The progressive party is now active in 18 states and much of its expansion happened in the past five yearsThe time has come" for the Working Families party, the progressive third party's national director said after a year of big wins and a growing hunger among voters for a home outside the two major political parties.For 26 years, we've been building this argument," Maurice Mitchell said. And the argument has met the moment." Continue reading...
I'd like to believe that the horrific darkness of this past year is a necessary prelude to a brighter and saner futureAbout a year ago, at the start of the Trump 2.0 regime, a woman was about to pass me on the sidewalk and then stopped, turned toward me and almost shouted: It's a fucking nightmare!"It has been a fucking nightmare". Continue reading...
Former House speaker on ABC News also said congressional Republicans have ceded almost all their power to TrumpDemocrats will retake the US House's majority in the 2026 midterm elections, the chamber's former speaker Nancy Pelosi has confidently predicted - and she hopes her party colleagues then seize back the congressional power that Republicans have all but ceded to Donald Trump.Asked Sunday on ABC News's This Week if she had any doubts over whether Democratic New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries would hold the speaker's gavel after the elections midway through Trump's second presidency, Pelosi said: None." Continue reading...
Some extraordinary golf was often overshadowed by the Donald, colourful fans, crazy MCs and tempers flaringI was out by the practice green late afternoon on the Monday of the Ryder Cup, and so was Bryson DeChambeau. He was on his own, signing autographs for the handful of people on the other side of the railings, and there was this one woman leaning over towards him, a bottle blonde, late middle-aged, in a tight white dress. She was only a couple of feet away from him but she was screaming in his ear like she was trying to reach someone across the far side of the golf course. We love you Bryson! Bryson! We love you! We love you for everything you've done for the Donald! We love you for everything you've done for the Donald!"It was a long, strange week, and when I think back on it now the golf is entirely overwhelmed by technicolour memories of the weird scenes around the grounds of Bethpage Black and in the surrounding town of Farmingdale. I wish I could say that the things I remember best are that approach shot Scottie Scheffler hit from 180 yards at the 10th, or the 40ft putt Rory McIlroy made on the 6th, or Jon Rahm's chip-in from the rough at the 8th. But they're not. Continue reading...
Donald Trump has said he hopes a deal to end the war in Ukraine is 'closer than ever' after a two-hour meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida. The US and Ukrainian presidents indicated at a joint press conference there was near agreement on a US-Ukraine security deal but Trump said a few 'thorny issues' around territory had to be resolved. Trump spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier on Sunday
Donald Trump says one or two tough' issues could lead to negotiations breaking down - key US politics stories from 28 December at a glancePresident Donald Trump says Ukraine and Russia are closer than ever before" to a peace deal, but he acknowledged negotiations could still break down and leave the war dragging on for years.After a two-hour meeting in Florida with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump conceded one or two tough" issues - over territory and how the war might end - still needed to be resolved, an indication of progress made but no breakthrough. Continue reading...
Steelers miss chance to win AFC North in defeat to Cleveland while the Patriots sealed the AFC East after thrashing the Jets and the Bills lost a nail-biter to the EaglesPanthers 0-0 Seahawks 12:51, 1st quarterAfter a Carolina punt they almost pick off Sam Darnold on their first play then the QB throws one in the dirt. On 3 & 10 the crowd get loud but Darnold hits his favourite target Jaxson Smith-Njigba for 13 yards and the 1st down. Phew.A Szmyt 50 yard field goal Continue reading...
Snowy holiday season in the upper midwest and north-east comes as a cold front is expected to hit the southA powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone that is expected to impact much of the US with a mixture of snow, ice, rain and strong winds.Part of the storm system is getting heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are getting higher winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes," said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in College Park, Maryland. They're all related to each other - different parts of the country will be receiving different effects from this storm." Continue reading...
Hammonton police responded to a report of a midair crash that engulfed one helicopter in flames on Sunday morningOne person is dead and another has been left critically injured after two helicopters crashed in a southern New Jersey town.Hammonton police chief Kevin Friel said rescuers responded to a report of an aviation crash at about 11.25am. Video from the scene shows a helicopter spinning rapidly to the ground. Police and fire crews subsequently extinguished flames that engulfed one of the helicopters. Continue reading...
by Victoria Clayton in Inglewood, California, with ph on (#72EFJ)
As the US faces challenges to public school funding, activists warn that more people should pay attention to what's happened in Inglewood, CaliforniaInglewood, California - a few miles east of Los Angeles international airport - is known as the city of champions. The NBA champion Lakers once called Inglewood's Forum - famously dubbed the fabulous Forum" by announcer Chick Hearn - home.By the mid-2000s, with the Lakers gone and another local landmark - nearby Hollywood Park racetrack - closed, the city was close to bankruptcy. Then came a series of deals - often attributed to the leadership of the mayor James Butts - that reinvigorated the city, as a new epicenter of sports and entertainment such as the new spaceship-like SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome. When the 2028 Olympics roll around, Inglewood is slated to host many of the events as the world watches. Continue reading...
Cody Adams, 33, charged with manslaughter after neighbor blocks away was killed as he was firing at a drink canA man in Oklahoma is facing a manslaughter charge after he allegedly shot a woman several blocks from his home while firing a gun he got himself for Christmas at an energy drink can in his back yard.As told in court documents reviewed by NBC News, the death of Sandra Phelps at the hands of Cody Wayne Adams illustrates how deadly the consequences can be when those engaging in the US's prevalent gun culture do so unsafely. Adams's back yard was not equipped to stop bullets from leaving the property and striking unsuspecting people in the surrounding area, according to authorities. Continue reading...
Kyle Tharp of the Chaotic Era newsletter talks podcasts, influencers and rage bait - and the Republican formulaDemocrats' soul-searching began even before it was clear Donald Trump would return to the White House. But their devastating losses in the 2024 election threw the party's problems into stark relief, prompting a wave of competing explanations from inflation and the border to Gaza, Joe Biden's age, Kamala Harris's clipped campaign, woke" policies, an anti-incumbent mood or, more likely, some combination of them all.One diagnosis, however, drew striking consensus: Democrats had allowed themselves to be drowned out online by the right's vast - and well-funded - digital army. Continue reading...
Michael Pham fled communist Vietnam by boat as a child. Now, as bishop of San Diego, he is putting faith into actionNearly 50 years ago, a 13-year-old boarded a tiny fishing boat from communist Vietnam with more than a hundred other people. His intended destination: anywhere but there. The boat drifted through the Pacific Ocean for three days and four nights, dodging violent storms, massive waves, even a pirating ship. For the entirety of the journey, the teenager had no food or water.He survived the voyage, later took shelter in a Malaysian refugee camp, and was eventually granted asylum in the United States. Continue reading...
Authorities say they arrested a man, 23, for kidnapping teen in a Houston suburb as she walked her dog on ChristmasA Texas father used the parental controls on his teenage daughter's cell phone to find and help rescue her after she was kidnapped at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, authorities allege.The 15-year-old girl at the center of a case, which quickly gained national attention in the US over the weekend, was reportedly kidnapped in the Houston suburb of Porter. Her parents said she took her dog for a walk and had not returned by the time she was supposed to, according to a statement from the Montgomery county sheriff's office. Continue reading...
The public is looking for relief from terrorism and violence. But Donald Trump's words bolster narratives of foreign crusader' aggressionThe response of Nigerians to the airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Sokoto state, north-western Nigeria are complicated. The rationale behind them has been widely opposed, but the strikes themselves have been welcomed.The airstrikes were framed as a response to what have been described as genocidal attacks on Christians in the country. But the Nigerian authorities have consistently rejected this narrative, arguing that armed groups in the country do not discriminate based on religion, and that Christians and Muslims largely coexist peacefully. Ironically, it was Trump's redesignation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern" in November that deepened Muslim-Christian tensions. Many northerners, who are predominantly Muslim, blamed southern Nigerians for championing a narrative that ultimately resulted in US sanctions and international stigma.Onyedikachi Madueke is a security analyst at the University of Aberdeen Continue reading...
The California Democrat believes common ground does not only lie in the center - and has the successes to prove itIt was mid-December, and Ro Khanna was watching the calendar. The 19 December deadline for the justice department to comply with a new law the California representative wrote was ticking closer - and his bill was already forcing sealed documents about Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking operation into full view.In the weeks leading up to the deadline, three federal judges in Florida and New York had reversed years of secrecy, releasing grand jury testimony they had previously kept sealed. And when the deadline arrived, while the justice department didn't release everything, thousands of new files, connections and photographs began to complete the picture on what Khanna calls the Epstein class ... rich and powerful men who still have buildings named after them, who still are on corporations, are still in positions of prestige, who engage in heinous conduct. Continue reading...
Released documents detail the assembly line-like process with which Jeffrey Epstein procured underage victimsBy the mid-2000s, Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of teen girls was routine. From 2002 to 2005 alone, the late financier victimized dozens" of underage teens by luring them into sex acts for payment under the auspices of massage work, some as young as 14, prosecutors said.Epstein leaned on a coterie of employees and associates - including British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell - to secure a steady supply of minor victims". He also enlisted his victims to recruit other girls under the false pretense of providing massages, prosecutors said. Continue reading...
After months of torture in the Salvadorian prison, the men deported from the US reunite with families in VenezuelaIn preparation for the new year, Andry Hernandez Romero, his best friend and his family are building an ano viejo: a human-sized doll made of scrap wood and rags, styled with old clothes and stuffed with fireworks.On New Year's Eve, when the clock strikes midnight, they'll set it ablaze. Continue reading...
Crisis intervention training helps police recognize substance use disorders and connect people with treatmentOverdoses have been declining nationally since the fall of 2023, and public health experts have been unable to agree as to why. The decline has been uneven across states, and West Virginia, long known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis, is also among the states that have most reduced overdose fatalities, as noted in a recent Guardian analysis.One little explored factor is the increased adoption of crisis intervention training (CIT) for law enforcement. Early research that compares jurisdictions that have CIT programs to those that do not show that this intervention is associated with a decline in overdose fatalities. Continue reading...
Take this hopeful thought into 2026: the tyrants we endure always falter, and their seismic' upheavals are usually false dawnsFor those who lived through the cold war, the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, was an unforgettable moment. The sinister watch towers with their searchlights and armed guards, the minefields in no-man's land, the notorious Checkpoint Charlie border post, and the Wall itself - all were swept aside in an extraordinary, popular lunge for freedom.Less than a month later, on 3 December 1989, at a summit in Malta, US president George HW Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that after more than 40 years, the cold war was over. All agreed it was a historic turning point.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
Thomas Massie, who co-authored Epstein files act, says president attacked him for keeping commitment to help victims'. Key US politics stories from 27 December at a glanceThe Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie - who was singled out by Donald Trump on Christmas as a lowlife" after co-authoring a law requiring the federal government to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files - says the president attacked him for keeping a commitment to help victims".The congressman then successfully sought donations for his run in the 2026 midterm elections against an opponent that Trump has endorsed. Continue reading...
More than 17in of rain fell in Ventura county, with trees felled and hundreds of car crashes throughout the regionSouthern Californians are facing an epic clean-up operation after the region's wettest Christmas holiday in recent history turned areas of the state into a panorama of mud and debris.A year ago, record wildfires scorched the dry neighborhoods of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. But now, in what scientists call hydroclimate whiplash", the picture is reversed after an atmospheric river off the Pacific Ocean brought the elemental opposites of wind and rain. Continue reading...
Alondra Sotelo Garcia took over her father's business when he was deported to Mexico after three decades in the USAlondra Sotelo Garcia saw the same headlines as everybody else. Masked immigration agents making increasingly bold arrests. Community members disappearing without warning.As the middle child of immigrants, she feared for her parents. She started tracking her father's iPhone location, put in her two weeks' notice at her job, and told her father she wanted to start working at the vineyard management company he founded after decades in the wine industry. Continue reading...
Using the presidency as a branding opportunity, Trump is slapping his name on buildings, monuments and projectsIn 2011, Donald Trump published a book with the self-help guru Robert Kiyosaki titled Midas Touch. It's a typical self-empowerment manual in which the pair expound on the secrets of entrepreneurial success while drawing on their personal experiences. At one point, they write: Building a brand may be more important than building a business."That was certainly Trump's approach to business: he was the New York real estate tycoon who turned his fame into a brand that symbolized luxury and savvy strategy - even if his companies filed for bankruptcy six times. Trump spent decades trying to use his name to turn a profit: he owned an airline and a university, and slapped his moniker on vodka, steaks, neckties, board games and even bottled water. Leveraging the fame he gained from the Apprentice TV show, he expanded to licensing Trump-branded global real estate projects built by other developers. In many of these ventures, Trump collected licensing fees, rather than investing his own money, ensuring that he profited even if the businesses collapsed. Continue reading...
Nearly 15,000 flights canceled or delayed as both states declare weather emergencies after snowstormA mix of snow and ice bore down on the US north-east early on Saturday, disrupting post-holiday weekend airline traffic and prompting officials in New York and New Jersey to issue weather emergency declarations even as the storm ebbed by mid-morning.More than 14,400 domestic US flights on Saturday were canceled or delayed as of mid-morning, with the majority in the New York area, including at John F Kennedy international airport, LaGuardia airport and Newark Liberty international airport, according to the tracking site FlightAware. Continue reading...
Rule allows minority party to block legislation, but GOP is reluctant to scrap it as they could lose majorityDonald Trump has floated the idea of ending the filibuster - a procedural technique in Congress that allows a minority of senators to block legislation from passing - which would make pushing through his political agenda in 2026 much easier.In an interview with Politico, the president urged Republicans in the Senate to scrap the filibuster, saying it had become an obstacle to effective governing and removing it would prevent another government shutdown and pave the way for his party to push through its legislative priorities. Continue reading...
Iconic building, called greatest monstrosity ever constructed' by Hoover himself, to be closed downThe FBI director, Kash Patel, said the law enforcement agency's sprawling but ageing J Edgar Hoover building in Washington DC will be closed down and the agency will move into existing offices elsewhere.Some FBI workers will report to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in the US capital to occupy the former offices of the US Agency for International Development, which was dismantled by the Trump administration earlier this year. Continue reading...
by Jason Berry of the National Catholic Reporter in N on (#72DY7)
Long-winded legal wrangling and recalcitrant Catholic church leadership thwarted hopes for timely settlementAn image of his great-grandmother stayed with James Adams for years and strengthened his faith: she was withered, nearly blind, touching his cheeks when they sat together, as if the feel of his face gave her sight. A working woman whose husband, a police officer, killed himself, she raised four children; her faith was a rock against life's travails. She died at 98, when Adams was 28, about to marry.Many years later, in 2020, Adams, a New Orleans banker, was president of the Catholic Community Foundation, the archdiocese's fundraising arm, when Archbishop Gregory Aymond ousted him - as he's recounted from a witness stand in court and in multiple media interviews. Overnight, Adams became a church enemy because of what a priest did to him as a boy. His story mirrors the legal saga that has tarnished Aymond's career. Continue reading...
Suze Lopez found out she was pregnant only days before giving birth, due to fetus hiding behind 22lb ovarian cystA California family is celebrating their first holiday following the delivery of their latest child, a baby that had been growing outside of the mother's womb.Suze Lopez, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse in Bakersfield, California, delivered baby Ryu via surgery in August, so the newborn is celebrating his first Christmas. He had been an ectopic pregnancy - when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus - and was hidden behind a large ovarian cyst. Continue reading...
Historically, when organizers have used tactical innovation, movement activity has peakedFederal agents in military fatigues carrying assault rifles in major cities. Huge cuts to healthcare, science and the US's largest anti-hunger program. Immigrants dragged from cars and courthouse hallways. Rising authoritarianism, corruption and anti-democratic behavior. These are just some of the reasons pushback against the Trump administration is growing with each passing day.While traditional marches such as the massive No Kings protests are a critical part of any resistance movement, sociologist Doug McAdam has shown how tactical innovation - the introduction of creative or novel protest methods - was a key part of the success of the civil rights movement in the US. Historically, when organizers established new tactics, movement activity peaked. Continue reading...
Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venueThe president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician's sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump's name would be added to the facility.Your decision to withdraw at the last moment - explicitly in response to the Center's recent renaming, which honors President Trump's extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure - is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution," the venue's president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press. Continue reading...
By puncturing Oklahoma City's aura of inevitability, Victor Wembanyama and co have restored suspense, drama and joy to a season that was in danger of becoming dullI've seen enough: Give the San Antonio Spurs the keys to Santa Claus' workshop. Put Stephon Castle in charge of toy assembly. Let De'Aaron Fox toss presents into chimneys, from whatever range he'd like. Devin Vassell can customize the Christmas cookies. Harrison Barnes has the army of elves covered. And, of course, Santa Claus's sleigh must immediately be resized for a taller, thinner pilot so that the towering Victor Wembanyama can drive it comfortably. The sensational Spurs have felled the Oklahoma City Thunder three times in two weeks, and in doing so revitalized this NBA season. I now have more faith in the Spurs' ability to grant joy to the masses than any holiday legends of old.It looked dire for a while there. The Thunder might have won the Larry O'Brien trophy in June, but began this season in even more ominous form. They reeled off 24 wins in their first 25 games (the lone loss was a fluky 20-point comeback). In most of them, Jalen Williams, their second-best player, was on the sidelines recovering from wrist surgery. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, their best, seldom had to play in fourth quarters. The Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings by 31. The Los Angeles Lakers, who some expected to be a plausible rival, lost by 29; their basketball savant Luka Doncic looked like he was playing against ten men. The Phoenix Suns' valiant first earned them a close loss, by just four points. When they met again 12 days later, the Thunder won by 49. This game knocked all the remaining leaves off the trees and started winter 10 days ahead of schedule. Oklahoma City looked capable of shredding anything in its path, even the 2016 Golden State Warriors' legendary regular season record of 73-9. Continue reading...
Lawmakers spent much of 2025 seeking to reprimand each other - here's a look back at what sparked such outrageIt's been a year for the history books in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers broke the record for longest floor speech and longest vote, and presided over the lengthiest government shutdown.They also spent plenty of time seeking to reprimand each other by passing censures, as the House's formal mechanism for discipline is known. A search on Congress.gov reveals at least 17 attempts since the start of the year to condemn another lawmaker, in the form of a censure or a less formal disapproval resolution. Continue reading...
The year 2025 saw a Swift engagement, a rapid rollback of rights and a slow release of the heavily redacted Epstein filesThe year 2025 would have been far better if we could have sent a few billionaires and world leaders into intergalactic exile. Instead, we had to make do with Katy Perry spending 11 minutes on the edge of space as part of Blue Origin's all-female crewed mission. Perry promised us all that, in service of women's empowerment, the crew would put the ass' in astronaut" and make space and science glam". Truly, one giant leap for womankind!Space may have got glam, but it was another glum year for many on Earth. The war in Ukraine continued, with increasing numbers of women volunteering to fight. The civil war in Sudan raged on, with the UN urging the world not to ignore harrowing details of targeted sexual violence, torture, and abductions from the region. The slaughter in Sudan is so extreme that the blood can even be seen from space. Although I'm not sure the billionaires and celebs doing celestial joyrides in their expensive rockets are particularly bothered by that view.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist and the author of Strong Female Lead Continue reading...
Kentucky's Thomas Massie used the president's insult to raise funds to run against a Trump-endorsed candidateA Kentucky congressman singled out by Donald Trump on Christmas as a lowlife" after co-authoring a law requiring the federal government to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files says the president attacked him for keeping a commitment to help victims".Thomas Massie then successfully sought donations for his run for another term in the 2026 midterm elections against an opponent that Trump - his fellow Republican - has already endorsed. Continue reading...
by Martin Rowson, Ella Baron, Nicola Jennings and Ben on (#72DT3)
Our cartoonists look back at a year of covering tragedy, farce and everything in between - and having to draw far too many Donald TrumpsIn a year in which I've drawn too many cartoons about powerful people acting with impunity, the fall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor stood out to me as a rare win for justice and accountability. Dark humour feels vital to make light of everything that's going wrong, but I've also been trying to draw cartoons that highlight reasons for hope, such as the fragile ceasefire in Gaza or Zohran Mamdani's win in New York. Continue reading...
Country's foreign minister says his president signed off on US air attack - key US politics stories from 26 December at a glanceUS airstrikes in Nigeria on Christmas Day were aided by intelligence provided by the Nigerian government, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.Donald Trump had announced the strikes against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria after spending weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians. Continue reading...
At least three people killed across state since atmospheric river storms began earlier this weekMudslides buried cars and homes up to their windows in a California mountain town as a powerful storm system brought the wettest Christmas in decades to the southern part of the state.As much as 12in of rain fell across the area on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, triggering flooding and washing out roads. Continue reading...
Stevenson Charles, Yusuf Minor and Naod Yohannes, all incarcerated for murder, recaptured on TuesdayThree men who escaped from a Georgia jail for three days hijacked a Lyft rideshare as part of a brazen attempt to flee to south Florida, according to newly released federal court documents.Stevenson Charles, 24; Yusuf Minor, 31; and Naod Yohannes, 25, are accused of escaping from the DeKalb county jail, located 15 miles (24km) outside Atlanta, on Sunday before being recaptured in Florida on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Some even celebrated mass killing' and the president's resolve' in attacking Islamic State targetsThe US's Christmas Day strikes against Islamic State targets in Nigeria have been met with praise by Donald Trump supporters who for months had been agitating for the president to respond forcefully to the killings of Christians in the country.I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than by avenging the death of Christians through the justified mass killing of Islamic terrorists," the far-right political activist Laura Loomer posted on X. You've got to love it! Death to all Islamic terrorists! Thank you." Continue reading...
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