The Democratic congressman Al Green has addressed his protest at Donald Trump's State of the Union speech, in which Green held up a handwritten sign that read 'Black people aren't apes!'. The sign referenced a racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama that the president had shared on social media. After being ejected from the event, Green told journalists he had wanted to take a stand against the president doing 'these dastardly things with impunity'
International conference circuit gives worldwide right wing opportunities to share ideas and learn from each otherThe president of the New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) is a featured speaker at a conference this week in Pretoria, South Africa, hosted by an Afrikaner nationalist group whose founder was instrumental in persuading the American right that white South African farmers face systematic attacks.Stefano Forte, also the executive director of the billionaire-funded 1776 Project Pac, will speak at the Lex Libertas Future of Nations conference on 25 February alongside leading figures from the Afrikaner Solidarity Movement, members of Belgium's far-right Vlaams Belang - whose predecessor was outlawed for racism - and a political analyst from a thinktank wholly funded by the regime of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. Continue reading...
by Ted Genoways, Food & Environment Reporting Net on (#73TJ1)
McDonald's and other food industry players accuse the big beef packers of collusion and price-gouging. The packers deny these allegationsOn 21 November, at the end of the first shift at the Tyson Foods beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, all workers were called to the lunchroom and told they no longer had jobs. Many gathered afterward in the gravel parking lot. Some wailed and cried out.It's a terrible thing to know that we won't be able to pay rent, won't be able to pay the electricity, our cars - all the bills coming our way," said Constancio Perales, a 64-year-old worker born in Durango, Mexico, who has worked at the plant since 1996 - the last 25 years cutting the bone out of chuck steaks. It's very sad that they would fire us like that - just telling us there's no more work, as if to say go away." Continue reading...
In his new memoir, Art Manteris recalls raucous times in Nevada, and explains why the explosion of sports betting in the US presents serious risksForty years ago, the New England Patriots played in their first Super Bowl. It ended disastrously for New England, who lost 46-10 to the Chicago Bears. The Bears' mammoth defensive tackle, William The Refrigerator" Perry, even got involved in the scoring with a touchdown.That moment looked like it would cause serious problems for Art Manteris, who at the time ran the sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Under Manteris, Caesars had offered odds on whether Perry would score during the game - and, as fans scrambled to back the popular player, the house stood to lose a significant sum if he did. When Perry ran into the end zone, gamblers collected handsomely, to the tune of $250,000. The next day, Manteris was summoned to meet the boss of Caesars, Henry Gluck. Continue reading...
Timing and luck often dictate a team's success at tournaments. And the co-hosts have players coming into form at just the right timeBruce Arena once said that if his United States men's national team had contested the 2006 World Cup a year earlier, the Americans would have done much better than the joyless, winless group stage elimination they suffered through. That team, he felt, had peaked during qualifiers and were past their best - despite being ranked an absurd fourth in the world by Fifa - when the World Cup kicked off.Four years earlier, when the USMNT stunned the 2002 World Cup by nearly reaching the semi-finals, his side benefited from time's relentless march, Arena argued. The Americans, cohesive and energized then, upset a golden Portugal generation that had already lost its sheen, 3-2, to spark their run. Continue reading...
Texas Democrat removed for holding Black people aren't apes' sign as colleagues stay seated while Republicans cheerAs dozens of their colleagues boycotted Trump's State of the Union address, several of the Democrats in the House chamber on Tuesday night made their opposition to the president's remarks clear.Congressman Al Green was ejected from the speech almost immediately, marking the second year in a row he has been removed from the annual event. After being ordered out by House speaker Mike Johnson during last year's speech for yelling responses as the president spoke, this year's protest from the Texas representative was silent but pointed. Continue reading...
Amid Trump's lies and xenophobic rants, people struggling to pay bills and make ends meet are unlikely to be movedHe wanted to give the king's speech. Donald Trump entered the US House chamber on Tuesday like a medieval monarch, with Republicans lined up eager to touch his royal robes (or, in two cases, grab a selfie with him). But within moments, the illusion was shattered.As the US president strolled by, soaking up adulation, Democratic representative Al Green of Texas held aloft a handwritten sign: Black people aren't apes!" - a reference to Trump recently sharing a racist video depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama. Continue reading...
President hails turnaround for the ages' but offers few policy pledges and repeats jibes against crazy' DemocratsDonald Trump proclaimed his first year in office a success at the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, even as his presidency is dogged by low public approval ratings before November's midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to his Democratic opponents.The annual address to a joint session of Congress came after months of turmoil for the Republican president, including a crackdown on immigrant communities in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens, and faltering progress on his campaign promise of lowering the cost of living. Continue reading...
Donald Trump proclaimed his first year in office a success at the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, even as his presidency is dogged by low public approval ratings before November's midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to the Democrats. Trump spoke for two hours addressing a host of issues, from his supreme court challenges to Iran, and was met by Democrats walking out, holding signs and verbally clashing in the chamber
Lio Cundiff, who is trans, told the Guardian he hopes the act shows everyone how human we are - because all I did was a human act'A Chicagoan who recently jumped into a perilously cold lake to help rescue a baby whose stroller was blown into the water by a wind gust has implored everyone in the US to just take care of one another".In an interview Tuesday, Lio Cundiff, who is a trans man, said of himself: All I did was a human act. I'm just a human who did the most human thing you could do - which is save someone who can't save themselves." Continue reading...
The president's lengthy speech to Congress contained myriad inflated, misleading or simply false claimsDonald Trump officially made the longest State of the Union address in history on Tuesday night, with broad claims about the successes achieved during the first year of his second term.But the speech that stretched across more than an hour and 41 minutes was filled with strong statements, many of them inflated, misleading or simply untrue. Continue reading...
Throughout the speech, Trump seemed tired. He had difficulty reading from his teleprompter; he gripped the podium with a tightness bordering on desperationIt is one of Donald Trump's unique talents that he reveals the absurd obsolescence of long-held traditions. In presidential election years, is screaming bloviations on stage make the exercise of gathering the candidates together seem futile. In power, when he divorces facts from policymaking and relies instead on myth and grift to guide his decisions, he renders useless and impotent vast fields of expertise.When he lies in public, and insists that his fantasies and distortions will dictate the course of government action, he makes those of us in the news business wonder if there's any point, any more, in gathering and printing the truth.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Some Democratic lawmakers boycott Trump's speech - key US politics stories from Tuesday, 24 February at a glanceDonald Trump proclaimed his first year in office a success at the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, even as his presidency is dogged by low public approval ratings before November's midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to his Democratic opponents.The annual address to a joint session of Congress came after months of turmoil for the Republican president, including a crackdown on immigrant communities in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens, and faltering progress on his campaign promise of lowering the cost of living. Continue reading...
Dick Durbin accuses FBI chief of irresponsible joyriding' and says agency's work marred by Patel's poor decisionsA top Senate Democrat alleged on Tuesday that FBI director Kash Patel's personal travel and decision-making have undermined high-profile investigations, citing a whistleblower report.Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, wrote in a letter to two government watchdogs that Patel has seemingly engaged in what amounts to irresponsible joyriding on DoJ and FBI-operated aircraft at the expense of the American taxpayer and to the detriment of ongoing bureau operations". Continue reading...
Court itself to search devices for documents related to national security inquiry as newspaper calls ruling victory'A federal judge has prohibited the justice department from searching electronic devices it seized from a Washington Post reporter, ruling that the court will search the devices for documents related to a national security investigation itself.In his ruling, magistrate judge William Porter criticized the Trump administration for omitting relevant case law in its application for a search warrant to seize the devices in the first place, but acknowledged the possibility that classified national security information may be among the seized material" complicated the matter. Continue reading...
Anthropic presents itself as most safety-forward AI firm and Pentagon has threatened penalties if it does not yieldUS military leaders including Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, met with executives from the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic on Tuesday to hash out a dispute over what the government will be able to do with the company's powerful AI model. Hegseth gave Dario Amodei, the Anthropic CEO, until the end of the day on Friday to agree to the department's terms or face penalties, Axios reported.Anthropic, which presents itself as the most safety-forward of the leading AI companies, has been mired in weeks of disagreement with the Pentagon over how the military is allowed to use its large language model, Claude. US defense officials have pushed for unfettered access to Claude's capabilities, while Anthropic has reportedly resisted allowing its product to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems that can use AI to kill people without human input. The Department of Defense (DoD) has integrated Claude into its operations, but has threatened to sever the relationship over what its top brass perceives as roadblocks erected by Anthropic. Continue reading...
Melvin Trotter, 65, gets lethal injection for 1986 stabbing death, becoming second person executed by state this yearA man convicted of killing a 70-year-old grocery store owner was put to death Tuesday in Florida, becoming the second person executed by the state this year after a record 19 executions in 2025.Melvin Trotter, 65, was pronounced dead at 6.15pm following a lethal injection at Florida state prison near Starke for the 1986 stabbing death of Virgie Langford, according to authorities. Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesperson for Republican governor Ron DeSantis, said there were no complications. Continue reading...
Lawsuit is latest action by Trump administration against a university and escalation of president's feud with CaliforniaThe justice department sued the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday, alleging the university created a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff after protests against the war on Gaza broke out across campus.The lawsuit claims UCLA violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by failing to prevent and correct discriminatory and harassing conduct" after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and ensuing war on Gaza. The lawsuit is the latest action against a US university by the Trump administration since the president took office last year, and an escalation of Donald Trump's feud with the state of California. Continue reading...
Republican Tony Gonzales allegedly pressured Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who died by suicide, into sexual relationshipUS congressman Tony Gonzales refused growing calls to resign from his fellow Republicans on Tuesday amid a furore over allegations that he had an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.Gonzales has been accused of sending sexually explicit text messages in which he appeared to pressure the senior staffer to share images of herself and, eventually, coerced her into a sexual relationship.In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
Gwendolyn Westbrook, ex-CEO of a San Francisco homeless non-profit, is accused of using public funds for personal useThe former CEO of a San Francisco homeless services charity will be arraigned on Tuesday on nine felony charges after prosecutors said she stole more than $1.2m in public funds meant to keep people off the streets.Gwendolyn Westbrook, 71, raided the accounts of the United Council for Human Services while she had near-exclusive financial control" over the non-profit serving homeless and low-income people, according to a statement on Monday from the district attorney's office. Continue reading...
Nancy Guthrie has been missing for three weeks and officials believe she was kidnapped from her Arizona homeSavannah Guthrie's family has offered up to $1m for information leading to the return of her 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who has been missing since 1 February.The NBC Today show host posted the offer in a video on Instagram Tuesday, more than three weeks after Nancy's disappearance. Someone out there knows something that can bring her home," Guthrie says in the clip. We are begging you to please come forward now. Continue reading...
Sunset phenomenon at national park's Horsetail waterfall still drew large crowds even with freezing temperaturesHeavy snow did not deter visitors from flocking to Yosemite in recent days, in hopes of seeing the park's spectacular natural light show.Firefall occurs each year in February during sunset when the light hits Horsetail Fall in such a way that, for a brief period, the waterfall appears illuminated by lava. In recent years, the phenomenon has drawn large crowds - and lots of photographers. Continue reading...
Former US president's part in ending the Troubles threatened by fallout from Epstein scandal, which has tainted his former envoy, George MitchellWhen Bill Clinton testifies later this week at a congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein there is unlikely to be any reference to his most precious foreign policy achievement - helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland.Whether Clinton is linked to Epstein's predations or turns the tables on his inquisitors, his legacy in Northern Ireland might appear to stand apart, a jewel of his presidency that is immutable, enshrined in history. Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsWhile many exporters around the world cheered when the supreme court ruled against Trump's reciprocal" tariffs last week, the unintended consequence could be that the trade war escalates further, says Neil Wilson at the broker Saxo Markets.Trump warned countries not to play games' and threatened a much higher tariff' than they had agreed to...the unintended consequence of the Supreme Court ruling could be an escalatory trade war that markets hadn't anticipated. Or as Trump put it the Supreme Court had unwittingly' handed him far more powers and strength' to levy fresh tariffs than before the ruling.... The White House insists it's working on a 15% levy at a later date, which gives the president a degree of optionality, but this is evolving into a far messier situation than we had a week ago.We can all agree that the US is not facing a balance of payments crisis, which is when countries experience an exorbitant increase in international borrowing costs and lose access to financial markets. Continue reading...
The US men's and women's teams claimed titles at the Winter Games this past week. The warm fuzzy feelings didn't last longKeeping politics at arm's length for the US men's hockey team's gold-medal matchup with Canada was always going to be difficult.The game fell on the 46th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, when an underdog group of US college players upset the mighty Soviet Union team against the backdrop of the cold war. But the US team who took the ice on Sunday were no plucky band of amateurs making a stand for democracy against authoritarianism - a point underscored when the US and Canada met last year in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Canadian fans booed the Star-Spangled Banner and the US players, either unaware of, or unsympathetic to, Canadian desires to be neither the 51st US state nor the USA's opponent in a scorched-earth trade war, dropped the gloves to fight their opponents as soon as the game commenced. Continue reading...
Stepbrother, 16, was charged in the death of Anna Kepner, a high schooler found dead on a Carnival cruise in NovemberA 16-year-old from Florida has reportedly been charged with homicide as a minor in the death of his stepsister, Anna Kepner, in November on a Carnival cruise ship.News of the charges against the teen boy surfaced in court documents first reported on Monday by the Florida news outlet Wesh 2 News. CBS News also reported having seen the documents. Continue reading...
One deputy is killed in a traffic stop and a second dies when deputies track suspect to woods, sheriff saysTwo Missouri sheriff's deputies were fatally shot, one during a traffic stop and the other hours later during an exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who was also killed, authorities said.Brad Cole, the Christian county sheriff, said the initial shooting happened during a traffic stop south of Highlandville on Monday in south-west Missouri, news outlets reported. Continue reading...
Ashley Fairbanks launched Stand with Minnesota as ICE raids rocked her home town - now donations are pouring in, and families' rent is being paidFrom thousands of miles away in San Antonio, Ashley Fairbanks watched the news pour out of her home town of Minneapolis- federal immigration authorities flooding the streets and regular people stepping up to defend and care for their communities. She knew she had to do something. So the 39-year-old writer, artist and digital strategist started a Google Doc.Soon, the list of resources for residents grew so long it became unwieldy, and Fairbanks, who builds websites for a living, launched Stand With Minnesota. Continue reading...
Joshua Orta was passenger when Ruben Ray Martinez was fatally shot in his car by immigration agent in March 2025The passenger in the car when Texas driver Ruben Ray Martinez was fatally shot in March 2025 by a federal immigration agent gave a lengthy statement to lawyers for the slain man's family disputing the government's version of events.That witness died on Saturday in a fiery car crash in San Antonio, a lawyer for Martinez's family said. Continue reading...
Choice of Virginia governor to give Trump rebuttal suggests DNC believes moderate approach could bring midterm winsOn Tuesday night, Abigail Spanberger will walk out on to the historic grounds of Colonial Williamsburg and deliver the Democratic response to Donald Trump's State of the Union address. With midterm elections approaching and Democrats desperately searching for a roadmap back to relevance, the party has turned to a moderate who once flipped a Republican-held congressional seat in the suburbs of Richmond and then parlayed that into the governorship by 15 points.Since taking the office from Republican Glenn Youngkin in January, Spanberger has moved with lightning speed that has caught conservatives flat-footed, much to the delight of those who still identify as liberal. Continue reading...
The president and his aides vilify the judiciary with brutal rhetoric, hoping to delegitimize a co-equal branch of governmentWhen Donald Trump attacked several supreme court justices as fools", lapdogs", disloyal to our constitution" and a disgrace to our nation" after they ruled against his tariffs on Friday, it was probably the most vicious public tirade that a US president ever leveled against the country's highest court. But as extraordinary - and extraordinarily ugly - as Trump's rant was, everyone should realize that it was part of a systematic campaign in which Trump and his top aides have vehemently denounced and smeared judges as part of Trump's quest for ever more power.Whether it's Trump, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi or others, Trump and his lieutenants often pummel judges with brutal rhetoric. To many judges, these attacks no doubt spur fears that some Trump loyalists will threaten them or worse. Continue reading...
Raising the rainbow Pride flag instead of the more inclusive Progress flag excludes the trans community, activists sayThousands of protesters gathered outside the iconic Stonewall Inn on a near-freezing night last week to re-raise the rainbow Pride flag in defiance of the Trump administration, which had unceremoniously ordered its removal days earlier.It was meant to be a joyous occasion, an act of protest for the New York City LGBTQ+ community, but trans activists in the crowd were deeply disappointed by what they say was exclusion of their community in choosing to raise the historic rainbow Pride flag instead of the newer, inclusive Progress Pride flag. Continue reading...
Robert Carradine, a member of a famed acting family, has died aged 71. He made his film debut alongside John Wayne in The Cowboys in 1972 and later became best known for his roles in Revenge of the Nerds and Lizzie McGuire
The traffic stops on a rural California base appeared routine - until immigration agents showed up. Experts and lawmakers say the incidents could violate US lawFrancisco Galicia paced his cell at Fort Hunter Liggett, a vast army base 160 miles south of San Francisco, on a Friday evening in January. His mind raced with thoughts of his five daughters waiting for him at home.Over several hours, immigration agents brought six more men into the frigid, cement-walled cell. As the men shared eerily similar stories of their arrests, Galicia realized they had all driven straight into a trap. Continue reading...
President has not yet made a final decision on any strikes as the US prepares for last-ditch' negotiations on Thursday. Plus, most US adults feel the country is moving in the wrong directionGood morning.Donald Trump's decision on whether to order airstrikes against Iran will depend partly on the judgment of Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its nuclear capacity, according to people familiar with the matter.What will happen if there's no deal? Trump has told advisers he is considering limited strikes to put pressure on Iran and, failing that, a far larger attack to force regime change.What has Iran said about how it might respond? Iran has vowed to retaliate as hard as possible to any US attack, and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned last week that he had the ability to sink a US warship.What about the 15% tariff? The uplift to 15% announced by Trump on social media on Saturday has not yet been implemented - but could come at any time.Want the latest business news? Follow along on our liveblog. Continue reading...
Trump doesn't deserve our attention. And we already know the state of the union - it sucksI'm not going to watch the State of the Union address on Tuesday night. I urge you not to, either.I hope Neilsen (or whoever makes such estimates these days) will find that far fewer Americans watched Donald Trump's State of the Union than have watched any other State of the Union in recent memory. It will drive Trump crazy.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now Continue reading...
In Milan, athletes showed that patriotism can be generous. In Los Angeles, that definition will be tested on the biggest, loudest stage sport can offerThe Milano Cortina Winter Games ended on Sunday night as the Olympics always do: in light, spectacle and speeches about unity. In Verona, the Olympic flag passed to the French Alps and the twin flames were extinguished. But unofficially, at least, a flame also flickered 6,000 miles west.If these Games felt political, just wait until Los Angeles a little more than two years from now. Continue reading...
Elected officials visited Trump properties 145 times since his inauguration, records showElected leaders from Israel to Iowa have visited Donald Trump's various properties 145 times since his inauguration last year, according to a new report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), a political watchdog group.Trump's luxury resorts have offered the chief executive an unusual political arena - and a source of profit. A Guardian analysis of campaign finance records found that US political campaigns and committees spent at least $1.3m at Trump properties since January 2025. Continue reading...
The Texan made the mistake of his life when he ordered gummies to soothe symptoms of Crohn's disease. Now his health is suffering in a foreign jailJarred Shaw is locked up in an Indonesian prison - but at least he isn't facing execution, something that appeared a possibility less than a year ago.The 35-year-old American was a key member of the Prawira Bandung team who won the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) in 2023, the latest highlight in a fascinating professional career that had taken him to countries as varied as Tunisia, Lebanon, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Japan. Continue reading...
Negotiations led by special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will shape Trump's calculus - key US politics stories from Monday 23 February at a glanceDeal or no deal?
