Thirty years ago this fall, a Republican politician cried electoral fraud after losing a close race.

Orange County Rep. Bob Dornan couldn’t accept the most logical explanations for why Loretta Sanchez beat him in a historic upset: that voters had tired of his polarizing politics. That his Latino-majority district wanted one of their own to represent them. That he was an ideologue who never brought anything back from D.C. for his constituents.

Instead, Dornan and his supporters settled on the craziest excuse of them all: Illegal immigrants.

California voters were passing anti-immigrant laws by the boatful, so Dornan’s fevered tales about nonprofits registering noncitizens to vote and take him down landed with Republicans. A compliant Congress investigated Dornan’s claims, while local lawmakers proposed bills that would force voters to show government-issued identification every time they cast a ballot — a voter suppression tactic going back to the segregationist South.

The congressional investigation flopped like a soccer player fishing to draw a red card, finally concluding in 1998. Yes, noncitizens did vote for Sanchez, but only an infinitesimal number — less than 1% of the total votes tallied and not enough to overturn the results. No one was charged for illegally voting on purpose or improperly registering noncitizens to vote.

When Dornan ran again in 1998, with volunteers vowing to pursue any election irregularities, Sanchez walloped him, and he was swept into the dustbin of political history.

I teach this episode in my O.C. history college classes as a case study in what happens when political parties succumb to the spell of a vindictive demagogue who blames everyone for their failures except themselves. I also point out that Dornan had the last laugh: the idea that illegal immigrants regularly vote in elections, throwing them toward Democrats, has become gospel for many Republicans.

And here we are.

Republican U.S. Congressional candidate Bob Dornan speaks to a group of young adults at the Orange County Conservation Corps. in Anaheim, California in 1998. He was seeking to regain his old seat from Democratic incumbent Loretta Sanchez, who beat him in a historic 1996 upset.

(John Hayes/Associated Press)

On Thursday, President Trump’s obsession over losing to Joe Biden in 2020 reached a phlegmatic nadir with a speech on debunked election fraud theories that weaved in everything from communist China to deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to — who else? — alleged noncitizen voters.

The tirade was so pathetic and noneventful that most networks didn’t bother to air it. Even Fox News host Sean Hannity — whose tongue is probably two parts shoe polish after spending the last decade as Trump’s personal spit shine — moved on just minutes after Trump finished.

The president insisted that the U.S. Senate pass a bill ahead of this November’s midterms, mandating in the name of election integrity that voters show proof of citizenship before casting a ballot.

In California, a clown car of MAGA loyalists — state Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, state Senator Tony Strickland, wannabe Southern California U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli — are pushing something similar. Proposition 39 would require California election officials to verify the citizenship of registered voters and require voters to show government-issued identification when they cast a ballot.

By law, voters in federal elections must be U.S. citizens. Only a handful of municipalities allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Despite Trump’s trumpeting of supposed evidence that 278,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada, actual instances of them casting a ballot are as rare today as in Dornan’s time.

That hasn’t stopped Trump and his lackeys from claiming, as Dornan and his supporters did, that they are trying to restore faith in a system corrupted by liberals and their undocumented puppets. But, just like back then, this amounts to a dog whistle for people freaked out about changing demographics and massive GOP midterm losses.

It’s the last, most dangerous gasp of a wheezing political movement whose supporters are clinging to power at all costs and just can’t understand why more and more voters are tired of Trump’s flailing foreign policy and failing economy.

These people are so delusional that they point to last month’s California primaries as proof of election fraud, arguing that the results in two prominent races should have been different.

No Republican has won a statewide election in 20 years, so it’s not surprising that Republican Steve Hilton finished second to Democrat Xavier Becerra in the gubernatorial primary, with both advancing to the general election. Nor was it a shock that in the primary for Los Angeles mayor, progressive incumbent Karen Bass and democratic socialist City Councilmember Nithya Raman finished first and second over Republican reality television star Spencer Pratt.

That didn’t stop Trump from insisting that both Republicans should have won outright and crying conspiracy when they didn’t. The president continued his laughable tune in his White House speech.

“Took a month to count the votes,” he whined about California’s sloth-like approach to counting ballots. “I wonder what they were doing. This is worse than any third world country. There’s no third world country that has elections like we have.”

Actually, many third world countries elect despots like Trump — but that’s neither here nor there.

A May poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Prop. 39 was in a statistical dead heat, with 49% of voters favoring it and 51% opposed. All Prop. 39’s opponents have to do is cite Trump’s stark-raving mad comments about electoral fraud, and support for the ballot initiative will melt faster than the Sierra snowpack.

The Republican crusade against imaginary noncitizen voters may pay off in the short run but will inevitably, spectacularly backfire.

Look at what happened in my native Orange County. Sanchez’s victory was the first ripple in a blue wave that eventually turned O.C. purple. Our once-mighty GOP is now increasingly isolated to wealthier pockets of the county and no longer commands national attention — hell, they couldn’t even deliver O.C. to Trump in any of his elections.

The crazy thing is, when Republicans put in the work to appeal to immigrant and Latino voters instead of obsessing about how they’re supposedly anti-democracy invaders, it pays off. Just look at 2024, when a record number of Latino GOP legislators won seats in California and Trump won a larger share of the national Latino electorate than any Republican presidential candidate ever had.

That happened because the party largely stayed quiet on noncitizen voting and focused on what swing voters wanted to hear: a promise to clamp down on unchecked migration and too much wokeness, while fattening average Americans’ pocketbooks.

Trump’s success with Latino voters seemed to represent a tectonic shift in American politics. Now, it feels like an aberration.

Trump still doesn’t seem to get how desperate the situation is for Republicans, just four months before Election Day, and how much of it is of his own making.

Near the end of his speech, he sputtered, “The only reason you wouldn’t do [mandated voter ID] is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad, and your candidates are so pathetic that you can’t get away or can’t get elected any other way.”

Paging Bob Dornan …

When Journalism enters the Del Mar Racetrack starting gate shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday, 363 days will have passed since he last won a race.

Anyone who watched the colt win six of eight starts — including the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness Stakes and Haskell Stakes — during the eight months leading up to July 19, 2025, might find that unthinkable.

Imagine being his primary owner.

“Yeah, it’s pretty hard to believe that a horse like him hasn’t won a race in a year,” said Aron Wellman, managing director of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which co-owns the 4-year-old son of Curlin. “Frustrating for sure.”

It’s not like Journalism has been disgraced during his four-race winless streak. Two of the races came when he was a 3-year-old facing older horses. His speed figures have ranked among the highest of his career. And five of the seven horses who finished ahead of him have won Breeders’ Cup races while a sixth captured two legs of the Triple Crown.

“You can understand how he might have found it hard to make his way into the winner’s circle,” Wellman said. “But it’s not for lack of ambition or lack of trying, or I don’t think any deterioration in his form, really. It’s just been a matter of circumstance, and hopefully he can get back in the win column on Saturday.”

Journalism, with jockey Umberto Rispoli, crosses the finish line to win the 150th Preakness Stakes in 2025.

(Rob Carr / Getty Images)

There’s no guarantee Journalism, the even-money favorite on the morning line, will win the $300,000, Grade 2 San Diego Handicap. But even with another past Breeders’ Cup winner (Full Serrano) among his five opponents in the 1 1/16-mile race, it’s unarguably the weakest field he will have faced since winning the Haskell last July at Monmouth Park.

In the last year he finished second behind Fierceness in the Pacific Classic; fourth behind Forever Young, Sierra Leone and Fierceness in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; third behind White Abarrio and Sovereignty in the Oaklawn Handicap, and third behind Nysos and Knightsbridge in the Met Mile.

Even with those defeats, as well as his runner-up showings last year behind Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, he has six wins, three seconds and three thirds in 13 starts, with earnings of nearly $4.6 million. Nothing to apologize for, but there’s also no question Journalism’s star has dimmed. He no longer is ranked among the top 10 older horses in the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. weekly poll.

Wellman, though, believes Journalism is not done writing his story. A good performance Saturday, one in which he shows what the owner calls “the explosivity that we’ve seen in the past,” surely would make him one of the favorites for next month’s Pacific Classic. And his connections would like to give him another chance to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, scheduled for Oct. 31 at Keeneland, before he goes off to stud next year.

“We haven’t lost any faith in him,” Wellman said. “I mean, he’s a horse that’s inspired confidence from Day 1, and put together a campaign last year for the ages. You don’t see many modern-day horses string together the type of races that he did, travel back and forth across the country multiple times, take on all comers and maintain elite performance, race in and race out.

“So, are we frustrated by the fact that he hasn’t won in some time? Absolutely. But when you compete at this level, you can’t play scared. You’ve got to continue to take on the best of the best, and no matter how much any horse or human has accomplished in this game, or in any sport, I think the best and the most driven athletes, equine or otherwise, feel as though you’ve constantly got to prove yourself.”

Perhaps reuniting with the jockey who was aboard Journalism during a streak of eight straight wins or runner-up finishes will provide a boost. Umberto Rispoli was replaced by Jose Ortiz before the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but the 37-year-old Italian is returning to the saddle Saturday. Rispoli, the leading jockey at last fall’s Del Mar meeting, has had his own rough stretch, missing five months of action after breaking his right ankle and leg in a January spill at Gulfstream Park.

“It was a difficult, difficult situation,” Wellman said, “considering the success that Umberto had on Journalism. It was hard on everybody for a lot of reasons. But the relationship speaks for itself between (trainer) Michael (McCarthy), our group, and Umberto.

“Obviously, Umberto holds Journalism himself in the highest regard and maintains an incredible rapport with the horse. It’s great to see Umberto coming back so strong off a serious injury, and we’re delighted to give him the opportunity to get back on Journalism. Hopefully they can find that magic again with the camaraderie that they share for one another.”

Del Mar underway

Del Mar’s annual eight-week summer meeting opened Friday, with racing normally held Thursday through Sunday. Post time is at 2 p.m. every day except closing weekend, Sept. 5-7, when it shifts to 1:30. Daily coverage is available on FanDuel TV.

July 17 (UPI) — The Department of Homeland Security on Friday ramped up the Trump administration’s efforts to address what the president claims are lapses in election security, threatening state officials with prison time if they don’t comply with federal demands.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters in Washington he would apply “maximum pressure” against states that refuse to work with his department.

The Trump administration has focused on noncitizens allegedly casting ballots, which experts say is extremely rare, and the possibility that voting machines can be hacked — although they are, by design, never connected to the internet.

“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin told reporters.

Mullin’s remarks come a day after President Donald Trump, in a primetime address, enumerated a series of debunked claims that the U.S. elections are rigged or have been influenced by foreign governments.

“Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost,” Trump said Thursday. “This cannot be allowed to continue.”

Mullin said DHS has found more than 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in four states — California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — and sent letters to their respective secretaries of state seeking answers.

“Before and after the election, we will scrub all election records looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted yet they were deceased,” Mullin said. “If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you.”

In its letters, DHS did not accuse any of the noncitizens of having actually voted.

“We will pursue maximum pressure on this,” Mullin told reporters. “To let you know, we will be proactively looking at early voting, and then after post-election, we will continue to scrub all those that did vote.”

Al Schmidt, the Republican secretary of state in Pennsylvania, said, “All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country,” including in his state.

“In Pennsylvania, every voter must take steps to verify their identity before they cast a ballot, including providing proper identification every time they register to vote, vote by mail, or vote at a new polling place,” Schmidt told The Hill.

In Nevada, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, a Democrat, said the administration’s efforts are intended to undermine elections.

“The administration lacks a fundamental understanding of how elections work,” Aguilar said in a statement. “They just want to cause chaos and doubt ahead of the midterms.”

Russian authorities have continued to clamp down on what little domestic opposition remains in the country by detaining a well-known blogger and moving to prevent a local politician from running for parliament.

Blogger Ilya Remeslo was a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin until he staged a dramatic about-turn last March, calling the president a “war criminal and thief” and saying he should resign.

He has now been remanded in custody for two months on suspicion of spreading false information against the military.

Separately, Boris Nadezhdin has been convicted of “displaying extremist symbols”, a ruling that bars him from collecting signatures for parliamentary elections in September.

Nadezhdin, 63, came to prominence two years ago, when he tried to stand for the presidency on an anti-war platform, but was eventually barred because electoral authorities ruled that signatures he had submitted were flawed.

Few genuine opposition politicians are left in Russia, and former MP Nadezhdin has styled himself more as a pro-peace politician.

Most have gone into exile abroad, while the most prominent figure, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in a penal colony in the Arctic in February 2024. Russia said he died of natural causes but the UK and four European countries , externalhave said they are confident he was “poisoned with a lethal toxin”.

Nadezhdin was initially declared a “foreign agent” last week before being detained on Monday over a video he reposted in 2023 that briefly showed an image of Navalny. He has also been barred from leaving Russia.

Being declared a foreign agent would most likely have barred him from running for office, but until he was convicted for “extremist symbols” a legal loophole meant he could still have gathered signatures to register as a candidate.

He can still appeal against the ruling, which fined him 1,000 roubles (£9.50; $13).

Nadezhdin suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, and briefly fell when he appeared in court in his hometown of Dolgoprudny just to the north of Moscow.

Denying the charges against him, he said their real aim was to shut him up and stop him running for the Duma (Russian parliament). He also told the court he would not be able to pay any fine because all his accounts had been frozen.

Later on Friday, blogger Remeslo also appeared in court and was remanded in pre-trial detention for two months. His lawyer said he had been taken to Moscow after being detained hours earlier in his home city of St Petersburg.

PETE Tong has hit back at a rival DJ as they are embroiled in a row over a music collaboration gone wrong.

American DJ John Summit took to X in a rant where he claimed that the Radio 1 star had ‘promised’ to release his music together, but then decided to work with Dutch DJ Franky Rizardo instead and “jacked” John’s remix.

Fans of Pete and Franky were excited when the DJs revealed they were releasing a new remix of Everything But The Girl’s Missing earlier this year, but ran into controversy when John made the public claims that he was meant to be involved too.

John wrote online: “hey @petetong thanks for promising to release my missing remix with u (while doing nothing in terms of production)

“Then jacking my remix to release with franky rizardo release class act you are. to think i actually looked up to u too.”

John then went on to claim that there was ‘proof’ and said: “Also i ended up doing the whole orchestral version myself which im premiering this weekend, thanks for the zero help”.

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Pete hit back in a video, as he claimed discussions of working with John were simply that and never came to fruition, and that the project with Franky was an ‘independent’ one.

In a video, Pete said: “I’m disappointed. I don’t like being accused of things that aren’t true. If you’ve got a problem, pick up the phone – that’s certainly what I would preach.”

Going on to say that he had tried to call and text John with no avail, Pete claimed: “I think we acted correctly, we laid out the scenario to his team, for one reason or another, it wasn’t to be.

“They never got back to us, we carried on making the other version with Franky. And that’s it.”

Pete later explained: “We had positive conversations on text about doing a new version of his remix and at the same time I was talking to Franky.

“It’s quite normal when releasing a song to have different versions of the same song.

“I started the conversation with both of them, I got into it with John because he was particularly interested in the orchestra because he wanted to perform the song with an orchestra himself.”

Pete then said his management took over communication and told John they were also working on a version with Franky.

He claimed how his team then failed to hear back from John and chased him “multiple times” but never heard back.

Pete did hear back from Franky, he says, and they continued to work on their planned track.

Following John’s very public claims, Franky announced he was withdrawing from the release – saying it “no longer feels right”.

Published on 17/07/2026 – 21:02 GMT+2•Updated
21:07

Apple reclaimed the title of the world’s most valuable company on Friday, overtaking Nvidia as investors grew more confident in its AI strategy.

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Shares of Nvidia were down as much as four percent as worries about the valuation of artificial intelligence equities dogged the market, giving the company a valuation of about $4.8 trillion (€4.2 trillion), slightly below Apple’s $4.9 trillion (€4.3 trillion).

The company later clawed back the losses, with Apple and Nvidia trading neck and neck for the top spot.

Nvidia’s stock has soared more than 1,200% since January 2023, climbing from a split-adjusted $14.86 (€13.00) to about $205 (€179.30) by mid-July 2026. The company carried out a 10-for-1 stock split in June 2024.

Nvidia became the world’s most valuable company in 2025, driven by the AI boom sparked by the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.

Originally designed for video games, Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the core hardware used in AI data centres to train large language models developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

In recent weeks, however, analysts have begun questioning whether the massive investments in Nvidia’s chips and software will pay off as new AI products reach the market.

Those questions have intensified as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and rival Anthropic, two of the most valuable private companies in history, having filed to go public.

Meanwhile, investor confidence in Apple confidence in Apple has strengthened in recent weeks, pushing its shares up about 20% since late June. Apple also unveiled a redesigned version of Siri, receiving broadly positive early reviews.

A 19-year-old Encinitas woman has resigned as a second-year midshipman, sparking an inquiry into an alleged incident of harassment at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in which the woman was handcuffed to a pipe above a urinal.

Gwen Dreyer tendered her resignation last week, citing “some very serious human relations problems” at the Naval Academy, which prepares professional officers in the naval service.

Dreyer–a third-generation midshipman at the academy–said she will now intern at General Dynamics in San Diego and pursue mechanical engineering studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The incident that sparked her resignation occurred in December when a snowball fight apparently got out of hand at a co-ed dormitory. Academy officials said that, after one of Dreyer’s snowballs hit a male midshipman in the face, he and another man forced Dreyer into a men’s restroom, where she was handcuffed to the pipe. She was taunted and photographed before her friends pleaded with the midshipmen to give up their keys to the handcuffs.

All the participants in the incident were clothed, and Dreyer was not physically hurt, academy officials said.

The snowball strike “certainly did not justify the action taken by the male members,” said Cmdr. Ed Kujat, an academy spokesman.

Dreyer’s stepmother, Carolyn Dreyer, told reporters:

“We still don’t believe that they understand that it (handcuffing) was in fact an assault–an assault. And it would have been treated that way in any other school, in any other situation.”

She declined further comment, and Gwen Dreyer could not be reached Monday.

The two male midshipmen were punished with demerits and a loss of vacation time by Rear Adm. Virgil Hill Jr., the academy’s superintendent. He called the incident “dehumanizing” and said the offending students “clearly went beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior.”

Hill said the punishments were among the more severe he has meted out during his tenure at the academy.

Kujat, an aide to Hill, said that, because of the incident, the academy will reconvene its Women Midshipmen Study Group to review recommendations made three years ago for better treatment of women at the academy. About 10% of the academy’s 4,500 students are female.

Kujat also said the academy’s Human Relations Council will be replaced with a review board in which officers–and not midshipmen–will first hear of discrimination complaints.

Kujat said the incident seemed to be more a spontaneous reaction to the snowball fight–an act of “oneupsmanship,” and not a premeditated form of hazing.

In her resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Capital, an Annapolis newspaper, Dreyer wrote:

“What disgusts me most about the Academy is to see people who once had tremendous drive and determination feel crushed and therefore satisfied with just getting by.

“I understand that steps are now being taken to correct some very serious human relations problems. However, after what I’ve been through and seen, not only because of what happened to me personally, I have decided to leave.”

Dreyer’s resignation letter also reportedly said that “a portion of the academy leadership has done me an injury” by its handling of the incident, and said she was further troubled that classmates taunted her for reporting it.

Norris is one of a number of drivers who face a grid penalty this weekend, after exceeding his permitted number of batteries.

He is joined by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, fifth fastest overall behind Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

The championship gap has closed largely because of problems for Antonelli, who retired from second place in the Barcelona Grand Prix, and lost a probable victory at Silverstone last time out by a wheel fairing failure and then a penalty, which dropped him out of the points.

Russell also took an impressive win in Austria, just fending off Verstappen and Antonelli, for his first victory since the first grand prix of the season in Australia.

Behind the top six of Antonelli, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton and Hadjar, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Russell and the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10 ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen was complaining about gearshifts, as he so often does, but his pace was encouraging considering the team have had to shelve their ‘flip-flop’ rear wing after consecutive crashes for the Dutchman in high-speed corners in Austria and at Silverstone.

The failure was that the wing was closing too much, removing the so-called ‘slot gap’ between the main plane and flap, meaning the car had less downforce than the driver expected on corner entry.

Reverting to the standard wing, which opens like the old DRS overtaking aid, is said by insiders to cost around 0.2secs a lap.

Technical director Pierre Wache said: “It is a mechanical problem that we spot after the accident in Silverstone. We fixed it. It [the car] should be ready and bulletproof.

“I don’t want to be too precise on what we are doing because it is a performance benefit to use it. But we take it seriously, we discuss with the FIA because it is our duty to make the car safe and you will see the wing back soon.”

Red Bull hope to have a revised version of the new wing ready for the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend.

Racing Bulls have an upgrade on Lindblad’s car this weekend. The team decided to give it to the Briton rather than Lawson after an agreement that the driver who qualified ahead at the British Grand Prix would have the new parts for Spa.

Lawson will get the next upgrade later in the year, which is also expected only to be ready for one driver initially, team principal Alan Permane said.

BRASILIA, Brazil, July 17 (UPI) — Brazil’s government has delayed plans to invoke its Reciprocity Law after the United States imposed a 25% tariff on Brazilian exports. It opted instead for a more cautious strategy aimed at avoiding a broader trade conflict.

After meetings between the government’s economic team and the country’s leading industrial groups, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva‘s administration paused previous plans for immediate retaliatory measures.

According to Brazilian media reports, officials are concerned that reciprocal tariffs could trigger a trade war, increase the cost of imported inputs and drive up consumer prices in Brazil.

Industrial associations argued that the production chains of both countries are highly integrated, and that making U.S. imports more expensive would also hurt Brazilian manufacturers, CNN Brasil reported.

The Brazilian government also announced a support program for companies affected by the U.S. tariff.

“We already have mechanisms to protect our companies and our jobs,” Deputy Finance Minister Dario Durigan said. He added that, in coordination with affected industries, the government will strengthen the Brazil Sovereign Plan, which supports businesses “unfairly harmed by the increase in U.S. tariffs,” according to G1.

Analysts say Lula’s administration is expected to exhaust all negotiation channels before escalating the dispute, although they acknowledge that the prospects for direct bilateral negotiations with Washington are limited.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has concluded its Section 301 investigation, determining that Brazil maintains “unfair trade practices.” That finding has left Brazilian diplomats with little room to continue technical negotiations.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Thursday rejected Washington’s demands as “excessive and unreasonable.” He said U.S. negotiators had sought concessions that would undermine Brazil’s economic sovereignty in sensitive areas, including the country’s Pix instant payment system and environmental regulations.

Brazil’s manufacturing sector, particularly higher value-added industries, is expected to suffer the greatest impact from the 25% tariffs scheduled to take effect July 22. The measure will affect about 3,000 Brazilian products, representing nearly 18% of Brazil’s exports to the U.S. market, according to O Globo.

To limit the impact on everyday consumer goods in the United States, the Trump administration excluded products such as coffee, oranges and concentrated orange juice, beef and grains from the new tariffs.

With little indication that the White House will soften its position, Brazil has shifted its strategy away from direct bilateral negotiations and toward legal challenges before the World Trade Organization and the gradual use of its Reciprocity Law.

The government’s primary legal strategy will be to challenge the legality of the unilateral tariffs before the World Trade Organization.

Brazil has not ruled out using the Reciprocity Law, which was unanimously approved by Congress. The legislation authorizes Brazil to impose tariffs on the 76% of U.S. products that currently enter the country duty-free and even suspend intellectual property rights.

However, officials said implementation will be delayed while the government evaluates the economic impact of the U.S. measures.

“It is important to emphasize that we have the Reciprocity Law, unanimously approved by the National Congress, and the government will know how to implement it at the appropriate time,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said.

He said the law is not intended as retaliation but rather as a measure “that defends the national interest, the interests of Brazilians and the Brazilian economy.”

The Australian Army has shared photos showing one of its M1A2 Abrams outfitted as a surrogate enemy platform, specifically to represent a People’s Liberation Army main battle tank. Vehicles meant to visually reflect an adversarial platform are a regular feature of exercises involving an Opposing Force (OPFOR). The depiction also reflects Australia’s growing emphasis on preparing for high-end conflict in the Indo-Pacific, and an Australian Defense Force that’s increasingly focusing its training and force structure on the challenges posed by China’s rapidly expanding military capabilities.

The photos were published on the Facebook account of the Australian Army’s School of Armor. Located at the Puckapunyal Military Area in Victoria, southeastern Australia, this serves as the army’s center of excellence for mounted combat and armored fighting vehicle training.

According to the school, this specific tank was prepared by soldiers from B Squadron, 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment, as part of the OPFOR element for the Royal Australian Armored Corps Officer Basic Course (ROBC), which includes field training assessments. The latest ROBC will culminate in Exercise Tungsten Forge/Gauntlet Strike, a combined-arms tactical training exercise, and a capstone event for junior officers learning mechanized warfare and tank command. “Good luck to the junior officers as they attempt to outmaneuver a seasoned enemy commander,” the School of Armor declared in the caption accompanying the photos.

The most obvious aspect of the M1A2 Abrams’ transformation is its People’s Liberation Army-style ‘digital’ camouflage scheme, with prominent blocks in four colors — including bright green — over the standard three-tone camouflage. The tank is also fitted with dummy external fuel tanks on the rear of the turret. These are a common feature of Russian and Chinese tank designs, albeit fitted on the rear of the hull, something that’s not possible on the Abrams due to the exhaust outlet.

The end result is an Abrams that’s visually similar to a Type 99, China’s first mass-produced third-generation main battle tank, and the most important in the People’s Liberation Army inventory.

It’s noteworthy, too, that the Abrams’ turret side appears to have the slogan ‘Bing Chilling’ applied. This should be a reference to a video-based meme in which wrestler and actor John Cena is shown saying ‘ice cream’ in Mandarin — words that can be phonetically written as ‘Bing Chilling.’

Overall, the primary objective of surrogate platforms like these is to replicate the visual appearance of potential adversary vehicles, not their exact capabilities or configurations. These surrogate platforms are designed as stand-ins rather than one-for-one copies of foreign equipment. Fielding visually representative vehicles during OPFOR exercises adds an extra layer of realism to training, helping troops practice target recognition, vehicle identification, and other battlefield observation skills under more authentic conditions.

It is possible that the Abrams will additionally be fitted with training devices designed to simulate the firing capabilities and vulnerability of specific adversary vehicles. This can be done using tools like the Instrumentable-Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (I-MILES), a laser-based training aid.

Under a roughly $2.5-billion deal, Australia is getting 75 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, together with armored support vehicles. The Abrams are being procured under the Main Battle Tank Upgrade, formally known as LAND 907 Phase 2, and the U.S. government approved the sale of these new vehicles to Australia via Foreign Military Sales channels in 2021. Meanwhile, Canberra agreed to provide Ukraine with 49 of its older M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.

The M1A2 SEPv3 — or System Enhancement Program version 3 — was developed by the U.S. Army to address lessons learned during fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and represents a major advance over the Australian Army’s previous M1A1 (AIM) variants, 59 of which were acquired second-hand from the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The first of the new tanks were delivered to Australia in 2024.

The fact that the Australian Abrams is very much a frontline vehicle, available in limited numbers, explains the cosmetic nature of the OPFOR version. After the exercise is completed, it can be rapidly returned to its normal configuration.

This separates it from more bespoke surrogate enemy platforms, like those used by the U.S. Army’s National Training Center, for example, which relies on visually modified (VISMOD) M113 and Humvee-type vehicles to field surrogate Russian-made T-72s and BTR-90s, among others.

It is not clear whether the Australian Army’s School of Armor has prepared additional Abrams as surrogates, but it does describe “in-service armored fighting vehicles” (plural) as having been adapted. Depending on the scale of the exercise, other candidates might include Chinese infantry fighting vehicles or self-propelled artillery.

At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army is also preparing for a potential conflict by training with surrogate platforms that represent a Western enemy. This is part of a much wider Chinese military investment in replicas and advanced training centers.

Last year, TWZ reported on China’s use of trucks designed to mimic the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), soon after the first examples of the U.S.-made system were delivered to Taiwan. The surrogate vehicles were painted in Republic of Taiwan Army-style camouflage. HIMARS is also used by the Australian Army.

Wherever they are being used, surrogate vehicles give training centers a cost-effective way to replicate foreign military equipment without acquiring and maintaining actual allied or adversary vehicles. Whether elaborate or more rudimentary, VISMODs provide a greater degree of visual realism, while their performance and other capabilities can increasingly be simulated digitally during exercises.

At the same time, platforms chosen as surrogates also offer a snapshot of the strategic priorities and perceived threats of the era.

In this case, the ‘Chinese-look’ Abrams reflects how Australia’s defense posture has shifted significantly in recent years toward preparing for the prospect of high-end conflict in the Indo-Pacific, with China’s expanding military capabilities serving as the principal driver.

In its 2023 Defense Strategic Review and subsequent National Defense Strategy, the Australian government placed greater emphasis on deterrence by denial, long-range strike, and the ability to operate alongside the United States and regional partners.

While Canberra tends to avoid explicitly identifying Beijing as an adversary, Australia’s force modernization — including the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS, long-range and hypersonic missiles, enhanced northern basing — is clearly oriented toward countering the challenges posed by the People’s Liberation Army in a potential Indo-Pacific contingency. Increasingly realistic exercises centered on peer threats, such as Chinese tanks, provide further evidence of this.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com

Death in Paradise star Danny John-Jules is unrecognisable as a taxi driver in new BBC comedy Ann Droid, starring alongside Diane Morgan

Actor Danny John-Jules became a firm fan-favourite on Death in Paradise.

He became one of the original cast members when the crime-drama first kicked off in 2011 as Officer Dwayne Myers.

The actor played the role for seven years before his departure in 2018. Yet devotees of the BBC programme have witnessed him reprise his role intermittently over the years, with his most recent appearance coming in the 2024 Christmas special.

Despite handing in his badge upon leaving, fans remain optimistic he might make a comeback in a forthcoming series.

However, in the meantime, he appears in a new BBC comedy, Ann Droid.

It charts the story of lonely widower Sue (Sue Johnston) whose son Michael (Paul Ready) opts to purchase her an AI eldercare robot to provide companionship and ensure her wellbeing.

Yet the robot she chooses to name Linda (Diane Morgan), receives a frosty reception as Sue makes her feelings abundantly clear that she doesn’t want a robot under her roof.

Throughout the six episodes, audiences will witness an unexpected friendship develop between the two as the series explores themes of loneliness, bereavement, humanity versus technology, and growing older, reports the Express.

While the opening episode broadcasts on Friday (July 17), all instalments are ready to stream on BBC iPlayer, with a well-known face making an appearance in episode two.

As Sue encounters her mate Eileen (Kathryn Hunter) waiting for a cab to transport her to her aunt’s 108th birthday celebration, the driver who arrives turns up in a vehicle looking somewhat battered.

The taxi driver, called Brian is portrayed by Death in Paradise’s Danny John-Jules. While Sue points out the hazards of his motor, Eileen tells her to calm down as Brian has been ferrying her about for more than 40 years.

He responds: “And I’ve only been sober for the last five!” Subsequently, Brian shows up once more when he brings Eileen back to meet Sue and Linda.

Before departing, he remarks: “Oh, I need some more customer reviews. Preferably ones above the two stars I’m getting at the moment. Would you mind?

“Oh, and don’t mention I got lost and had four pints at lunch or that I ran out of petrol and we had to walk the last 2km, ok?”

Ann Droid is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) and Synopsys (SNPS) shares sank on Friday after Chinese artificial intelligence lab Moonshot released its Kimi K3 AI model, causing investors to fear risks about the electronic design automation business.

However, BNP Paribas said it believes the

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told the Associated Press.

David Brouillette has a history of terrifying and violent behavior, according to those relatives. They accuse him of attacking women in his life over the years, and one shared a voicemail with the AP from last winter in which he told her that he thought someone should slit her throat.

Brouillette’s troubling past further challenges how thoroughly the Department of Homeland Security has vetted recruits as it went on a hiring spree to help carry out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.

DHS, which hasn’t released the name of the officer who killed Durán Guerrero, has said the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

Brouillette didn’t respond to text messages or an email seeking comment. Three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.

When reached for comment about Brouillette’s record and his role in Monday’s shooting, ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement that “[w]e will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” and that “[t]he ICE officer in question has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training including use of force training.”

The White House referred all questions about the shooting and Brouillette to ICE.

A new career in ICE

Brouillette, 37, told his ex-wife Ashley Brouillette late last year that he had been hired by ICE. She said that because of his long history of psychiatric issues, she thought he was having a mental health episode and she didn’t believe him. She didn’t realize he’d been telling the truth until this week, when videos began circulating online of the moments surrounding the shooting.

Ashley Brouillette told the AP that she spoke to her ex-husband in a Facebook audio call, and he acknowledged that he had killed Durán Guerrero. Their 18-year-old daughter, Madison Brouillette, also told the AP that her father called her Wednesday and said that he shot and killed Durán Guerrero.

David and Ashley Brouillette were high school sweethearts who got married in 2007. She said she divorced him in 2009 because he had become physically violent with her, which began after she got pregnant with their daughter.

According to Ashley Brouillette, he once threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child — an incident her mother, Avis Collins, also recounted.

The abuse continued after she left him, she said.

David Brouillette doesn’t appear to have a criminal record in Maine, as a check with the Maine Department of Public Safety returned no records for him.

But hundreds of family court records obtained from the Augusta District Court clerk’s office detail years of allegations of physical and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife on behalf of herself and his daughters.

The ex-wife — whom the AP is not identifying because she fears retaliation — alleged that he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said.

“Dave needs counseling or something for his PTSD & depression,” she wrote in an application for a temporary protective order on behalf of his teenage daughter that a judge granted in 2021.

In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him.

His oldest daughter, Madison Brouillette, said she also witnessed her dad’s volatility.

“I watched my dad struggle a lot with a lot of things,” she told the AP. She said she came home from school once and he told her he had been sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head.

“If you don’t really, truly take care of yourself, there’s no way you can protect other people. And with my dad, he never wanted to get help,” she said.

An immediate relative of David Brouillette who spoke on the condition that their name not be used said he was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder as a child — a diagnosis that Ashley Brouillette confirmed. The immediate relative described him as “extremely mentally ill” and said he attempted suicide twice at age 12 and was hospitalized multiple times.

The relative said they’d been estranged for years after they broke off contact because they feared he would harm them. He did not respond to their outreach this week, the relative added.

A military deployment and law enforcement aspirations

Growing up in Gardiner, a city of about 6,000 people roughly 60 miles northeast of Biddeford, where Monday’s shooting occurred, David Brouillette was enchanted by law enforcement and the military, his relatives said.

High school yearbook photos show he was a member of the school’s Naval Junior ROTC, and he wrote that he planned to go to college and become a police officer.

Brouillette was initially rejected by military recruiters because of his mental health diagnoses, but recruiters encouraged him to go off his medications for a year and reapply, which he did, his immediate relative said.

He was eventually able to enlist.

According to U.S. military records, Brouillette enlisted as a chemical equipment repairer in the Maine Army National Guard but then changed jobs to be a medical logistics specialist. He was in the Guard from November 2007 until January 2010, according to records provided by the Pentagon.

A 2009 article in the Kennebec Journal listed Brouillette as a private in the Maine Army National Guard’s 152nd Maintenance Company in Augusta.

In January 2010, he joined the regular Army as a human intelligence collector. Brouillette deployed to Afghanistan from May 2012 to February 2013 and eventually left the Army as a sergeant in December 2015.

His immediate relative believes Brouillette’s time abroad worsened his emotional struggles: “Afghanistan destroyed him — trained him to be a killing monster, a machine. They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.”

Life after the Army

After his discharge, Brouillette held a hodgepodge of jobs — some in or adjacent to law enforcement — and was injured in an accident while training to become a firefighter, public records and court documents show.

Brouillette worked for the Maine Correctional Center — a medium-security prison — and for the state’s Health and Human Services Department, spending less than a year at each.

In 2019, court documents show, he was a police officer at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center near the state capital, Augusta. A Veterans Affairs department spokesperson on Thursday referred questions about Brouillette’s employment to DHS.

But by the end of 2021, he wrote in a text message included in court filings, he was broke, going to school full time and making money delivering food for DoorDash.

Brouillette was enrolled in a firefighting program at Southern Maine Community College and was struck in the head by a steel beam while unloading a trailer at a training facility, according to a lawsuit he filed over his injury.

He sustained a concussion and post-concussive syndrome, with symptoms including impaired memory, cognitive deficits, headaches, vertigo and light sensitivity, and was unable to complete the program, according to the lawsuit, which was settled out of court.

In recent years, court filings show, he was collecting disability pay through the VA. He also drove a truck but quit in January 2025, citing health issues.

In March 2025, Brouillette passed an exam to become a real estate sales agent. His license was active until December. In a Facebook post, Realty of Maine announced Brouillette would be working in the firm’s Bangor office.

“David lives in Maine after retiring from the United States Army,” said the post, which has since been deleted. Brouillette is no longer listed as an agent on the firm’s website. Messages seeking comment were left for Realty of Maine.

In March, the Maine agency that handles child support matters filed a lien against him, public records show. The filing suggests that Brouillette may have been in line for a permanent impairment or disability settlement.

‘I don’t think he sees himself as a killer’

In late 2025, around the time he joined ICE, his ex-wife Ashley said he left a three-minute voicemail mocking her for taking out a restraining order against him. According to the message she shared with the AP, he repeatedly called her “disgusting” and suggested that she and the other women and girls in her “bloodline” should die.

“And all of you should have your f— throats cut,” the voicemail said. “Yeah, you should. Am I threatening that I’m gonna do that? Nope. Nope. But do I think that you should have your f— throats cuts? Or should have had them cut? Yep.”

She said she broke off contact with him until Wednesday, when his picture began circulating online.

Ashley Brouillette reached out to his current wife on Facebook and they spoke on the phone for several minutes. Her ex-husband spoke with her, according to cellphone screenshots of the phone exchange she shared with the AP. He acknowledged he had fatally shot Durán Guerrero.

“He was asking if I could tell them that he was a good person and not to talk about the abuse and stuff that I had endured while with him and he said that the most important thing is his character right now,” she said.

She said he told her he is now hiding in protective custody.

“I asked him why he did it,” she said. “He said it was a justified shooting. The guy was trying to run him over with a car.”

His daughter also said he told her it was justified.

“I don’t think he sees himself as a killer,” Madison Brouillette said.

“I think he thinks that he genuinely did the right thing,” she added. “All he said was that he did what he had to do. He said that he had to protect himself.”

Brook, Sisak, Swinhart and Galofaro write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Will Weissert contributed to this report.

LeBron James didn’t have a speech prepared.

“I’m just speaking to y’all from the heart,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer told the audience Thursday night at the Time 100 Sports gala in New York.

In James’ heart and on his mind at that moment was his oldest son Bronny James, who nearly three years ago suffered sudden cardiac arrest as an 18-year-old rising freshman while practicing with the USC basketball team. He later was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect but eventually was able to resume his basketball career.

James and his son ended up becoming Lakers teammates for two seasons before the 23-year veteran became a free agent this summer. Bronny James is entering his third season with the Lakers after contract became fully guaranteed earlier this month.

“Obviously, if it wasn’t for the coaching staff and the medical team and everybody at USC being there in a timely fashion, we’d possibly be sitting here without our oldest son,” said James “So thank you to everybody and all the efforts when it comes to cardiac arrest.”

In June, Time magazine released its inaugural issue highlighting the 100 most influential people in sports, with James on the cover as “athlete of the century.”

James was one of the featured speakers at the gala honoring those individuals, as were fellow Time 100 Sports list members New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, Olympic gold medalist skater Alysa Liu, Invictus Games founder Prince Harry and women’s soccer legend Alex Morgan.

Savy King and Damar Hamlin speak onstage during the Time 100 Sports gala July 16 in New York.

(Jemal Countess / Getty Images for TIME)

Earlier in the evening, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and Angel City FC defender Savy King gave a presentation on their experiences as athletes who suffered cardiac arrest while playing in games for their respective teams.

Like Bronny James, they were both young athletes at the time of their incidents — Hamlin was 24; King was 20 — and both were fortunate to have trained medical staff members on hand to perform CPR and use defribulators to save their lives.

Their message hit home for James.

“Guys, take that serious,” he said. “If you got kids in elementary, you got kids in middle school, kids in high school, colleges. Make sure they have these devices available where you can get them, practice them. It’s very important, super, super important. Obviously, we know how important it is to our family, so we’re a big advocate of that.”

July 17 (UPI) — Italy returned to Mexico a collection of 27 pre-Columbian archaeological artifacts and fossils recovered during separate investigations into the illicit trafficking of cultural property, authorities from both countries said.

The handover occurred Thursday at the Mexican Embassy in Rome, where the Italian Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit officially delivered the items to Mexico’s ambassador to Italy, Genaro Lozano.

The artifacts will be transferred to Mexico after being cataloged by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, the institute said.

The collection includes three Teotihuacan heads dating from 200 B.C. to A.D. 650, two Maya terracotta figurines from the Early Classic period, a tripod bowl, 16 other pre-Columbian artifacts and three Late Cretaceous fossil fish, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

The artifacts were recovered during investigations carried out by Italian authorities in Florence, Rome, Monza, Ancona and Venice.

The objects were found in customs inspections, private collections, online auctions and e-commerce platforms, while the fossils were intercepted in an illegal postal shipment from the Mexican state of Nuevo León, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said.

Brig. Gen. Antonio Petti, head of the Carabinieri unit for the protection of cultural heritage, said the artifacts are in an “absolutely excellent state of preservation” after being recovered during separate operations targeting the illegal trafficking of cultural property, according to El Observador, which cited comments he made to EFE.

During the ceremony, Lozano said the artifacts “represent the living history of Mexico” and said their value lies in “memory, justice, and recovering and keeping history alive,” according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

The diplomat said the restitution is part of the “My Heritage Is Not for Sale” campaign launched by the Mexican government to recover cultural property illegally removed from the country.

Since 2013, Italy has returned more than 840 cultural objects to Mexico through cooperation between the two countries to combat the international trafficking of archaeological heritage, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said.

The institute said the 27 pieces have been classified as archaeological monuments and, under Mexican law, are the inalienable property of the nation.

Once they arrive in Mexico, cultural authorities will decide whether the artifacts will be displayed in national museums or returned to the regions from which they were removed, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said.

Britain’s governing Labour Party confirmed Andy Burnham as its new leader, clearing the way for him to become prime minister next week. In his first speech, he pledged to chart a new political and economic course, saying Britain needed a break from four decades of failed policies.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

I have been writing this newsletter, most weeks, for more than 10 years now. I wouldn’t even want to do the math on how many of them that would be, or just how many movies I have written about. That count is about to come to a close as this is the last one.

Don’t worry: I will still be covering the world-class scene of moviegoing in Los Angeles as well as writing about a broad swath of films and filmmakers, just finding new ways to go about it.

When this newsletter began, it was a catch-all for movie coverage and related events from The Times and eventually settled into a curated survey of the best new releases each week. We helped figure out what you should go see. As theaters reopened following the closures forced by the pandemic, the repertory scene in Los Angeles exploded, with new audiences turning out for old movies in astonishing numbers.

We followed their lead, flipping the focus of the newsletter to the rep scene while still keeping an eye on new releases. Venues around the city had a newly revived energy to match audiences’ enthusiasm. The Academy Museum opened with two gold-standard theaters, while the American Cinematheque expanded the number of screens it programs. (Just recently, it added the historic Village Theater in Westwood.) The Vista began bringing first-run films in 35mm and 70mm, along with classic movies. Vidiots opened in Eagle Rock, helping to redraw the map of L.A.’s movie-loving community.

The David Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum seats a thousand and is often fully attended.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The city has also seen the rise of itinerant pop-up series such as Mezzanine, Acropolis Cinema and Hollywood Entertainment pulling off must-see events. Smaller venues such as Now Instant Image Hall, 2220 Arts + Archives, Eastwood Performing Arts Center, Brain Dead Studios and the Philosophical Research Society have made a home to all kinds of movies. The Laemmle and Landmark chains have continue to play traditional arthouse releases and international films, while the Frida and Gardena theaters bring great movies to the South Bay.

Entities such as Revival Hub and MovieTown do a vital job of collating extensive listings info. (We will also continue to give monthly overviews of the best movies to see.) This is simply an incredible time for going to the movies in Los Angeles, arguably the best ever.

My main takeaway from the experience of working on this newsletter is confirmation of my belief in the movies themselves and the community of people around them. I was recently at a sold-out screening of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran” and the idea of sitting with nearly a thousand other people watching a Japanese movie from the 1980s, each connecting to the events on screen in their own way, was deeply inspiring.

Among my favorite recent developments is how many venues now name the show’s projectionists as part of a screening’s introduction, which is always met with an enthusiastic round of applause. It is a reminder that what this is really about is people, dedicated to something we love.

And since this isn’t really a goodbye, it seems fitting to turn to the movies once again, as another week demonstrates why the scene here in Los Angeles is so truly special.

A tribute to Sam Neill

Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman on the set of 1989’s “Dead Calm.”

(Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

Anyone looking for an example of just how intimate the screening scene in Los Angeles can be should make their way to the New Beverly Cinema on July 24. The theater already had a three-night double-bill of Rob Reiner’s “Misery” and Phillip Noyce’s 1989 thriller “Dead Calm” booked when news broke last weekend that actor Sam Neill had died at age 78.

The New Bev quickly announced that it would make one of those screenings into a tribute to Neill, who co-stars in “Dead Calm.” Director Noyce, along with co-star Billy Zane and filmmaker Roger Donaldson (who worked with Neill on 1977’s “Sleeping Dogs”) will all be there to celebrate their friend and colleague.

“Dead Calm” is a tight thriller set within the confines of a small sailing boat. Reviewing the movie when it was first released in 1989, Sheila Benson wrote, “Neill is probably one of the screen’s most underrated actors … ‘Dead Calm’ was probably far and away his nastiest assignment physically, yet his presence, sexuality and all, is absolutely vital to the balance of the story.”

Remembering the actor as part of a rundown of his greatest performances, Glen Whipp described Neill in “Dead Calm” as “part Cary Grant, part MacGyver.”

Two by Ross McElwee

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee in his 1986 movie “Sherman’s March.”

(Music Box Films)

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee helped to reinvent the form with his 1986 film “Sherman’s March,” which comes with the explanatory subtitle of “A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation.”

Ostensibly a film about Union General William Tecumsah Sherman’s campaign of destruction during the Civil War, the movie actually ends up being about McElwee revisiting old girlfriends and forging a few new ones along the way, reflecting on his own campaign of romantic misadventure. As charming as it is revelatory, the movie is being rereleased in a new 4K restoration.

McElwee’s latest film, “Remake,” reflects on the death of his son Adrian and whether the director himself had a detrimental effect on the boy’s life. Reviewing “Remake,” Tim Grierson calls it “especially revealing — both in terms of the glimpses we get of this father-son relationship and of unsolved mysteries that linger just outside the frame.”

A weekend with Robert Rodriguez

Quentin Tarantino, George Clooney and Salma Hayek in the horror movie “From Dusk Till Dawn.”

(Academy Museum)

The Academy Museum will present “A Weekend with Robert Rodriguez” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “From Dusk Till Dawn” and the 25th anniversary of “Spy Kids.” It speaks to Rodriguez’s undersung range as a filmmaker that one movie is a bawdy, gory comedy about a criminals on the run who encounter an ancient den of vampires, while the other is a family-friendly tale of two siblings who discover their parents are secret agents and must rescue them from a supervillain.

Rodriguez will not only be present to talk about both movies, he will be performing music each day with a different band.

Reviewing “From Dusk Till Dawn,” which was scripted by Quentin Tarantino, Jack Matthews said it was “a film nerd’s fever dream, a Frankenstein’s monster of used movie parts, deliberately mismatched styles, and deliriously implausible characters.”

Elaine May’s secret success

Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange in the movie “Tootsie.”

(Everett Collection / Columbia Pictures)

One of the most exciting things about the ongoing revival of L.A.’s repertory scene is the upheaval of the notion of the “canon.” What are the most lauded movies of all time and who gets to do the lauding? Case in point is the now widely accepted coronation of Elaine May as a towering creative figure, no longer relegated to being merely a fringe character unfairly saddled with the commercial failure of “Ishtar.”

May is credited as director on only four feature films, though she’s an uncredited writer on a number of other projects, perhaps most notably 1982’s comedy “Tootsie,” starring Dustin Hoffman as a struggling New York City actor who finds success when he lands a part by secretly posing as a woman. Directed by Sydney Pollack, who also makes a tremendous turn as Hoffman’s agent, the movie will be playing at Vidiots on Saturday.

Finding new moves

Wiley Wiggins and Patrick Riester in the movie “Computer Chess.”

(Kino Lorber)

The very first thing I ever wrote under the banner of Indie Focus was about how independent filmmakers such as Andrew Bujalski and Alex Ross Perry were working on 35mm at a time when mainstream Hollywood was very much forcing the idea of shooting on digital. So it only seems appropriate that this final edition of the newsletter should include something on Bujalksi, who has long been one of my favorite contemporary American filmmakers.

“Computer Chess,” Bujalski’s oddball experiment in using antiquated video equipment to tell a heady, offbeat story about a weekend chess tournament in the early ’80s, will screen in a 35mm print at Brain Dead Studios on July 24, presented by Mezzanine. Bujalski will be present, along with Blair Barnes, a filmmaker who will be showing the L.A. premiere of his short “sitrep,” also shot on an analog-era tube camera.

New this week

Matt Damon and Zendaya in the movie “The Odyssey.”

(Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures)

Sure to be one of the biggest movies of the year, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” opens today. Los Angeles audiences have multiple venues to choose from that are showing the film in Nolan’s preferred Imax 70mm format — these theaters are among only a small number across the world that are doing this. Presenting a movie in Imax 70mm isn’t the easiest endeavor. Eloise Rollins-Fife has a report on how that’s actually done. Get your epic on.

Reviewing the movie, Amy Nicholson wrote, “Nolan refuses to tremble before the canon. Grabbing mighty scissors, he cuts and rejiggers Homer and a bit of Virgil to transform these classical texts into his type of tale: one fixated on memory, self-identity, destructive genius and the slippage of time. As ever, it’s light on sex, heavy on wine-dark angst.”

Kenneth Turan spoke to Nolan about the movie’s origins, saying, “I’ve been telling this story in all my films for years. It’s a family story, a love story, a revenge story, a war story, a coming-of-age story. It’s a very strong foundational text for me.”

The tight timeline to replace former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner has left Democratic hopefuls scrambling to woo his progressive base while trying to turn the focus from the disgraced oysterman to defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.

It’s a delicate balance for the candidates, who are vying to face Collins in a contest that could decide control of the Senate as Platner’s shadow hangs over the race. In their first debate Thursday night, one of the first questions candidates were asked was: What was Graham Platner’s best idea?

Moving past Platner is just one of the challenges facing Democrats. The never-before-used process to pick a new nominee means candidates have less than three weeks to pull off what typically takes campaigns months or years, from organizing volunteers to raising money and preparing for debates.

The whiplash many of the candidates are facing was on display Thursday.

Asked by debate moderators about President Trump’s decision to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife earlier this year, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows gave inaccurate information about Collins not pushing back against Trump, a Republican. When a moderator called her on it, Bellows said she was on vacation on the Kennebec River last week after previously focusing on her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign and hadn’t expected to be running for the Senate.

“When I need to know the facts, I will. I’ll do my homework,” said Bellows, who lost to Collins in 2014.

The field of 12 candidates also includes former public health leader Nirav Shah and union-backed logger Troy Jackson, who campaigned alongside Platner in a failed bid for governor.

Platner’s exit means the clock is ticking

Platner quit the Senate race last week after he was accused of rape, which he denies, and his campaign quickly imploded as supporters revoked their endorsements and resources.

Democrats have until July 27 to choose a new nominee, according to state law. The Maine Democratic Party’s succession plan calls for a state party convention at which 601 delegates will meet on July 25 and vote for Platner’s replacement. The majority of the convention delegates will be selected this weekend from each of the state’s 16 counties.

Candidates hoping to replace Platner have been recruiting delegates who will vote for them at the convention. The candidates also must collect 500 voter signatures needed to qualify for the convention vote.

“I don’t think anyone’s happy that we’re in this situation,” said Dan Jenkins, a Maine Democrat who has applied to be a delegate. “We would have preferred that this had broken many, many months ago and then Graham had exited the race when there was a time for a democratic process. But it’s where we are.”

Some candidates might see a boost from prior campaigns

Jackson is among the handful of candidates pivoting to the Senate race after running for other political offices, likely giving them a leg up in not having to launch from scratch.

Our Revolution, a progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that had originally backed Platner, has thrown its support behind Jackson, the former Maine Senate president. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has not endorsed in the race.

Shah, former director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also unsuccessfully ran in this year’s Maine Democratic governor’s primary. He has been pitching Platner’s supporters that he’s also an outsider who can unify a fractured Democratic Party.

“You have an important place in this campaign, and we welcome your voices,” Shah said earlier this month speaking to Platner’s base.

Bellows also ran for governor. She’s hoping that her previous battles with Trump will bolster her argument that she’ll be an advocate for the working class.

Bellows previously attempted to run against Collins in 2014 as the Senate Democratic nominee and lost in a landslide. She later went on to win a seat as a state senator before becoming Maine’s secretary of state. She’s since downplayed her prior loss to Collins by pointing to the Democratic establishment’s unwillingness to take on the Republican in 2014.

Another candidate, Jordan Wood, initially announced his intent to run in the Maine Democratic Senate primary. He dropped out last fall to run in the state’s 2nd District but lost that race.

Candidates seize on recent ICE shooting

The fatal shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Maine this week has been top of mind among the potential Senate nominees.

The Embassy of Colombia has identified the man killed Monday in Biddeford, roughly 15 miles southwest of Portland, as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. The Department of Homeland Security has since said an ICE officer fired his weapon when the man officers were pursuing attempted to flee the scene, threatening “public safety.”

Many have rushed to connect Collins to the embattled federal agency.

All the candidates who debated Thursday said they agreed with the call to “abolish ICE,” though Wood stopped short of saying the agency should be completely dissolved.

“I believe that when I say we have to abolish it, what I mean is that we need a new law enforcement agency that has the trust of the people,” Wood said.

Jackson disagreed, calling ICE a “rogue agency that goes around doing things that they’re being told to on high.”

Candidates asked about Platner’s best ideas

Platner attracted more than 150,000 votes during the June 9 primary, an eye-opening number that signaled a progressive base eager to support a candidate known for his promise to defend the working class and ability to rally large crowds.

With little more than a week until the state convention to find Platner’s replacement, it still remains unknown just who will be able to capture that same excitement seen among Platner’s base.

When pressed during Thursday’s debate about Platner’s best idea on the campaign trail, Jackson pointed to his commitment to “Medicare for All.” As a gubernatorial candidate, Jackson also voiced support for replacing job-based and individual private health insurance with a government-run plan that guarantees coverage for all with no premiums, no deductibles and only minimal copays for certain services.

Bellows said that she agreed with Platner’s description that democracy in the U.S. has been corrupted by those in power.

Shah said he would take up Platner’s commitment to “abolish ICE,” while Wood said he admired Platner’s decision to say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, something Israel denies.

“Graham got into this race saying, ‘this is genocide.’ And I learned that it is so important in these moments to draw those moral lines,” Wood said.

Kruesi writes for the Associated Press.