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Biden must choose whether to build a post-white America – or to placate the white supremacist project of the Republican partyShortly after Biden was declared president-elect, he announced that he would reach a hand across the aisle. “We must stop,” he said, “treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies. We are Americans.” This is the Biden playbook at work, honed through years of compromises made with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell: appealing to the Republican elite in office, while trying to appeal to moderate Republicans on the ground.Having stretched out its hand to the Republicans, the center of the Democratic party then turned to its real enemy – the left that it blames for its poor showing in the election. Virginia congresswoman Abigail Spanberger led the charge, contending that “no one should ever say ‘defund the police’ ever again”. Despite the fact that progressive candidates did well across the ticket, and Biden ran a campaign modelled on Hilary Clinton’s neoliberal program, centrist Democrats blamed the core demand of the Black Lives Matter movement for alienating moderates. In centrist Democrats’ telling, the problem is the left – and the answer is to reach out to that poor soul, the moderate Republican. Continue reading...

The mixed reaction to her speaking up proves that there’s a long way to go before women feel comfortable sharing their painYesterday, the Duchess of Sussex became the latest public figure to reveal her membership of a secret club that no one wants to join. In a piece that was rapidly read around the world, Meghan described the July morning on which she suffered the miscarriage of her second pregnancy and the “almost unbearable grief” she and her husband have experienced. “I knew,” she writes, “as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.” It is an arresting image, unusual in its representation of the two opposing truths about reproduction – nurturing new life on the one hand, loss and death on the other – in such close proximity to each other.Although miscarriages are surprisingly common – experienced by approximately one in four women – there continue to be pervasive taboos around the subject. This is partly because around 85% of miscarriages occur within the first trimester, before most women publicly announce their pregnancies. This leaves many, like Meghan, mourning the loss of a much-wanted baby that no one even knew about. The infertility activist Katy Lindemann has called the early months “a sort of Schrödinger’s pregnancy”, when women are expected to hedge their bets and accept miscarriages without a fuss. She points out that the 12-week rule imposes an unnecessary and harmful secrecy around pregnancy loss, leaving women to cope alone just when they most need support and community. Continue reading...

US reported 181,490 new cases on Wednesday as millions defied official advice to travel and gather for ThanksgivingThe US reported 181,490 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, a third daily rise in a row, as hospitalisations hit a record for a 16th day in succession, at 89,959.Related: Supreme court bars Covid attendance limits at New York houses of worship Continue reading...

Analysis: renewed US speculation raises number of legal and practical questions

Conservatives relish the irony of Trump’s audacious reversal of the truth around rigging – because it distracts attention from their minority ruleThe Republican establishment, despite being unfairly advantaged by the skewed composition of the electoral college, by over-representation in the House due to partisan gerrymandering and in the Senate due to equal State suffrage, has been in no hurry to reject Donald Trump’s ludicrous allegation that the American electoral system is rigged to favor Democrats. Sweating the make-or-break Georgia runoffs, the party’s leaders are apparently frightened to cross the mad king, who owns their voters, lest he cause their ratings to plummet as he is doing with Fox News. But Republican complicity with this unprecedented attack on American democracy is not a matter of short-term expediency or fear of reprisals. It is much worse than that. Mitch McConnell and the others are not merely humoring the president until his mania subsides. Trump’s voters are the Republicans’ voters and the Republican party cannot easily cut them, and their deranged conspiracy theories, loose even after 20 January.Related: How do we avoid future authoritarians? Winning back the working class is key | Bernie Sanders Continue reading...

From employment to healthcare, learning disabled people still face discrimination and inequalityThere are 1.5 million learning disabled people in the UK, but they are rarely seen or heard from. Little is spoken of this demographic of people, who in many cases completely rely on others in order to live.Unless you’re a family carer or professionally involved, you may not know or have regular contact with any learning disabled people. Continue reading...

Like the state, fishers for crustaceans are politically split but all crave stability: ‘Chaos is the enemy of the lobster industry’This may be the week when most Americans are gobbling turkey at Thanksgiving, but Maine’s lobstermen and women are looking ahead to 2021 and figure they might get on a roll with Joe Biden.Donald Trump positioned himself as a friend of New England’s lobster industry, campaigning hard in Maine, and even had lobsterman Jason Joyce speak at the Republican national convention. Continue reading...

Instead of celebrating a false Thanksgiving narrative, listen to and share the countless Native American stories that aren’t being toldThe day after the 2020 presidential election, a graphic from CNN dominated my Facebook newsfeed. Illustrating voter turnout, it included the phrase “something else” to refer to voters who are not white, Latinx, Black or Asian.Many Native Americans, quick to unite around a reason to laugh, responded with their own graphics and memes, playfully and sarcastically congratulating themselves. Continue reading...

After four years of Trump, many diplomats are hopeful – but US critics say the idea of a return to a ‘golden age’ is a delusionFor most of the world’s diplomats, Joe Biden’s foreign policy slogan “America is Back” is no metaphor.On global issues from climate change, to non-proliferation and human rights, the US under the Trump administration had literally gathered up its papers and pens and left the meeting room. Biden’s election victory and choice of committed internationalists to lead the foreign policy team, means that there will actually be someone sitting in what has been an empty chair. Continue reading...

GSA recognises Biden’s win, allowing presidential transition to go ahead, as Trump continues to refuse to accept result Continue reading...

It would be ridiculous to say that someone as talented as the Ravens quarterback has been found out, but he needs to tweak his gameIt is easy to be a prisoner of the moment. Player X is unstoppable, we yell. Player Y is the future. Player Z is washed up. Until they’re not.Lamar Jackson’s Ravens – once seen as shoo-ins for a Super Bowl run – have lost three of their last four games, and they have failed to score more than 24 points in all four. Jackson and the Ravens offense are stuck in a rut. What was 12 months ago the definition of the modern confuse-and-clobber style now looks confused and clobbered. All the razzmatazz and excitement – the efficiency and explosiveness – from a season ago has been traded for the unthinkable: predictability. Continue reading...

The pandemic has dramatically altered this year’s Black Friday – this does not mean holiday shopping is cancelledBlack Friday has long been the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in the US. As dawn breaks after Thanksgiving long lines of shoppers trying to score the best deals camp outside of stores and malls across the country. Not this year.Related: Fauci urges Americans to sacrifice traditional Thanksgiving to save lives Continue reading...

Ruth Ben-Ghiat delivers a superb examination of how close the US came to fascism – and how it has propped it up beforeThis terrific history of strongmen since Mussolini makes it clear that despite a horrific pandemic and massive economic disruption, ordinary democratic Americans have more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving than ever before.Related: Trump's coup failed – but US democracy has been given a scare Continue reading...

Barack Obama has said part of the reason more than 73 million Americans voted to re-elect Donald Trump in the election was because of messaging from Republicans that the country was under attack – particularly white men.In an interview with the radio show the Breakfast Club on Wednesday to promote his new memoir A Promised Land, Obama said Trump’s administration, which he did not name directly, 'objectively has failed, miserably, in handling just basic looking after the American people and keeping them safe', and yet he still secured millions of votes

Joe Biden urged Americans to put aside their political differences as he called for unity in his Thanksgiving address to the nation.'We need to remember, we are at war with the virus, not one another,' said the president-elect. 'Our democracy was tested this year, and what we learned was this: the people of this nation were up to the task.'

President-elect urges shared sacrifice amid hardship of restricted holiday, and says: ‘We’re at war with the virus, not each other’In an eve-of-Thanksgiving address on Wednesday, Joe Biden drew on historic hardships and his deep personal loss to make a passionate appeal for resilience, asking Americans to endure a national holiday amid restrictions on travel and gatherings imposed to fight the pandemic.Related: Trump pardons former national security adviser Michael Flynn Continue reading...

Abrams, who is a romance author along with her political work, has joined the ‘romancing the runoff’ fundraiserRallying behind Stacey Abrams, the Democratic politician, voting rights activist and romance author, American romance novelists have helped raise nearly $400,000 to help elect two Democratic senators in Georgia.Now, Abrams herself has joined the “Romancing the Runoff” fundraiser, and has donated a copy of the first of her eight published romance novels--one signed with both her real name, and her pen name, Selena Montgomery. Continue reading...

State authorizes more than $140m in payouts in alleged fraud highlighting department in crisisCalifornia’s system for paying unemployment benefits is so dysfunctional that the state approved more than $140m for at least 20,000 incarcerated people, local and federal prosecutors said.Law enforcement officials on Tuesday said more than 35,000 incarcerated people were named in claims filed with the California employment development department from March to August. More than 20,000 had been paid, according to Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento county district attorney. Continue reading...

Teen who was confronted by officers searching for a middle-aged white woman in 2017 died on SundayHonestie Hodges, who was handcuffed outside her home in Michigan at age 11 in an incident that prompted national outrage, died on Sunday aged 14.Her grandmother, Alisa Niemeyer, said in posts online the 14-year-old died from Covid-19. Continue reading...

Former president made remark about Republican messaging in interview with Breakfast ClubBarack Obama said part of the reason 73 million Americans voted to re-elect Donald Trump in the election was because of messaging from Republicans that the country, particularly white men, are under attack.In an interview with the radio show the Breakfast Club on Wednesday to promote his new memoir A Promised Land, Obama said Trump’s administration, which he did not name directly, “objectively has failed, miserably, in handling just basic looking after the American people and keeping them safe”, and yet he still secured millions of votes. Continue reading...

Under Trump many had a ‘collective hypervigilance and anxiety of what he might do next’, experts say – so how do we unpack these past four years?For millions of Americans and nervous election viewers around the world, the month of November has been a seesaw of emotions. Tentatively able to envision a life outside the Trump shadow, many could finally name the mental, emotional and physical toll the past four years have had on them, reflecting on the feelings of depression, insomnia, restlessness and anxiety that, for them, have defined the president’s term in office for so many.Emboldened by the promise that in a few short months they would no longer have to live in fear of a national security-threatening tweet or Fox News-induced meltdown, millions of people are beginning to process their feelings. Continue reading...

Trump and company did everything possible to try to thwart rule of law. Americans wouldn’t stand for it

Flynn will be among a series of pardons before Trump leaves office, according to multiple reportsDonald Trump plans to pardon his disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn before he leaves office, according to multiple media reports.Flynn will be among a series of pardons that Trump plans to grant before his term in office ends, multiple sources were reported as saying by Axios and the New York Times. Continue reading...

Profiles of the people expected to take key posts in the Biden administration

Practice where thieves break into mailboxes and alter checks is rising and hurting hurting small businesses across the countryEver had your checks washed? Maybe not. But be careful: it’s a growing problem for small businesses.“Check washing” is a practice where thieves break into mailboxes (or otherwise steal mail), find envelopes with checks, then use special solvents to remove the information on that check (except for the signature) and then change the payee and the amount to a bank account under their control so that it could be deposited at out-state-banks and oftentimes by a mobile phone. Continue reading...

The president-elect has insisted his administration will not be a ‘third Obama term’ as he hires many of Obama’s former team. Plus, Trump’s turkey pardoning falls flatGood morning.Joe Biden has insisted his presidency will not be a “third Obama term”, during his first sit-down interview since the election. He said “we face a totally different world” than under Barack Obama, arguing that Donald Trump had “changed the landscape”. The clarification may have been necessary: it followed the announcement yesterday of the first picks for Biden’s cabinet, many of whom are political veterans from the Obama administration. Continue reading...

GSA recognises Biden’s win, allowing presidential transition to go ahead, as Trump continues to refuse to accept result

Two days ago I had never heard of this teenager with 100 million followers. And I was all the happier for it

President-elect Joe Biden says his presidency would not be 'a third Obama term' after announcing a slew of cabinet nominees that included many former Obama administration staffers. In his first sit-down interview since the election, Biden said the appointments reflected the spectrum of the American people and the Democratic party. 'This is not a third Obama term. We face a totally different world than we faced in the Obama-Biden administration,' he told NBC's Lester Holt, adding that Donald Trump's 'America first' approach meant 'America alone'. He also said he would consider appointing a Republican in upcoming appointments.

The president pulled every lever to stay in power. It didn’t work, but how would the US handle a closer election?In the end, the coup did not take place. In the most grudging manner possible, Donald Trump signalled on Monday night that the transition of power could begin.That, a White House official told reporters, was as close as Trump will probably ever come to concession, but the machinery of transition has gathered momentum. Joe Biden’s incoming administration now has a government internet domain, is being briefed by government agencies and is due to receive federal funding. Continue reading...

Although his list of cabinet nominees included many Obama-era alumni, Joe Biden said the challenges facing him were uniqueIn his first sit-down interview since the election, President-elect Joe Biden declared his presidency would not be “a third Obama term” and promised to represent the full spectrum of the country and the Democratic party.Speaking with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Tuesday evening, Biden said the challenges facing him were unique and sought to shake off the shadow of the man who he served as vice-president. Continue reading...

US President-elect Joe Biden says he would like to avoid a guarded border between the UK and Ireland as Brexit negotiations continue. Speaking to reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said "We do not want a guarded border. We want to make sure – we’ve worked too long to get Ireland worked out, and I talked with the British prime minister, I talked with the Taoiseach, I talked with others, I talked to the French. The idea of having a border north and south once again being closed is just not right, we’ve just got to keep the border open."

Appearing with first lady Melania Trump in front of the White House, the president made brief remarks thanking healthcare workers and researchers working on a Covid-19 vaccine.According to tradition, two turkeys named Corn and Cob stayed at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel before the official ceremony. After an online poll, Corn was chosen to be pardoned.Trump did not take questions at the event, and ignored a shouted question about whether he was considering pardoning himself.

Structure compared to monolith featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey – and could it be the work of sculptor John McCracken?A giant, metal mystery slab has captured the attention of millions, as people speculate over how such a structure came to be in a remote part of southern Utah.The object was first spotted last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife officers who were flying above the rugged area to conduct an annual count of bighorn sheep for the state. It immediately drew comparisons to the monolith featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as inviting suggestions it could be the work of extraterrestrials. Continue reading...

At a much diminished White House ceremony, the president seemed to realise that his star has already begun to waneIt was a sad spectacle. Here was an ageing comic confronted by a shrinking audience, his jokes landing with a thud, his star beginning to fade.Donald Trump suddenly finds himself where he has never been: a secondary story, overshadowed by Joe Biden, dominating the news cycle no more. Continue reading...

President-elect Joe Biden seeks to blunt criticism from leftwingers as he formally introduces his first round of cabinet nominations, by emphasising the fight against the climate crisis.Biden says that in John Kerry, a former secretary of state and presidential nominee, America will have a full-time climate leader for the first time, someone with 'a seat at every table around the world'

President and Melania Trump pardon Corn, one of two birds, at the traditional Thanksgiving ceremonyHis attempt to reverse electoral defeat having proved a turkey, on Tuesday afternoon at the White House, Donald Trump pardoned one.Related: Will New York's elite give Ivanka and Jared a warm welcome or the cold shoulder? Continue reading...

A segment of working-class people in our country still believes Donald Trump defends their interests. We must win them overAs the count currently stands, nearly 80 million Americans voted for Joe Biden. With this vote against the authoritarian bigotry of Donald Trump, the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief.But the election results did also reveal something that should be a cause for concern. Trump received 11 million more votes than he did in 2016, increasing his support in many distressed communities – where unemployment and poverty are high, healthcare and childcare are inadequate, and people are hurting the most. Continue reading...

Donald Trump and Mike Pence appeared in the White House briefing room for less than two minutes for Trump to tout the stock market’s good day - despite Trump having not taken a question from reporters in about three weeks.There was almost no notice of the briefing. CNN’s Jim Acosta said White House staff were suddenly shouting at journalists to get into their seats because the president wanted to walk into the briefing room. After Trump’s departure, a reporter was heard to say: ‘Well, that was weird as shit’.The General Services Administration on Monday declared Joe Biden the apparent winner of the US election, clearing the way for the formal transition to begin, after weeks of Trump refusing to concede, violating the traditions of the transition of power at the White House

The president-elect has gone for experience and diversity in his first slate of picks – but it also doesn’t hurt to have worked for Obama