MS NOW contributor Elise Jordan found a surprising amount of support for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed among voters who supported President Donald Trump, while the Trump-backed Mike Rogers got no love in the room.

Jordan joined Peter Alexander on State of Play on Tuesday, where she shared a focus group discussion from Michigan where El-Sayed and Rogers are in the midst of a tense midterm battle. Recent polling has shown El-Sayed with a narrow lead over Rogers.

Jordan spoke with a group of Trump voters, many of whom expressed “buyer’s remorse” over their previous votes for the president.

“I think a lot of people looked at his 2016 win and how much better the country was before Covid, and hoped that it would replicate that. And it doesn’t. I mean, to me, it doesn’t seem like it has,” one man said.

A woman called Trump a “good liar,” and another said she feels like her vote “bit” her “in the butt.”

When Jordan asked about how everyone was voting in the Michigan Senate race, six of the 10 voters said they had decided which candidate they are backing. Five of those six voters said they’ll be throwing their support behind El-Sayed. Just one said she will vote Rogers, but she’s “not happy about it.”

Another woman said she’s leaning Rogers “heavily,” but said she remains undecided.

“I’m still reading and deciding. I have not definitively decided. And I may not until I get to the voting booth. I’ve done that before,” she said, adding she “might be trying to talk” herself “out of it.”

The others remained undecided on where their support will land.

“I was surprised that there wasn’t more support or more leaning Rogers in that group… but then you look at some of the polling, and El-Sayed is pulling more from Trump voters,” Jordan told Alexander after the focus group.

Jordan was referencing a Fox News poll last week that showed 8% of Trump voters backing El-Sayed. It also found 6% of voters for former Vice President Kamala Harris are backing Rogers.

MS NOW also held a focus group this week in Michigan with Black voters, who expressed more doubts about the candidate.

Watch above via MS NOW.

The post MS NOW Finds Surprising El-Sayed Support Among Trump Voter Focus Group, While Mike Rogers Gets No Love first appeared on Mediaite.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Amazon collects data about you based on what you buy. And now, you can get a direct look at what the company has concluded from all that activity.

Amazon's "About You" page, currently in beta after launching this May, uses data from customers' activity to generate details about them in categories like Product Preferences, Interests & Hobbies, and Home & Family. Amazon uses those details to personalize the shopping experience. Here's how to navigate and personalize your "About You" page in your Amazon account.

What Amazon thinks it knows about you

The results can be oddly specific. My editor-in-chief, Jordan Calhoun, shared his page, which includes these entries:

• "Likely has 2 adults"

• "Owns a PlayStation 5 console"

• "Prioritizes plant-based meat alternatives over traditional options"

• "Subscribes to multiple streaming services continually"

• "Owns a large dog"

• "Likely has a cat"

Full disclosure: I try to never use Amazon personally. I pretty much exclusively use it to round up deals for you, my dear reader. That being said, here's what Amazon thinks it knows about me: "Values durable travel gear," "prefers athletic and casual clothing styles," "practices yoga regularly," and "listens to music frequently."

What counts as data

In its Privacy Notice, Amazon lists every activity that provides user data to the company. That includes the obvious, like searching for items and placing orders. It also includes actions you may not realize are being tracked, like interacting with Alexa Voice Service, participating in discussion boards, or linking an Amazon account to a third-party business.

How to view your own "About you" page

On desktop:

1. Hover over where Amazon says "Hello, [your name]" in the upper right corner.

2. Under the "Your Account" section, click "Account."

3. Under the "Ordering and shopping preferences" section, click "Your Shopping preferences."

From here, you can add information of your own, like your shoe size, interests, and dietary preferences. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you'll see a blue hyperlinked option that says, "Manage your information." Click it, and you'll see what dirt Amazon has on you.

On the mobile app:

Tap the hamburger icon in the bottom menu bar, then go to Account > Shopping preferences > About you.

You can edit it, but not opt out

Shoppers can't directly opt out of the "About you" feature. They can, however, customize the data by adding details they want Amazon to know and deleting assumptions they consider inaccurate or too personal.

Importing data from other AI chatbots

On the "About you" page, customers also have the option to "make Amazon even more personal to you" by importing personal data they've shared with other AI agents. Amazon provides a prompt for you to feed to your chatbot to generate a shopping profile, then asks you to copy the bot's response and paste it back into Amazon.

Whether that's worth doing is up to you. Given how much Amazon already infers from your browsing and buying, handing over a profile from another AI service is a choice worth thinking through. Either way, taking a few minutes to review your page and delete anything inaccurate or too personal is a simple way to see and shape what Amazon knows about you.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

I love my AirPods Max, but I have a hard time recommending them. They sound great, pair seamlessly with my other Apple devices, and offer excellent Active Noise Cancellation, so they're my go-to for long flights and travel days. And yet, I can't in good conscience advise most people to buy them, because of the price. $549 is way too much for any pair of headphones, even if they are my favorite pair I've ever used.

I have good news, however. For October Prime Day, Amazon has discounted the latest model of the priciest AirPods. The AirPods Max 2 are now $429, down 22%, or $120, from the $549 list price. According to Keepa, that's the best price since August. While the headphones are still wildly expensive, it's much easier to recommend them at this price point than at their normal MSRP.

Apple AirPods Max 2 Active Noise Cancellation Wireless Headphones (Midnight)

$429.00 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $120.00

Get Deal

Get Deal

$429.00 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $120.00

The AirPods Max 2 aren't expensive for nothing. They come jam-packed with features that make them Apple's best over-the-ear headphones yet. Apple says these AirPods support up to 1.5 times more Active Noise Cancellation than the original AirPods Max, though the benefits also extend to Transparency mode. These are Apple's first AirPods Max to come with Adaptive Audio, which automatically adjusts the loudness of sounds coming in through Transparency mode, as well as Conversation Awareness, which lowers audio when your AirPods detect that you're speaking. (The audio levels rise once the headphones note you've stopped speaking for a length of time.)

While these headphones sound great when used wirelessly, they're worth using with a USB-C cable, too. With it, you can listen to lossless music through a service like Apple Music, which offers more detail than lossy music over a Bluetooth. Apple says you can expect 20 hours of battery life on one charge when using Active Noise Cancellation, and although the company doesn't specify, you can presumably extend that usage with ANC or Transparency mode turned off. You can also get 90 minutes of playback on just five minutes of charging.

Like all AirPods, these headphones work best when you already have other Apple products. That's personally my favorite thing about AirPods in general: You can use your AirPods Max with your iPhone, then play a video on your Mac, and your AirPods will automatically switch to the new audio source. They're also easy to pair with an Apple TV, which makes for a great way to watch movies and shows without bothering others around you.

AP Photo/NewsBase

As the crucial midterm elections approach, a new Gallup poll revealed that more Americans now identify as Democrats than at any point since 2009.

The quarterly poll showed that 50% of those polled said they are Democrats or “lean more” toward the Democratic Party, while 39% said the same about the Republican Party — the highest margin for the Democrats since the first quarter of 2009.

Gallup based the poll on telephone interviews with “random samples” of “3,000 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.” The margin of sampling error was ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, Gallup reported.

That could be bad news for Republicans, who are desperate to keep control of Congress when Americans head to the polls in November. President Donald Trump has even promised $5,000 to every adult if the GOP pulls out a victory.

But polling guru Nate Silver confirmed that’s not very likely.

“This is one of the more consistent elections that I’ve tried to forecast, in that sense that like, every indicator is bad for Republicans,” Silver said on a recent podcast. “Except maybe the outside money, that is the one thing they have going for them.”

In fact, Republicans showed no signs of closing in on the Democrats’ 9-percentage-point advantage — the party’s “largest lead yet in the race for Congress,” according to NBC News’s report on polling averages.

“The congressional average, which stands at 52% to 43% after adjusting to a likely voter scale, measures whether Americans prefer a Congress controlled by Democrats or Republicans before things like individual races and candidates come into play,” the report said.

The outlet explained why examining polling averages gives a more accurate picture of the situation:

Individual polls can bounce around, but an average gives a broad sense of where surveys are trending, and it controls for outliers, which is one reason NBC News released our averages now. At a time when a flurry of polling is released, such as in the homestretch of an election cycle, averages can be valuable tools for tracking what’s happening in the election and diving deeper into how Republicans, Democrats and independents view Trump and the battle for Congress.

Republicans have been trying to frame the midterms as a battle against socialism and communism, since seven congressional candidates are backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. Other candidates, like progressive Abdul El-Sayed (D), who’s running for Senate in Michigan, do not identify as democratic socialists but have been painted as such by Republicans.

Despite the dire predictions for the GOP, Trump predicted at an Ohio rally last week, “They’re in for a big surprise. It’s very simple: You gotta get out and vote. You gotta get out. You gotta vote for these guys,” Trump urged. “If you do that, we’re gonna win and we’re gonna win big.”

“And we’re gonna shove it up their a**, okay?” Trump added.

The post New Poll: More Americans Now Identify as Democrats Than at Any Point Since 2009 first appeared on Mediaite.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) ratcheted up his feud with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday morning by accusing him of firing military members for racist and sexist reasons.

The progressive lawmaker made the inflammatory accusation during an interview on Face the Nation. Host Margaret Brennan mentioned Hegseth is planning to cut the number of generals and admirals by 20%, before asking if Kelly had any “insight” into who he would fired or if Democrats can “stop it,” if they retake control of Congress after the midterm elections.

“Well, he often fires people because of the color of their skin or because they’re women,” Kelly said.

“He would deny that,” Brennan said.

“Of course he would deny that. I think anybody would deny that,” Kelly continued. “But it’s pretty obvious, when you have a list of seven people who don’t promote from one star to two star and five of ’em are either Black or women, it’s pretty obvious.”

Kelly went on, saying Hegseth has shown a “pattern” of targeting troops based on their race and gender. He pointed to CQ Brown, a Black Air Force General and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, getting fired soon after President Donald Trump returned to the White House as a prime example.

His claims about Hegseth come as the defense secretary has been focused on weeding out DEI initiatives from the military. Hegseth reiterated his plan during a speech last week, saying the Pentagon was no longer the “woke department.” 

“Simple translation of that — no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops,” Hegseth continued. “The War Department, as you know, is color-blind, gender-neutral, and merit-based.”

He added, “Or, as the president says to me, “Pete, central casting. I want central casting.” The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.”

Watch above via CBS.

The post Mark Kelly Accuses Pete Hegseth of Firing People for Racist and Sexist Reasons first appeared on Mediaite.

AP Photo/Ronda Churchill

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is demanding a retraction from The New York Times over a report that a “windfall” contract for a political donor which was approved by DHS on her last day as its leader.

According to the report, as Noem was preparing to leave DHS, the agency bought five airplanes from the donor’s firm, Daedalus Aviation Corporation, for an astronomical markup. The Times reported Daedalus chairman William Walters donated $10,000 to Noem’s political action committee American Resolve in 2024. They noted that according to the company, “Mr. Walters did not know the group was associated with Ms. Noem at the time,” but an archived look at its homepage shows it solely promoting Noem.

“The Department of Homeland Security agreed to pay the donor’s firm $108 million for a Boeing 737 airliner that had been converted into a massive private jet, complete with a stand-up bar, two bedrooms, marble showers and a table covered in manta ray skin,” the report said, adding that the firm had bought the plane just months earlier for less than $90 million.

In addition, DHS bought two Gulfstream luxury jets and two Boeing 737 passenger planes, all at a hefty markup.

The report said that Noem, who is now a special envoy at the State Department, “declined to answer specific questions about the sale or the prices that her agency had paid.”

But after the fact, Noem raged about the article on X — calling the reporting, “factually incorrect” and “libelous.”

“I write to formally request the retraction entirely or explicit correction of the article titled ‘Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract Just Before She Left,'” Noem wrote.

She continued:

The article’s characterization of the individual as a “donor” (confirmed not to be the case) is materially misleading and, as unsupported by the factual record, conveys a false implication of a direct financial relationship obviously intended to influence official action.

Accuracy is fundamental to responsible journalism. If the individual did not personally make political contributions to Secretary Noem, or if the term ‘donor’ instead refers indirectly to unrelated entities or legally distinct contributions, the article simply fails to meet the standards of precision expected of The New York Times.

Numerous times clarifications were made to the journalists responsible for this libelous story. Such wording unfairly prejudices readers and creates an inference of impropriety that is not supported by the underlying facts.

Notably, Noem’s response did not challenge any of the reporting on the contract itself.

Noem was fired from her DHS position in March over controversies involving immigration tactics, as well as “questions about her agency’s awarding of contracts,” the report said. More than $900 million of those contracts went to companies led by Walters.

Noem’s successor, Markwayne Mullin, “explored backing out” of the airplane deal and consulted with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, “who shared his concerns about the possible financial ramifications,” the report said. Despite any reservations, the purchase went ahead as planned.

——

The post Kristi Noem Seethes After NY Times Exposé on a Plum Contract DHS Gave to a Political Donor on Her Last Day as Secretary first appeared on Mediaite.

Comedian and filmmaker Chris Rock drew what he called a “half a joke” comparison between “wokeness” and the Salem witch trials, arguing both went too far in hunting for offenders.

Rock appeared on Saturday’s edition of The Interview — a David Marchese-hosted New York Times podcast.

While discussing Rock’s upcoming film, Misty Green, Marchese asked the director about the theme of forgiveness.

Describing a “nameless” and “canceled” friend of his, Rock recalled, “Another friend of mine was like, ‘How can you be friends with that person?’ I was like, ‘If you’re only friends with your friends when they’re good, they’re not your friends.'”

Emphasizing that while that line of thinking “doesn’t mean condoning abusive behavior,” Rock launched into his hot take.

“The problem with ‘wokeness’ — and don’t get me wrong, it is great that marginalized people have a voice; it is great to advocate for anybody that feels marginalized — but the problem is we’re in the Old Testament right now,” he explained. “The Old Testament has no forgiveness. The Old Testament didn’t work, so they had to write a remix called the New Testament.”

After Marchese noted that some say the “Woke 1.0 era, which refers to the immediate post-George Floyd era, was ‘crazy,'” Rock elaborated:

Again, it’s great to help those that need help. We need more of that. The problem is when you institutionalize it. That’s the problem.

So, my half a joke — the Salem Witch Hunts. I’m sure the first three witches they caught were actually f*cking witches. But then you open up a witch office, and now you gotta start lying. Now, you gotta f*cking make sh*t up ’cause you got overhead.

He added, though, that he’s “glad that all of this stuff happened” because “it needed to happen.”

Earlier this month, Rock disclosed that while he’s no “fan” of President Donald Trump, “It’s weird when somebody gets one thing right, and the one thing almost clears them of all their other sins. The news is fake. He got that right.”

Watch above via New York Times.

The post Chris Rock Compares ‘Wokeness’ to Salem Witch Trials: ‘Half a Joke’ first appeared on Mediaite.