US news | The Guardian

Lola, who was trained to help her Michigan owner in case of seizure, vanished from a fenced yard in 2017A whiff of her old blanket was enough for Lola: the black lab was back in her owners’ arms three years after the Michigan dog disappeared on a trip to suburban Chicago.“I feel like I’m in a dream right now,” Debra Mejeur said on Saturday when she and her husband, Steve, were reunited with Lola at DuPage County Animal Services. Continue reading...

The UK, US and EU plan to spend to create growth – but they must be realistic about costsEncouraging news about more effective antiviral treatments and promising vaccines is fuelling cautious optimism that rich countries, at least, could tame the Covid-19 pandemic by the end of 2021. For now, though, as a brutal second wave cascades around the world, broad and robust relief remains essential. Governments should allow public debt to rise further to mitigate the catastrophe, even if there are longer-term costs. But where will new growth, already tepid in advanced economies before the pandemic, come from?Macroeconomists of all stripes broadly agree that productive infrastructure spending is welcome after a deep recession. I have long shared that view, at least for genuinely productive projects. Yet infrastructure spending in advanced economies has been declining intermittently for decades. (China, which is at a very different stage of development, is another story entirely.) The US, for example, spent only 2.3% of GDP ($441bn, or £331bn)) on transportation and water infrastructure in 2017, a lower share than at any time since the mid-1950s. Continue reading...

Trump’s personal attorney tests positive for coronavirus, while his press secretary tacitly admits Biden victory – but just 27 of 249 Republicans in Congress are willing to concede

Donald Trump’s press secretary appears to admit the president lost election, despite his refusal to formally concede to Joe Biden Continue reading...

The Desert Oracle, the former Wonkette owner’s pocket-sized magazine, has proven a cult hit while refusing to establish an online presenceUFOs, doomed hikers, William Burroughs, singing sand dunes, Elvis, ghosts, roadrunners and rattlesnakes – the Desert Oracle packs a lot of weird, dark matter between its bright yellow covers.The pocket-sized magazine, which looks like a cross between a guide book and a punk zine, explores the stranger side of desert life. Created in the arid beauty of Joshua Tree in California, it has proven a cult hit devoured by readers from Los Angeles to London. Continue reading...

Millions of self-employed workers are set to lose their benefits after Christmas and lawmakers have yet to find a solutionSuzy Young, an artist in Winterport, Maine, cheered when Congress enacted an innovative program that provided unemployment benefits to artists, freelancers and the self-employed after Covid-19 hit the US. But like many others, Young – whose art sales have plunged in recent months – is angry that this pandemic aid program is due to expire the day after Christmas.Related: Joe Biden's economic team beats Trump's goon squad – but it faces a steep challenge | Robert Reich Continue reading...

The NFL is too complex for a team to be transformed by a single player. Pinning everything on an untested quarterback is foolishWatching the dwindling minutes of the NFL’s ‘witching hour’ was a fascinating experience on Sunday.The Jets and Jaguars were not playing head-to-head, except it felt like they were. In the race to the bottom of the standings, in the race to clinch the first overall pick, the outcomes from Jets-Raiders and Jaguars-Vikings had less to do with the specific results than how those results impacted the draft order. Continue reading...

Transition team plans for possibility that Senate Republicans – depending on Georgia runoff contests – may aim to stonewallJoe Biden has had a fairly smooth cabinet appointment process so far, but there are rumblings that it could get choppier, and speculation that the Democratic president-elect may take a leaf out of the Donald Trump playbook to try to get the team he wants.Related: Biden's outspoken nominee to run budget office deletes 1,000 tweets Continue reading...

The Democratic challenger for a US Senate seat in Georgia debated against an empty lectern as Senator David Perdue, the Republican incumbent, declined to participate in the debate against Democrat Jon Ossoff ahead of the runoff election. 'Your senator is refusing to answer questions and debate his opponent because he believes he shouldn't have to,' Ossoff said on the debate stage, standing beside Perdue's empty lectern. 'He believes the senate seat belongs to him. The senate seat belongs to the people'

Multiple US media reports say the lawyer is in hospital, as Arizona closes state legislature for a week in wake of his recent visit

Republican dodges questions from her Democrat runoff rival Raphael Warnock, while David Perdue fails to show up

Residents warned to be watchful after sheriff’s office says 28-year-old died from wild animal attack, possibly a mountain lionA 28-year-old man found dead in a wooded area in rural Texas was killed by a wild animal, possibly a mountain lion, according to local county officials.The Hood county sheriff’s office said on Saturday that deputies found Christopher Allen Whiteley’s body on Thursday, a day after he went missing near Lipan, located 50 miles (80km) south-west of Fort Worth. Continue reading...

Kayleigh McEnany tells Fox News Kamala Harris will have deciding vote if Republicans lose twin Senate runoffs in January

Trump piles up dozens of failed election lawsuits as US attorney general says there is no evidence of widespread voting fraud Continue reading...

First official explanation of illness that affected US diplomats in Cuba says ‘pulsed’ energy may have led to unexplained symptomsThe mysterious symptoms that have afflicted American diplomats stationed in Cuba, puzzling scientists and intelligence agencies alike, are most likely to have been caused by “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy”, according to a report commissioned by the US government.Those suffering from Havana syndrome, as the condition has become known, have complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision and other ailments. Continue reading...

PPP has been vital for businesses during the pandemic but while its loans won’t be taxable, any expenses used to apply areCongress is considering a new stimulus bill, which includes another round of paycheck protection program (PPP) funds targeted at specific businesses that have suffered revenue declines. That’s good news. But one big thing may be missing from this new legislation: a certain tax deduction that, if not allowed, could be very costly for any small business that received a forgivable PPP loan this year.If your business received a PPP loan this year, you could be facing a big tax bill because of it. No, it’s not on the amount forgiven. That won’t be taxable. But as of now any expenses that you used to apply for forgiveness wouldn’t be deductible. And that’s a problem. Let me explain. Continue reading...

Atherton, California – home to Silicon Valley heavyweights like Eric Schmidt and Nick Clegg – isn’t technically a gated community. But its laws create walls of their ownIf fences make good neighbors, then Atherton, California should be full of good neighbors.In America’s most expensive zip code, an abundance of wrought-iron fences, sturdy brick walls and towering hedgerows abound. Some gated mansions sit in gated neighborhoods that sit behind barricades of large oak trees – veritable fortresses fortified with everything but a moat. Continue reading...

Donald Trump campaigned for two Republican senators in Georgia on Saturday, at a rally that some in the party feared could end up hurting their chances by focusing on his efforts to reverse his own election defeat. In his first rally appearance since he lost to Joe Biden, Trump repeated baseless claims of widespread fraud in the presidential election. The crucial January runoff will determine which party controls the Senate

The Democratic left rallied around the party’s nominee but are now warily surveying his picks for top administration positionsJoe Biden has long had a rollercoaster relationship with progressive organizations and the left wing of the Democratic party and there are signs that the relationship is again starting to fray now that his electoral triumph over Donald Trump is receding into the rear-view mirror.When Biden entered the Democratic primary field progressive groups were quick to criticize the former vice-president for supporting the Iraq war and previously considering cuts to social security. The organizations cast Biden as an establishment Democrat who would fail to challenge a status quo that had created the conditions for the rise of Trump. Continue reading...

A hometown museum/library is a tradition for ex-Oval Office occupants, but is this just another norm Trump will upturn?On the night Donald Trump won the US presidency in 2016, he gave his supporters a thumbs up and delivered a victory speech in the ballroom of a midtown Manhattan hotel. On either side of the stage were two mounted glass cases. Inside, like untouchable holy relics, were two red caps emblazoned with the words “Make America great again” (Maga). Continue reading...

The president-elect says he will address structural inequalities, but against entrenched interests, such works take time“It’s time we address the structural inequalities in our economy that the pandemic has laid bare,” President-elect Joe Biden said this week, as he introduced his economic team.Related: Beware going 'back to normal' thoughts – normal gave us Trump | Robert Reich Continue reading...

President falsely claims he was ‘cheated’ and calls for people to vote in coming Senate races that will decide control of chamberDonald Trump has held his first political rally since losing the presidential election, delivering an incoherent speech laced with baseless conspiracies theories about election fraud and attacks on Republican state officials in Georgia who have refused to help him subvert the results.In front of a crowd of thousands of mostly maskless, non-socially distanced supporters in south Georgia, Trump repeatedly claimed, falsely, that he had won the presidential election, and called for those in government with “courage and wisdom” to help him reverse the result. Continue reading...

Former president says ‘if I spoke the language of James Baldwin on the stump … I’m probably not gonna to get a lot of votes in Iowa’Barack Obama has underlined his belief that Democrats should moderate campaign messaging in order to reach voters turned off by slogans including “Defund the Police”, telling a literary group: “If I spoke the language of James Baldwin as he speaks it on the campaign stump, I’m probably not gonna get a lot of votes in Iowa.”Related: Barack Obama criticizes 'Defund the Police' slogan but faces backlash Continue reading...

President-elect in new CNN film tells of agonized discussions but says he subsequently advised Obama to follow his instinctJoe Biden has revealed why he advised Barack Obama to wait to order the raid which killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011, advice the president did not take.Related: Just 26 of 249 Republicans in Congress willing to say Trump lost, survey finds Continue reading...

The lights are on, but the party’s over - in the time of Covid, we can’t even buy duty-freeEverything seemed just the same when I flew into Wellington this week, which is to say the last 10 minutes were a living hell. Hello turbulence, my old friend. The plane sank like a rock, the wind picked it up again and flung it left, then right; down below, the waters of Cook Street boiled and fumed. But it’s a familiar nightmare. It’s just the way it almost always is when you fly into Wellington.The truly disorienting part of arriving was walking through Wellington domestic airport. Continue reading...

Firefighters in New York battled a large blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning that gutted a historic church in lower Manhattan. The Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village caught fire before dawn after a blaze spread from an adjacent five-storey vacant building about 5am. Video posted on Twitter showed flames shooting from the roof and the church’s stately front window glowing from the conflagration inside. The church houses New York’s Liberty Bell and its congregation dates from the earliest days of the city’s settlement.

The first female US Treasury secretary must tackle the damage wreaked by the pandemic while keeping Wall Street happyOf all the 78 US Treasury secretaries since Alexander Hamilton first took up the office in 1789, few have faced an in-tray piled quite so high as the one that will greet the first woman in the job: Janet Yellen.The choice of the Brooklyn-born doctor’s daughter to succeed Steve Mnuchin was a statement of intent by president-elect Joe Biden. Where many of her predecessors have been scions of Wall Street, Yellen’s background is in economics and public policy, and she has made it clear that her priorities are with Americans struggling to get by rather than with investment bankers. “There is a huge amount of suffering out there,” she said in September as she urged Congress to agree a new stimulus package. Continue reading...

The proposed legislation would shield corporations from liability if their workers die from Covid-19 in unsafe workplacesIn early October, Harvard researchers sounded an alarm: they released a report showing a pattern of coronavirus deaths surging soon after workers filed requests for workplace safety assistance from the US labor department. The takeaway was clear: workers are desperately begging the government to help protect them from a deadly pandemic, the government has been unresponsive, and lots of workers have subsequently died preventable deaths.Related: Covid-19 puts workers in danger. It's another reason we need unions | Steven Greenhouse Continue reading...

It isn’t fair women are consistently judged more harshly than men – but we don’t fix it by holding women to lower standards

With restaurants forced to close while malls stay open, frustrations grow among business owners and other citizensJeffrey Merrihue had just finished installing $80,000 worth of dining booths on the street outside his informal Italian eatery blocks away from the Pacific Ocean when word came down that Los Angeles county was instituting a three-week ban on outdoor dining.Not only was he not amused – he thought the decision was misguided and desperately unfair. Continue reading...

Trump piles up dozens of failed election lawsuits as US attorney general says there is no evidence of widespread voting fraud Continue reading...

Ramesh thought the people who encouraged him to recruit overseas students to an illegal ‘visa mill’ were his friends – but they worked for US immigration authoritiesRamesh used to talk to his friends in Michigan a lot on the phone. Continue reading...

Everyone wants to know what she’ll do next. I’ve got a few ideas...For much of this dumpster fire of a year I’ve been self-medicating with Schitt’s Creek, the completely delightful sitcom about a wealthy family who, after losing all their money, learn to be good. But as the US election approached, I no longer wanted to watch a show about rich people who end up happy. I wanted to watch one about rich people being humiliated and regularly slung in prison. And so I’ve been rewatching Arrested Development.The extraordinary similarities between the Bluth family (dodgy property dealer father, pathetic idiot older son desperate for his father’s love, blond idiot daughter, even more idiotic younger son) and the Trump family (see above) rendered the show nearly unwatchable during the presidency. Now that Trump is definitely leaving office, it feels close to cathartic. But there was one thing Arrested got wrong in its prophesying of the Trumps: it underestimated the daughter. Continue reading...

From non-polluting transport to sustainable industries, urban areas are perfect for testing radical solutions to global problems

Rudy Giuliani, the Trump children – even Joe Exotic – are reportedly being considered, along with the soon to be ex-presidentRudy Giuliani. Ivanka Trump. Joseph Maldonado-Passage, AKA Joe Exotic, star of the Netflix series Tiger King. And, just possibly, Donald Trump himself. Continue reading...

For many following the story of the monolith, crucial questions remain unanswered: who made it? What was it for?In a year of uncertainty and peril, one three-sided mystery metal structure provided a glinting moment of distraction, or even hope – and then it was gone.Before the public had moved on from the monolith, the monolith had moved on from us. Continue reading...

My friend Aynür’s life tells the story of how Uighurs have been purposefully dehumanised by the party-stateDuring my first year living in Ürümchi, the capital of Xinjiang, I met Aynür (not her real name). It was 2007, and she described life in China as difficult but improving for Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking predominantly Muslim people. Aynür spoke both Uighur and Mandarin, and was proud of being “in-between cultures”. She described herself as a bridge between the Han majority, who make up about 90% of China’s population and the Uighurs, Xinjiang’s ethnic majority.Aynür invited me to her home and we watched China’s national day celebrations – parades of tanks, warheads, and motorcades – on TV . Aynür could not understand my lack of amusement; the spectacle made her proud of China’s rapid development and hopeful that Xinjiang’s problems could be resolved. Over the years, as new policies affected her work, her home and her family life, her outlook changed. The hints had been there when we first met: she worried aloud about future generations’ ability to speak the Uighur language and their right to practise their religion. When Aynür asked to see pictures of my “homeland”, she was stunned by the sight of Scottish flags adorning Edinburgh castle. She was amazed that “minority people” within larger nations could express their own identity. “If we were allowed to do this, most of our problems would be gone.” Continue reading...

President no closer to overturning result, with just one small victory in a month’s worth of casesFor a man obsessed with winning, Donald Trump is losing a lot.In the month since the election, the president and his legal team have come no closer in their frantic efforts to overturn the result, notching up dozens of losses in courts across the country, with more rolling in by the day. Continue reading...