Group To Attack Republican Incumbent While Decrying Dark Money

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

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A “coalition of Wisconsin residents” that has been running TV attack ads against Sen. Ron Johnson (R.) is a front for a massive dark money group based in Washington, D.C., according to corporate registration records.

Opportunity Wisconsin said it has pumped at least $4 million into negative Johnson ads—including one on Friday blasting him for benefiting from a tax cut he helped pass—making it the most prevalent anti-Johnson group on the state’s airwaves. On its website, Opportunity Wisconsin bills itself as a “coalition of Wisconsin residents fighting for an economy that works for all Wisconsinites, not just the wealthy few” and touts a steering committee composed of state-level progressive activists.

But Opportunity Wisconsin doesn’t actually exist on paper. The name is a business alias for the North Fund, which is more than 600 miles away in Washington, D.C. The North Fund filed to conduct business under the name “Opportunity Wisconsin” in January 2020, according to D.C. corporate records. Opportunity Wisconsin did not respond to a request for comment.

The North Fund’s prominence in the competitive Wisconsin race shows the Democratic Party’s increasing reliance on dark money groups, even as Democratic candidates claim those groups invite corruption and give the wealthy and corporations outsized influence over elections. Democrat-aligned dark money groups significantly outspent Republican-aligned groups during the 2020 elections, according to an analysis by the New York Times.

Unlike super PACs and other campaign committees, the North Fund isn’t required to disclose its donors. The North Fund is managed by Arabella Advisors, a progressive, for-profit consulting firm that has “funneled hundreds of millions of dollars through a daisy chain of groups supporting Democrats and progressive causes,” the New York Times reported last year.

President Joe Biden vowed to crack down on dark money spending during his campaign, while raking in more than five times as much anonymous funding as President Donald Trump in 2020. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) claimed that dark money TV spending amounted to “voter suppression” and argued that “dark money has been an obstacle to progress for America’s working families” in a speech last year.

Johnson’s campaign spokesman Jake Wilkins slammed the group as a “poorly built front for dark, liberal Democrat money” and claimed it has been “running ads misleading Wisconsin voters about Ron Johnson’s personal finances and his successful record on tax reform.”

Wisconsin lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes, the frontrunner in the state’s Democratic Senate primary, has repeatedly decried anonymous political spending, saying in February that “dark money has no place in democracy.”

The primary also includes hedge fund billionaire heir Alex Lasry and Wisconsin treasurer Sarah Godlewski. The winner will face Republican incumbent Johnson in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races of the election cycle.

The post Wisconsin Dems Rely on Front Group To Attack Republican Incumbent While Decrying Dark Money appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.