CHESTERFIELD, Va. – Republican Rep. Dave Brat is running against a far-left Democrat, an all-out liberal. Trouble is, that caricature bears little resemblance to the candidate actually opposing him.

Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is campaigning as a centrist willing to work across the aisle. In her campaign office in Henrico County, Spanberger rattled off to USA TODAY the list of Democratic policies she’s against: a government-run single-payer health care system, an open border and shuttering U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And, if Democrats take back the House, Spanberger doesn’t think House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi should become speaker again.

But to hear Brat tell it, if Spanberger is elected to replace him in Virginia’s heavily Republican 7th Congressional District, she’ll vote with the far-left of her party – even if on the campaign trail she says she won’t.

As Brat drove through suburban Richmond with a USA TODAY reporter earlier this month, he said Democrats have moved hard left. “They’re way off what the American people want, and they’re going to find that out this election,” he said. “These people that say, ‘I’m gonna run and be independent and neutral,’ you know better than that.”

Republicans like Brat, who face surprisingly competitive races across the country, are trying to tie all Democrats to the most progressive wing of the party, a faction pushing Medicare for All and advocates abolishing ICE.

GOP candidates have accepted they’re linked to President Donald Trump’s polarizing record regardless of how they campaign, so to offset that burden they are trying to saddle Democrats with their own boogeyman. In this case, a boogeywoman – Nancy Pelosi.

Trump reinforced that message Wednesday, posting a video on Twitter saying “Pelosi and the Democrats want to abolish the brave men and women of ICE, what I want to do is abolish the killers in ISIS.” 

Pelosi counters that Trump “is hallucinating when he characterizes Dems’ position on protecting the borders & defeating ISIS.” The minority leader’s spokesman Drew Hammill said Pelosi opposes single-payer health care and getting rid of ICE.

Democrats acknowledge Pelosi – and the potential for her to be House speaker again – riles voters. A Monmouth University poll from May had Pelosi’s approval rating at 17 percentage points, with 44 percent of people disapproving of her.

But can the GOP strategy of painting Democrats as extremists be effective if centrist candidates are running far away from Pelosi and the progressive agenda?

Spanberger says the idea is “almost comical.”

Spanberger said Brat’s strategy reminds her of the Dr. Seuss book “Green Eggs and Ham” where the narrator repeatedly has to say all of the places he will not eat the dish because the questioner doesn’t believe that the narrator couldn’t possibly end up liking green eggs and ham. Spanberger said she has to counter Brat’s charges “time and time again,” reiterating she doesn’t back Pelosi for speaker or the far-left policies she’s being tied to.

In Congressional races round the country, similar scenarios are playing out.

In New York state, GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney released a TV ad that said her opponent “supports Pelosi’s (Medicare for All) plan” and would be a “rubber stamp” on her agenda. But, Democratic candidate Anthony Brindisi, a New York state assemblyman, said in a phone interview with USA TODAY, that he does not Pelosi for speaker.

On the Medicare for All issue, Brindisi voted in favor of a single-payer bill in the New York state assembly and as recently as July said favorable things about Medicare for All. However, he told USA TODAY that he does not support that policy at a national level. 

In Kentucky, a TV ad paid for by the Congressional Leadership Fund targets retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath as someone “backed by liberal extremists who want to eliminate the law enforcement agency that enforces our immigration laws” and she is supportive of “open borders.”

McGrath’s Campaign Manager Mark Nickolas called the ad “ridiculous” and said the Kentucky Democrat may not want a wall, but is for “very strong borders” and “she doesn’t think ICE is the problem.” 

Courtney Alexander, a spokeswoman for the Paul Ryan-aligned super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund, defended the ads about McGrath. She noted that some of the high-profile Democratic senators who have raised money for McGrath’s campaign – including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand – have voiced support for abolishing ICE.

The GOP has also slammed McGrath for her opposition to a wall along the southern border.

There’s no denying Democrats in competitive districts are feeling the heat. According to NBC News, over 50 Democratic candidates, both new candidates and incumbents, have said they won’t support Pelosi.

Pelosi and “her San Francisco values” are “absolutely toxic across the country,” said  CLF spokeswoman Alexander. CLF is hammering candidates across the country on “the resistance movement, and the agenda that comes with it.”

Republicans have persisted with their midterm playbook, even starting to press Democrats to specify just how far their lack of support for Pelosi extends. They claim Democrats might oppose Pelosi in a private caucus vote, but back her in the bright light of a House chamber vote.

The strategy may have paid off in a special election in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District in early August. Danny O’Connor, the Democrat, lost by less than 1 percentage point after saying he wouldn’t support Pelosi privately, but if his party chose to put Pelosi up against a Republican for speaker, O’Connor admitted he would vote for her.

Isaac Baker, a Democratic strategist who worked on O’Connor’s campaign, said the Republican strategy will fail as long as Democrats make “very clear that they’re going to be an independent voice.” O’Connor barely lost the race, which Democrats say is a good sign for November when dozens of districts are more favorable to the left than Ohio’s 12th. 

Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb stressed his independence during a special election in March. Republicans tried to say that the Democrat would be Pelosi’s “little lamb” in Washington, but the ex-Marine and federal prosecutor ran a straight-to-camera ad where he reminded voters he didn’t support Pelosi. He eked out a win in that race.

Republicans say that even though they lost the Pennsylvania race, they don’t expect it to happen all over the country. They say Lamb was a unicorn of a candidate and their candidate was weak.

Republican strategists say that battle-tested incumbents should come out OK on Election Day, as long as lawmakers don’t forget to run on their name ID and record.

Brat certainly has the name ID. The conservative Republican made national headlines when he toppled then-majority leader Eric Cantor in the primary in 2014. He’s continued to grab headlines from his perch as one of the most influential members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus. 

Back in Virginia earlier this month, Brat sweated through his buttoned-down shirt in the heavy humidity, talking to USA TODAY as he worked the crowds at back-to-back neighborhood events outside Richmond.

He said he was confident he’d pull off a win because people in the district know him and know he has voted the way he promised he would. Which is why he’s pressing Spanberger so hard on her campaign claims. He and his allies say if she makes it to Congress she’ll cave to Pelosi.

Dana Smith believes that pitch. The teacher and longtime Brat supporter said his “problem” with Spanberger was that she “paints herself as a middle-of-the-road apple pie mom,” but won’t vote that way.

“She, and many other Democrats, are totally disingenuous in how they present themselves. They run one way and serve another,” he said. 

But Brat’s argument may not convince other voters.

David Southall, a small business owner, used to be a Republican and Brat supporter, but now he’s all in for Spanberger. He said he doesn’t buy the GOP attack tactics.

“Republicans will swear up and down she’s for open borders when she’s not,” Southall said. “You don’t become a CIA agent in not believing in borders.”

More: Cybersecurity: States ramp up election protections ahead of midterms with $380 million in federal funds

More: Facebook foils political influence campaigns originating in Iran, Russia ahead of U.S. midterms

More: Exclusive: Democrats flood airwaves with health care ads, while GOP spots tout Trump in 2018 midterms

More: Former President Barack Obama endorses 81 candidates in U.S. midterms, says he’s ‘eager’ to get involved

 

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2Ljqo3H

Reality Winner was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty to an Espionage Act charge earlier this summer. 

Court records revealed that U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall handed the Kingsville native a sentence of 63 months on Thursday. She faced a maximum of 10 years. 

“I sincerely apologize and take full responsibility for my actions,” Winner said in court, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

The judge’s sentence fell in line with a recommendation agreed upon by the prosecution and Winner’s defense. 

Prosecutors pointed out in a court filing earlier this month that “despite the agreed-upon sentence being below the applicable guidelines range, it would be the longest sentence served by a federal defendant for an unauthorized disclosure to the media.” 

Winner’s mother Billie Winner-Davis, who was there for the hearing, told the Caller-Times she’s grateful the judge did accept the plea agreement, but said it’s also hard because she still disagrees with the espionage charge.

“I don’t feel like what she did should be under that category of espionage,” she said. “I also, I don’t agree with her being used as the example.” 

Winner entered her guilty plea in June in a federal court in Augusta, Georgia. That made the H.M. King High School graduate the first person sentenced for espionage under President Donald Trump’s administration.

She had previously pleaded not guilty.

Winner was accused of providing a classified government document to a news organization without authorization. 

“Winner’s purposeful violation put our nation’s security at risk,” United States Attorney Bobby L. Christine said to reporters after Thursday’s sentencing, according to the New York Times.

The condemnation of Winner has been harsh. Some have called Winner a traitor for the leak, while others praised her as a patriot whose actions helped shed light on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

More: Texas native Reality Winner pleads guilty to Espionage Act charge over classified leak

Defense lawyer Joe Whitley filed a statement last week in federal court, saying his client’s conduct was serious, but didn’t amount to spying or treason.

“She has acknowledged leaking a single document that contained national defense information, a single time, to a single news outlet,” he wrote in the document. “This was not a Wikileaks-like ‘dump’ of massive amounts of sensitive data, nor was it a disclosure of military secrets to a foreign intelligence service. It was, as Reality has admitted, a naive attempt to ‘change things,’ in which she abused her security clearance and ran afoul of federal law — an act which she acknowledges was criminally wrong.”

He also asked that the court recommend to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that Winner be placed at a medical security facility near Fort Worth. The location would allow her to see her family regularly and receive medical care. Winner suffers from depression and anxiety and has been diagnosed with an eating disorder, according to the document. 

It would also allow her to assist other inmates with illnesses “in an effort to further her humanitarian objectives,” the document states. 

Winner’s mother said the judge agreed to make this recommendation to the bureau. 

“Even though it’s like seven hours away from home, it would still mean that she’s back home in Texas,” Winner-Davis said. “And that’s where she wants to be.”

Winner was arrested in June 2017 at her home in Georgia, following an investigation by authorities into the leak of documents from the National Security Agency the prior month.

Prosecutors allege Winner threatened national security when Winner leaked the information while employed as a government contractor. 

“As the defendant admitted when she pled guilty, she did not engage in this conduct by accident, mistake, or any other innocent reason,” prosecutors said in a court document filed last week. “Rather, the defendant acted with knowledge that her disclosure was both unauthorized and unlawful. In so doing, she knowingly and intentionally betrayed the trust of her country and jeopardized our national security.”

Winner is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and is fluent in several Middle Eastern languages as part of her military service. She also received an Air Force Commendation Medal. 

“From the defendant’s many years with a security clearance — and as she acknowledged on numerous occasions during security briefings — she understood the harm that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information can cause to our national security,” the document states. 

The Intercept, the news outlet that published the information sent by Winner, said in a Thursday statement that the information in their story on the report “played a crucial role in alerting local election officials who had been in the dark about the cyberattack.” 

“The vulnerability of the American electoral system is a national topic of immense gravity, but it took Winner’s act of bravery to bring key details of an attempt to compromise the democratic process in 2016 to public attention,” it continues. “Reality Winner’s courage and sacrifice for the good of her country should be honored, not punished.” 

Winner-Davis said she wants the community to know that her daughter is a good person who didn’t mean to cause harm to the U.S. government. 

“She doesn’t hate her country, as that has been portrayed,” Winner-Davis said. “I just hope that they look at the entire case and see her for what she is. Look at her whole life.”

As for Reality, “she just talks about coming home to South Texas,” after completing her prison term.

“She talks about just getting a job where she can help other people,” Winner-Davis said. “She talks about being able to run and do yoga and be in the sunshine.” 

This is a developing story. Stay with Caller.com for updates.

 

Read or Share this story: https://callertim.es/2o3nGG8

Andy Murray will play Australia’s James Duckworth when he makes his return to Grand Slam tennis after a 14-month absence with a hip injury.

The former world number one, now ranked 378th, could play third seed Juan Martin del Potro in the third round.

Kyle Edmund, his replacement as British number one, faces Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi, while Cameron Norrie meets Australian Jordan Thompson.

Johanna Konta has a tough match against French sixth seed Caroline Garcia.

British number one Konta, 27, has dropped to 46 in the rankings after a year in which she has struggled to find consistency.

Heather Watson and Katie Swan are still trying to come through qualifying, as is Liam Broady in the men’s draw.

The US Open, the fourth and final major of the year, begins in New York on Monday.

Murray avoids major names

Murray, 31, is set to return to five-set matches at Flushing Meadows – the scene of the first of his three Slam triumphs in 2012 – after pulling out of this year’s Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament.

Duckworth, himself coming back from a catalogue of injuries which sidelined him for a year, is ranked 445th in the world.

Murray decided he was not ready to compete in five-set matches last month, instead preferring to train on the American hard courts in preparation for the US Open.

The Scot had surgery in January to rectify a long-standing hip injury which had kept him out of competitive action since his defeat by Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in July 2017.

An 11-month absence from the ATP Tour ended with a three-set defeat by Australian Nick Kyrgios at Queen’s in June and he has since played three other tournaments – Eastbourne in the run-up to Wimbledon, followed by Washington and Cincinnati this month.

Murray won three matches in Washington before pulling out of his quarter-final, then lost in the opening round at Cincinnati to France’s world number 17 Lucas Pouille.

Murray has direct entry into the main draw at Flushing Meadows because of his protected ranking.

If the unseeded Briton beats Duckworth, he will face a Spaniard in either Feliciano Lopez or 30th seed Fernando Verdasco before a potential third-round match against Argentina’s 2009 US Open champion Del Potro.

Federer and Djokovic drawn in same quarter

World number one Rafael Nadal plays fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the opening match of his title defence, while second seed Roger Federer meets Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in a first contest between the pair.

Nadal, 32, and Federer, 37, cannot meet until the final – if they get that far – in what would be their first encounter at Flushing Meadows.

Federer could face Novak Djokovic, who is looking to move level with Pete Sampras on 14 Slam triumphs, in the quarter-finals.

Djokovic, who beat the Swiss in the Cincinnati Open final last week, will play Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in the first round.

Bulgarian eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov faces three-time Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who is a wildcard as he continues to rebuild his career after injury, in the first round – a repeat of their Wimbledon opener this year, which the Swiss won.

Williams sisters could meet in third round

Serena Williams, 36, is seeded 17th as she continues to make her comeback after giving birth last September – and could meet older sister Venus, seeded 16th, in the third round.

One of the Williams sisters could then face world number one Simona Halep, who plays Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, in the last 16.

Serena Williams, who is bidding for her seventh US Open title, plays Poland’s world number 60 Magda Linette in her opener.

Defending women’s champion Sloane Stephens starts her defence against Evgeniya Rodina, with two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka potentially awaiting her in the third round.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

Andy Murray’s opponent also knows a bit about rehab.

James Duckworth played just three matches in 16 months after having foot surgery at the start of last year, which means Murray will actually be the higher-ranked player.

A third-round meeting with Juan Martin del Potro is an enticing prospect, if Murray can get through his first two five-set matches since last year’s Wimbledon.

Kyle Edmund cannot face a top-60 player before the third round, and so a fourth-round match with Rafael Nadal will be his target.

Johanna Konta is unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2016 Australian Open. She is unlucky to have drawn the sixth seed, but she does have a winning record against Caroline Garcia, and victory would at least open up a reasonable path to the second week.

Image: Jeffrey Hamilton/getty

Well this is disturbing. 

Apparently not content to merely meddle in the 2016 U.S. election, Russian trolls now stand accused of spreading a type of misinformation that could have literal deadly effects: anti-vaccine propaganda.  

So finds a new study published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, which found that Russian trolls pushed vaccine-related misinformation on Twitter in the run up to the 2016 election. 

“Content polluters seem to use anti-vaccine messages as bait to entice their followers to click on advertisements and links to malicious websites,” explained Sandra Crouse Quinn, study co-author and University of Maryland professor, in a press release. “Ironically, content that promotes exposure to biological viruses may also promote exposure to computer viruses.”

According to researchers from George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University, among the Twitter accounts studied were those “now known to belong to the same Russian trolls who interfered in the U.S. election.”

“These trolls seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord in American society”

While the specifics of this misinformation may be shocking, the playbook the trolls followed is not. Much like the Internet Research Agency pushed for race-based violence and posted both pro-Trump and pro-Black Lives Matter content, the tweets coming from Russian troll-operated Twitter accounts both cast doubts on the efficacy of vaccines and promoted them. 

“These trolls seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord in American society,” study co-author Mark Dredze said in a press statement. “However, by playing both sides, they erode public trust in vaccination, exposing us all to the risk of infectious diseases. Viruses don’t respect national boundaries.”

And, according to the study, the trolls’ disinformation “was effective for propagating news articles through social media in the context of the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak.”

In other words, those posting the anti-vaxx content were able to weaponize an outbreak that resulted in 125 confirmed measles cases for propaganda purposes. 

It turns out that the accounts on Twitter arguing that vaccines cause autism may not all be operated by idiots — some may also be helmed by paid Russian trolls attempting to subvert democracy. Which, well, doesn’t make me feel any better.  

HONOLULU, Hawaii — Heavy rains and flooding hit the islands of Hawaii and Maui Thursday, even as the final track of Hurricane Lane remains uncertain.

But even before the main brunt of the storm hits Oahu on Friday, the storm has already dumped as much as 20 inches of rain in some areas. Roads are being closed, schools are shuttered, and malls are shutting down as the island chain hunkers down.

By Thursday noon local time, the Category 4 hurricane was about 275 miles south of Honolulu, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. It is expected to curve to the north later Thursday. The center of the massive storm is expected to come over or dangerously near the central islands beginning Thursday evening and through Friday.

Lane’s hurricane-force winds of 130 miles per hour extend outward as much as 35 miles from the storm’s center, while winds of up to 75 miles per hour could stretch as far as 130 miles.

Even if the center stays off the coast, high winds and rising water will still potentially be dangerous and deadly, said Rick Knabb, a meteorologist and hurricane expert at The Weather Channel.

“I’m mostly concerned about the flash floods. And damaging winds that could cause potential power outages,” Knabb said.

There’s also the danger of massive coastal effects, which are a concern because so many of Hawaii’s hotels and apartment buildings are built close to the coast so they have ocean views.

“We can’t discount the danger of the coastal impacts, the salt water from the high surf, the crashing waves. The storm surges that might not just make going into the water at the beach dangerous, but could bring water into and onto coastal buildings,” Knapp said.

The central islands of Hawaii, including the capitol of Honolulu on the island of Oahu — home to many of the state’s 1.4 million residents — are at risk for hurricane force winds when the full storm begins to heavily impact the island on Friday.

Officials have closed some highways on the islands “out of an abundance of caution” over concerns about flooding and mudslides. 

The U.S. Navy has begun moving ships and submarines out of Pearl Harbor and out of the path of the storm. They will be positioned to come back and provide aid after the storm has passed if they’re needed, the Navy said in a release.

Emergency shelters at 20 schools in Honolulu opened Thursday morning. All Hawaiian public schools as well as universities were closed Thursday and Friday in advance of the storm — in part because many schools are being used as shelters.

“The statewide closures of our campuses and offices will give our school communities time to prepare as the storm is anticipated to make landfall on Oahu Thursday evening, and Kauai on Friday. This will allow the counties to stand up emergency shelters for the public statewide,” Hawaii Department of Education deputy superintendent Phyllis Unebasami said Thursday.

The city of Honolulu announced that it will stop all bus service at 6:00 pm Thursday so the buses can be used to transport people to shelters if necessary.

While officials prepare for the worst, some residents are predicting the full fury of the storm will bypass the islands.

“I’m pretty confident that by the time it gets to us it will be diminished to a Category 1 or a tropical storm,” said Andrew Wheeler, 53, a scuba instructor who plans to ride out the storm on the 41-foot sailboat he lives on.

“I’ve gone through all the precautions. I’ve repositioned the boat, I’ve lashed lines all over the places for more support. I’m on a floating dock, so the storm surge shouldn’t affect me unless it goes up over the pylons,” said Wheeler, who was docked in Haleiwa on Oahu’s North Shore. 

“I’m going to be on this boat for this storm. I may even livestream it on Facebook, if it’s safe to do so,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2BG9Wux

San Francisco Giants pitcher Derek Holland is a funny guy. 

He has a sense of humor and his impressions, especially legendary broadcaster Harry Caray, are often hilarious. 

But sometimes, the jokes can fall flat. Or even worse, offend.

That was the case during Wednesday’s episode of “Intentional Talk” on MLB Network. Hosts Chris Rose and Kevin Millar interviewed Holland, who was accompanied by Giants massage therapist Haro Ogawa.

Holland’s fake Asian accent and his antics seemed to amuse the hosts … but not Bleacher Report writer Joon Lee, who called them out on Twitter.

As the online criticism mounted and online outlets began to pick up the story, the team was forced to issue a statement.

“The Giants organization does not condone that type of behavior in any way,” team spokesman Matt Chisholm told Deadspin. “We spoke to Derek regarding his interview yesterday and he completely understands the severity of the situation and apologizes if it offended anyone.”

Before the Giants’ game against the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon, Holland issued his own apology. 

“I want to make sure it’s clear that was all on me,” he said. “Now it’s become a distraction to the team. I don’t want that. I don’t want to have offended anybody.”

Holland said he has apologized to Ogawa and another Asian employee of the team.

“They understand we were just doing a bit but it was too far, “he said. “With that, I want to make sure that everybody understands that those were not the intentions …

“I apologize for what I have done. Whatever I have to do to take care of the situation, I will do it.”

Follow Steve Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner.

 

 

Lancashire reached T20 Blast Finals Day after a fine bowling display laid the platform for a nervy six-wicket victory over Kent at Canterbury.

Impressive young spinner Matt Parkinson took 3-27 as the hosts struggled to a modest 133-9 from their 20 overs.

Lancashire then lost England star Jos Buttler to a first-ball duck – just two days after his maiden Test century.

But international team-mate Keaton Jennings’ 46 proved key as they made their target with eight balls left.

The England Test opener, batting at four for Lancashire, struck five fours, square cutting superbly, as he put behind him a string of low scores during the current series against India.

By contrast, Buttler failed to back up his superb innings on Tuesday with a meaningful contribution for his county, stumped by England white-ball specialist Sam Billings.

However, after Jennings had kept the visitors in contention, a 50-run fifth-wicket partnership between Dane Vilas (30 not out) and Jordan Clark (29 not out) dragged them across the line and on to a joint record seventh appearance at Finals Day.

The match had looked to be heading for a tighter conclusion before Clark smashed a six off the final ball of the 18th over and then successive fours during the penultimate over to complete victory.

Captain Billings had earlier top-scored with 37 for Kent, who had to recover from having Daniel Bell-Drummond run out without facing from the second ball of the match.

Lancashire, T20 winners in 2015, are the first side to book their place at Edgbaston on Saturday, 15 September.

In the other quarter-finals, Durham host Sussex at Chester-le-Street on Friday (18:30 BST), Worcestershire face Gloucestershire at New Road on Saturday (15:00 BST) and Somerset then meet holders Notts at Taunton on Sunday (15:00 BST).

Kent captain Sam Billings told BBC Radio Kent:

“A huge frustration to lose a home quarter-final. A sad end to our T20 campaign after looking the best side in the country.

“Our worst batting performance of the year. Batting first was the right decision but we batted terribly. We were 10 or 15 runs short.

“On a flat pitch, we’d back ourselves against anyone. But this wasn’t really the pitch you want to prepare against Lancashire with their five spinning options.

“At least at Beckenham we know we’re going to get a flat pitch. The only time we come unstuck is on snotheaps like this one.”

Man of the match Matt Parkinson told BBC Radio Lancashire:

“You can see the effort and the class is there when we all perform. We hope we can take this momentum into Finals Day.

“As a unit, we bowled well, and to get three wickets in the powerplay eased our nerves a bit.

“It spun a bit more than we thought it would. That enabled to take more wickets and, from there, they had nowhere to go.

“We don’t like to do things easy and it was a bit nervy, but credit to Keaton Jennings, Dane Vilas and Jordan Clark for seeing us home.”

Everyone who’s already in love with Noah Centineo’s Peter Kavinsky from Netflix’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before has a different moment where they fell in love. 

Some people say it’s when he twirled Lara Jean around in the cafeteria. Some say it was when he bashfully splashed the hot tub water when she didn’t realize she liked him, but others point to what is known as The Popcorn Save as the moment they knew Peter Kavinsky was truly a good egg.

The Popcorn Save is pivotal because the simple action of Peter moving a bowl of popcorn from the couch before going in for a pillowfight with Lara Jean’s little sister shows in action that Peter is a thoughtful, conscientious person — he showed up for a movie night and didn’t mind spending time with his date’s little sister, he was kind enough to include said little sister in the fun instead of making her feel like a third wheel, and most importantly he didn’t want to make a mess in Lara Jean’s house in the name of said fun. 

To make this little moment even better, Netflix’s official “See What’s Next” Twitter account confirmed to a Popcorn Save enthusiast that the adorable moment between Peter and Lara Jean’s little sister, in which he moves a bowl of popcorn off the couch before going in for a pillow fight, was completely improvised by Noah Centineo. 

Noah improvising that moment means that not only is his character a spatially aware king, but that Noah is one himself! That’s one step closer to the 22-year-old actor literally being the Peter Kavinsky of everyone’s dreams.