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Rebuilding something like the New Deal coalition may require winning back socially moderate and conservative voters“If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined,” lamented King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose costly triumph in 279 BC inspired the phrase “Pyrrhic victory”. In 2020, the Democratic party learned what King Pyrrhus was talking about. They recaptured the White House and narrowly held on to the House of Representatives. And if the Democrats win both Senate runoffs in Georgia, they may yet capture the Senate. But Republicans increased their share of the House, making it easier for them to recapture it in 2022, and they control a majority of state legislatures whose redistricting plans for the US Congress can help the Republican party.Perhaps the greatest blow has been to the progressive interpretation of American politics. Most progressives have understood Trumpism as the last gasp of a dwindling, reactionary white male population. The future of the Democrats, it was said, lay with women and minorities. And yet in 2020 white men shifted more toward Biden than white women did. Black and brown Americans still voted mostly for Democrats, but there were significant shifts toward the Republicans among black and Hispanic voters and all of the Republicans who took contested seats from the Democrats were minority group members or women. Continue reading...

The 157-year-old restaurant with breathtaking ocean views was known for its location on Lands End as ‘the place that draws you’At the place where San Francisco drops into the ocean, a door is shutting on a vibrant chapter of the city’s history.The longtime proprietors of the Cliff House, a 157-year-old iconic San Francisco restaurant with breathtaking ocean views once enjoyed by Mark Twain, announced this week that they would be forced to close by the end of the year. They cited both coronavirus restrictions and their landlord, the federal government, stalling on a long-term lease, as factors in their decision. Continue reading...

Backlash following the 2020 election underscores how severely the party is willing to cut off access to the ballot amid signs of a changing electorateAfter record turnout in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans in some states are already signaling they will pursue measures that make it harder to vote in the coming years.The Republican efforts come after an election in which nearly 160 million people voted, the highest in a presidential election in over a century. About half of voters cast their ballots by mail, a big increase from 2016, while about another quarter cast their ballots in person ahead of election day. Continue reading...

David Werking can seek damages after parents got rid of films and magazines worth $29,000A man who sued his parents for getting rid of his pornography collection has won a lawsuit in western Michigan and can seek compensation.The US district judge Paul Maloney ruled in favour of David Werking, who said his parents had no right to throw out his collection. He lived at their Grand Haven home for 10 months after a divorce before moving to Muncie, Indiana. Continue reading...

The massive, ongoing hack of US federal agencies, relations with China and North Korea will be urgent issues for Biden to addressJoe Biden’s foreign policy in-tray is only looking more difficult as he approaches inauguration day – even as the US still confronts the pressing issue of record coronavirus deaths and infections.The massive and ongoing hack of US federal agencies – blamed on Russia – has so far elicited no response from Donald Trump, who has a long history of denying or downplaying Russian interventions. Continue reading...

The president could use the funds to ensure he and his allies remain a powerful force in US politics

Today I should be cleaning up after a party before my children come home to watch The Muppet Christmas CarolBy rights, this should be my most hungover day of the year. If life were as it should be, I would be getting a lie-in until about noon, which is seven hours later than my children usually grant me. I would slump to the kitchen, fall back into bed with some toast and Marmite, followed shortly thereafter by a Sali Hughes-approved jacket potato with cheese and Marmite (see potato-based musings passim), which is – and you might have already spotted this genius detail – basically the same meal twice but with different carbohydrates.Then I would scramble to clear away all the debris in the kitchen, in the manner of the young man in the seminal 1990s Yellow Pages advert about the heroism of French polishers, still the most powerful storyline ever committed to celluloid. But, unlike him, instead of cleaning up after the party before my parents come home, I’d be cleaning up after the party before my children come home, which they would at around mid-afternoon. We’d then watch The Muppet Christmas Carol, the kids exhausted from the excitement of spending the night at their grandparents’, my partner and me just exhausted. And then we would go to bed at 7pm, just as the Good Lord intends for us all. Continue reading...

Exodus that started after 9/11 has accelerated — and many fear New York’s financial district will not recover

I should be able to slack off while my wife claims the instructor’s attentionMy ideal morning workout routine goes something like this: I turn up at the gym at about 7am, drag a mat from the stack and begin some preliminary stretching; at about 7.06am I get a text from the trainer I’ve booked, telling me that he has a domestic emergency and won’t be able to make it, whereupon I ease into a standing position and punch the air while no one is looking. Then I go home and get into the bath.In over a decade of gym-going, I experienced this only five or six times, but I always woke up in the morning with the same hope. Continue reading...

Trump signs measure into law hours before shutdown was due to take effect, allowing coronavirus aid package negotiations to continueThe US Congress approved a stopgap measure to fund the government just hours before a shutdown was due to take effect on Friday night, buying time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1tn coronavirus relief package.The House passed the temporary funding bill, followed almost immediately by an approval in the Senate. Afterwards, Donald Trump signed the measure into law-. Continue reading...

Planemaker and US regulator may have tried to cover up important information relating to deadly crashes – official reportBoeing officials “inappropriately coached” test pilots during recertification efforts after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people, a US congressional report has concluded.The report by the Senate commerce committee raised questions about testing in 2020 of a key safety system known as MCAS tied to both fatal crashes. Continue reading...

Emerging from the shadows to address Purdue’s role in the opioid crisis, David and Kathe Sackler misjudged the moodIf the idea was to burnish the image of what might be the most hated family in America, it didn’t go well.Little has been heard directly from those members of the Sackler family who owned and ran Purdue Pharma, the company that turned them into multibillionaires by selling the drug widely held responsible for creating the US opioid epidemic, OxyContin. Continue reading...

Vice-president got vaccine in televised event amid concerns US rollout could be hampered by doubts from AmericansMike Pence received the Covid-19 vaccination on live television on Friday morning, saying it was a “medical miracle” and reassuring Americans facing a surging rise of cases around the country “that hope is on the way”.The televised event came amid concerns that the rollout of the vaccine in the US could be hampered by doubts from people over its quick authorization, the anti-vaxxer movement, and skepticism from some in the Black community because of historic distrust of institutions. Continue reading...

Wall Street Journal column mocked doctorate in education but incoming first lady tells husband to ‘take high road’

At least 275,000 prisoners have been infected as spread of coronavirus behind bars shows no signs of slowingOne in every five state and federal prisoners in the United States has tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population. In some states, more than half of prisoners have been infected, according to data collected by the Associated Press and the Marshall Project.As the pandemic enters its 10th month, and as the first Americans begin to receive a long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine, at least 275,000 prisoners have been infected, more than 1,700 have died and the spread of the virus behind bars shows no sign of slowing. New cases in prisons this week reached their highest level since testing began in the spring. Continue reading...

Body camera footage released this week shows Anjanette Young insisted at least 43 times officers had broken into the wrong homeDuring a botched raid by Chicago police, Anjanette Young waited naked, handcuffed and terrified, insisting at least 43 times that officers had targeted the wrong home.“I was afraid if I did anything, or made any moves, that they would shoot me,” she told Good Morning America on Friday. “They had guns pointed at me. I feared for my life that night.” Continue reading...

State has 1.7m cases, nearly as many as Spain, with ICU capacity in southern California at 0%The coronavirus toll in California reached another frightening milestone on Thursday, with health officials announcing a one-day record of 379 deaths and a two-day total of nearly 106,000 newly confirmed cases.The most populous US state has recorded more than 1,000 deaths in the last five days. Its overall case total now tops 1.7m, a figure nearly equal to Spain’s and only surpassed by eight countries. The state’s overall death toll has reached 21,860. Continue reading...

The US vice-president, Mike Pence, received his Covid-19 vaccine on Friday morning. Dr Anthony Fauci, who was present for the 'symbolic' inoculation, said it should serve as an example for all Americans called to do so to get vaccinated.US deaths from coronavirus topped 3,000 for a third straight day and the country reported a record number of new infections

The party is trying to lure college-educated suburbanites while holding minorities and the white working class. It’s a tough task

Lawyers have asked a judge to order the release or transfer of half of the patients at Patton state hospitalLawyers representing patients at a southern California psychiatric hospital describe the state-run facility as a “tinderbox” for Covid-19 infections. Continue reading...

The US passed 17m cases and recorded more than 3,600 deaths yesterday alone, but a second vaccine is on the horizon. Plus, hack may have targeted government agency responsible for nuclear weaponsGood morning.It was another devastating day for the coronavirus pandemic in the US yesterday, with the total number of coronavirus cases passing 17m, the highest in the world by far. The US recorded almost a quarter of a million new coronavirus infections and more than 3,600 deaths yesterday alone. Thursday’s unemployment report also found that new jobless claims reached 885,000 last week, the highest weekly figure since September. In Los Angeles, two people are dying of Covid-19 every hour, as the hospitals system creaks under the weight of the pandemic. Continue reading...

The 20-year-old is a symbol of a generation of footballers who may finally make the US men’s team a global forceA very strange thing happened in 2020. After years of ludicrous farce, highlighted by their inability to draw with Trinidad & Tobago to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the US men’s soccer team suddenly started to look, well, competent. And maybe a little more than competent … maybe like a team that could make a deep run when the US co-hosts the World Cup with Mexico and Canada in 2026.Frankly, Sergiño Dest’s name could have been swapped out here for any of the young talents coming through for the US – Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich), Weston McKinnie (Juventus), Konrad De La Fuente (Barcelona B), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen) and, go on then, Christian Pulisic (Chelsea). All of those players are 22 or under and all of them will be in their prime once 2026 comes around. Of course, we’ve been told that American men’s players are about to hit the big time since the days of Freddy Adu. But the sheer volume of young US talent at Europe’s top clubs, means some of them will mature into very good players indeed. Continue reading...

The league is approaching firing season and some vacancies will be a lot more attractive than othersIt’s the most wonderful time of the NFL year. Hope is in the air for those looking for a new job – the coaching carousel is almost here.This year’s carousel brings with it plenty of intrigue. The NFL is bursting with young, innovative coaches ready for their first shot at the top job. As of now, five jobs have already opened, or are certain to open by the end of the season, with three or four other potential openings on the board (there is always a wildcard) depending on how the playoffs unfold. Continue reading...

Despite rising virus cases in the state, visitors are flocking to the Christmas village in Fredericksburg, threatening the small communityTucked away in the hills of central Texas, the small city of Fredericksburg still feels like a bustling Christmas village this year, mostly unchanged by the coronavirus pandemic.Last week, a soft pink sunset descended over Marktplatz square, soundtracked by holiday music and children laughing. Tiny tots climbed aboard gingerbread train cutouts as older kids zoomed around a makeshift ice skating rink, their required “face coverings” dangling well below their mouths like scarves. Continue reading...

Major new report describes Beijing and Moscow as ‘determined rivals’ with China presenting ‘most pressing’ strategic threatThe Pentagon has warned that US maritime forces will become more forceful in responding to acts of aggression, expansionism, and breaches of international law, citing Beijing in particular, which has been criticised for expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea.A major new report signed by the heads of the US Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard warned the “rules-based international order is once again under assault”, and the security environment had dramatically changed since 2015. Continue reading...

House committee is investigating Purdue Pharma and billionaire family’s role in epidemic that has killed almost 500,000 AmericansTwo of a group of billionaire Sackler family members that own Purdue Pharma, the US pharmaceutical manufacturer of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, refused to apologize for their role in the opioids crisis that has killed almost half a million Americans, during a hearing in Washington on Thursday. Continue reading...

US confirmed 247,403 new cases on Wednesday and 3,656 Americans died of the coronavirus in a single dayThe United States on Thursday surpassed a total of 17m coronavirus cases, with infections rising by more than a million a week during the early winter surge – while at the start of the year it took three months for the US to accumulate its first million cases.Nearly a quarter million new coronavirus infections and more than 3,600 deaths had been reported just on Wednesday, shattering previous records as the national vaccination campaign against Covid-19 began rolling out across the country this week. Continue reading...

Investors bet Covid vaccines and stimulus measures will propel economy forward in 2021

Scheme is part of review of bankers’ work-life balance after home working shiftThe Wall Street bank Citigroup will offer employees 12-week sabbaticals as part of a benefits package prompted by a review of bankers’ work-life balance after the coronavirus crisis proved staff were working productively – and happily – from home.Employees will also be allowed to volunteer with a charity for up to four weeks full-time while Citi covers 100% of their regular salary. It is understood the new work setup will be offered to the bank’s US staff first, but will eventually being extended to Citi’s 8,000 UK bankers as part of a global rollout. Continue reading...

Hazardous conditions reported in multiple states as regions in Pennsylvania and New York saw accumulations in double digitsThe first major snowstorm of the season left the north-east blanketed in snow, setting records in some areas.“Williamsport regional airport made history,” the National Weather Service in State College said, reporting 24.7in of snow. Forecasters said that was the most snow in that location from a single storm on record, breaking the previous record of 24.1in set there in January 1964. Continue reading...

Bill will include $600 to $700 stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefitsUS congressional negotiators tampered on Thursday morning the growing optimism that they are closing in on a $900bn Covid-19 aid bill, alluding to “a few final issues” that need to be addressed before an agreement is made.The stimulus bill is tied to Congress’ annual budget for most government agencies, which needs to be passed by Friday to avert a government shutdown. Continue reading...

California set daily records for newly reported cases and deaths as hospitals struggle to keep upTwo people are dying of Covid-19 every hour in Los Angeles county, as California smashed its previous daily record for deaths and hospitals struggle to keep up with the surge of coronavirus patients.Most California residents are under a stay-at-home order as California battles a deadly surge in Covid-19 cases and intensive care unit capacity across the state dwindles. Continue reading...

Top White House appointee in Department of Health and Human Services said in an email in July, ‘we want Americans infected’A top White House appointee in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urged health officials in July to double down on a “herd immunity” approach to combating the Covid-19 pandemic, writing “we want [Americans] infected”.Paul Alexander, a former aide to HHS assistant press secretary Michael Caputo and a known herd immunity advocate, wrote an email to Caputo on 4 July – right as virus cases were spiking in the Sun Belt – laying out his case for herd immunity. Continue reading...

It’s our last newsletter of an exhausting year. We’re marking it by reflecting on our biggest piecesDear Fight to Vote readers,This will be our last newsletter of 2020 and I’m feeling emotional. (By emotional, I mean completely exhausted by the wildest news cycle I’ve ever known.) So I thought the best way to cap 2020 was with a list of the most important voting rights stories we reported. These are stories about policies and politics that have stopped people from voting, and the efforts to overcome these threats to democracy. But most importantly, they are stories about the American people, and their right to the ballot box. Continue reading...

President signed 1993 agreement with town that says he cannot live at the club for more than three nonconsecutive weeks in a yearNeighbors of Donald Trump’s infamous Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida are warning the president that he cannot live at the club after he leaves the White House, following an agreement he made with the town in 1993.In a letter to the town of Palm Beach and the US Secret Service sent this week, a lawyer representing a family that lives next to Mar-a-Lago reiterated that “Mar-a-Lago is a social club, and no one may reside on the property.” Continue reading...

Manufacturer seeks pilots with instructor experience for smooth return of aircraft to skiesBoeing is hiring its own team of up to 160 pilots to work with airlines on its relaunch of its bestselling 737 Max as the plane returns to service around the world.The manufacturer is seeking pilots with instructor experience to observe and help airline pilots once flights of the 737 Max restart in the new year. The pilots will be given 35-day assignments at an equivalent annual salary that could reach $200,000 (£148,000), with a potential total cost of $32m, Reuters first reported. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select highlights from around the world Continue reading...

As Joe Biden and Mike Pence wait for a jab there are warnings of snow, flooding and even tornadoes in the eastern US. Plus, deep state secrets could have been stolen in a recent hackGood morning.Joe Biden and Mike Pence are expected to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days – and both plan to have the jab in public. Biden has said he wanted to prioritize healthcare workers and vulnerable people in the inoculation process, adding that he did not “want to get ahead of the line”, but hoped to “demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take”. Coronavirus vaccinations began in nursing homes yesterday, where the virus has killed more than 110,000 people in the US. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also features obstacles on the skeleton course and the delicate skills of Zinedine Zidane1) Tributes have been pouring in this week for Gérard Houllier, the former Liverpool, Lyon, Aston Villa and France manager who died on Monday aged 73. And where better to start a Houllier highlights package than that thrilling 5-4 Uefa Cup final win over Alavés, the third part of Liverpool’s cup treble in 2001, following their League Cup final win over Birmingham and the Michael Owen-inspired FA Cup triumph over Arsenal. Here’s his Lyon side securing a vital victory over Marseille en route to the 2006 Ligue 1 title. And here he is in his own words on Liverpool.2) With Donald Trump set to vacate the White House next month after four years, time to recall some other short-lived ventures of his. For two years he had a cycling race named after him. The Tour de Trump started in 1989, covering 837 miles in five eastern US states. The following year’s edition went from Wilmington, Delaware to Boston. Trump explains his motivations here, before it all went pear-shaped, Trump withdrawing his sponsorship from 1991 due to financial problems. The renamed Tour DuPont lasted until 1996. Continue reading...

21 February 1940 – 17 July 2020

Fighters and coaches in mixed martial arts have propagated the popular conspiracy theory. The sport’s outsider origins may be to blameThere was anger on the streets of Huntington Beach.At the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway near the picturesque pier, hundreds gathered on 30 November in defiance of California’s coronavirus curfew, which prohibits all “non-essential work, movement and gatherings” between 10pm and 5am until 21 December across most of the state. The so-called “curfew breakers” protest brought together a collection of coronavirus truthers, anti-maskers, and those who remain convinced that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading...

Talks on reducing charges on items such as Scotch whisky follow UK move to drop levy on BoeingThe UK and the United States are hoping to reach an agreement on reducing trade tariffs, according to Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative in Donald Trump’s outgoing administration.In an interview with the BBC, Lighthizer said he was in talks with the UK’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, which could remove hefty tariffs imposed by the US on goods including Scotch whisky. Continue reading...

Sustained economic efforts rather than simple repetition of one-off measures are required in four areasAs excited as we all understandably are about the arrival of the first Covid-19 vaccines, the immediate road ahead remains treacherous. The US, in particular, could be on the verge of a horrible scenario in which slippages in each of four areas – public health, the economy, policy and household behaviour – end up making those in the other areas even worse. Over the next few weeks, they risk setting in motion a vicious cycle that, if it materialises, could shatter the lives and livelihoods of many more people, even though vaccines are in sight.Fortunately, through individual and collective action, the US has the means not only to arrest these dynamics but also to transform them into a virtuous cycle. This will require a set of sustained efforts rather than simple repetition of one-off measures. Continue reading...

A study of 31 countries shows other rightwing populists have not been ‘exposed’ by Covid-19 in the way the US president wasBy now it is almost received wisdom that “populists” (often used as a euphemism for “the far right”) have ignored the threat of Covid-19, that populists have been the electoral victims of the pandemic, and that the pandemic has exposed the political incompetence of populists in government.Most of this speculation is based on one or two individual cases, most notably the US president, Donald Trump. But he is the exception rather than the rule. In a recent comparative study of far-right parties in the European Union, we found that none of those three assumptions holds up to scrutiny. In fact, there has been significant variety in far-right responses to the pandemic. Continue reading...

Mayor says Trump ‘openly mocked’ Atlantic City and that it plans to donate the money to charityOne of Donald Trump’s former Atlantic City casinos will be blown up next month, and for the right amount of money, you could be the one to press the button that brings it down. Continue reading...

Pete Buttigieg thanked Joe Biden as he was formally announced as his nominee for transportation secretary. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and Democratic presidential candidate, will be the first openly LGBTQ+ cabinet member in American history to be confirmed into post by the Senate, assuming he wins confirmation.