Lawmakers say they're on the warpath because TikTok's owner is a national security threat. Some users think the app has become a hub for progressive activismTick tock, tick tock ... that's the sound of time running out for Gen Z's favourite app. On Wednesday the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or get banned in the US. It's not clear whether the bill would pass in the Senate. However, the White House has said it supports the legislation. All in all, things don't look great for TikTok. Continue reading...
Several employees at the federal correctional institution in Dublin have pleaded guilty to abusing female inmatesA judge called a California federal women's prison known for rampant sexual abuse against inmates a dysfunctional mess" on Friday as she ordered a special master to oversee the facility, marking the first time the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been subject to such an action.The situation can no longer be tolerated. The facility is in dire need of immediate change," wrote US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, adding that the Bureau of Prisons has proceeded sluggishly with intentional disregard of the inmates' constitutional rights despite being fully apprised of the situation for years. The repeated installation of BOP leadership who fail to grasp and address the situation strains credulity." Continue reading...
The adult film star - at center of hush-money payments in run-up to 2016 election - is featured in the new documentary StormyStormy Daniels, the adult movie star who received hush-money payments at the center of one of Donald Trump's pending criminal cases, says she is so tired" as she confronts the prospect of testifying against the former president, whose supporters have flooded her social media accounts with threats.I'm desensitized to some of it ... but I'm also tired," Daniels says in a new documentary premiering on Monday on Peacock, according to Slate, which reported viewing the film in advance. Like, my soul is so tired. And I don't know if I'm so much a warrior now as out of fucks, man. I'm out of fucks." Continue reading...
Republican presidential nominee can still undermine trust in US global leadership and is reminiscent of the GOP in the 1940sAmid the grandiose surroundings of the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich's historic old town, previously cautious and low-key German politicians were in such a state of alarm about future US commitment to Nato that they were discussing how Germany might acquire an independent nuclear deterrent, potentially overturning decades of national defense doctrine.The setting was the annual Munich security conference in April and the talk among statesmen and officials gathered in the Bavarian capital was dominated by the ad-libbed threat from Donald Trump days earlier to encourage Russia to do what the hell they want" with European alliance members supposedly derelict in paying for their own protection. Continue reading...
The state Republican party is undaunted by electoral defeats for those claiming voting is rigged - and election officials are bearing the brunt of their furyOn a glorious spring day in Phoenix, in an atrium beneath the majestic cupola of the old state capitol, the secretary of state, Adrian Fontes, is celebrating Arizona's 112th birthday.He solemnly recites President William Howard Taft's proclamation welcoming Arizona as the 48th state of the union. Speeches fete the state's breathtaking landscapes, from the mighty Grand Canyon to the sprawling deserts of Yuma and lush green forests of Coconino, then a cake iced with the state seal is cut into 112 pieces and devoured in the sun-dappled Rose Garden. Continue reading...
Who are these people? Why are they doing it? And would I look stupid holding a cigar? All were questions I needed to answerBritain's young people don't smoke cigarettes as much these days. Since 2011, smoking among teenagers has fallen steadily. Anecdotally, this rings true to me, and it is surely good. Smoking is, as you may have heard, bad for you.But a study published recently in the journal, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, that suggests something weirder is also going on with young people and tobacco. Apparently, the number of adults in England using non-cigarette tobacco products - things like cigars, pipes and shisha - increased from about 210,000 in early 2020 to a peak of just shy of 1 million in mid-2022, falling back to 773,000 by September last year. What struck me as truly strange, though, was that the most likely group to use these products is young people. About 3.2% of 18-year-olds were smoking these things in September 2023, up from 0.19% in 2013. By contrast, only 1.1% of 65-year-olds were doing so.Imogen West-Knights is a writer and journalist
Group of more than a dozen writers decry organization's inadequate response to genocide' being committed by IsraelMore than a dozen prominent authors and literary figures have withdrawn from PEN America's flagship World Voices Festival in protest of what they see as an inadequate response by the organization to the genocide" being committed against Palestinians by Israel in Gaza.The group of writers, which includes Naomi Klein, Michelle Alexander, Hisham Matar, Isabella Hammad and Zaina Arafat, sent a letter to PEN America asserting it had betrayed the organization's professed commitment to peace and equality for all, and to freedom and security for writers everywhere" by failing to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. Continue reading...
Measures target people convicted of driving without a license - which undocumented people can't obtain - or committing feloniesFlorida's governor signed bills Friday that increase the prison and jail sentences for immigrants who are living in the United States illegally if they are convicted of driving without a license or committing felonies.Ron DeSantis is a frequent critic of the Biden administration over its handling of the Mexican border, sending Florida law enforcement agents and national guard members to Texas. The Republican governor, who ended his attempt for his party's presidential nomination last month, has also flown immigrants who entered Texas illegally to Massachusetts and California. Continue reading...
Judge agrees to month-long postponement after Trump lawyers say they need more time to sift through newly released documentsA judge on Friday delayed Donald Trump's hush-money criminal trial until at least mid-April after the former president's lawyers said they needed more time to sift through a profusion of evidence they only recently obtained from a previous federal investigation into the matter.Judge Juan Manuel Merchan agreed to a 30-day postponement and scheduled a hearing for 25 March to address questions about the evidence dump. The trial had been slated to start on 25 March. It is among four criminal indictments against Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee. Continue reading...
Former Indiana governor and candidate for Republican nomination tells Fox News decision should come as no surprise'Mike Pence will not endorse for president Donald Trump, the man he served as vice-president for four years but whose supporters chanted for Pence to be hanged as they attacked Congress on January 6.It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year," the former Indiana governor and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination told Fox News on Friday. Continue reading...
Christian R Basham spent his life as Mark Clemens, a building maintenance man, after police presumed he was deadA man suspected of child sexual abuse feigned his death by jumping off a Seattle-area bridge nearly two decades earlier - then spent the final years of his life under an alias and working as a Los Angeles apartment building maintenance man, according to authorities.The stunning truth about Christian R Basham surfaced after the Los Angeles county medical examiner's office investigated his 26 February death. Continue reading...
Manhattan prosecutors condemn former FTX chief's unmatched greed and hubris' and seek long sentence for $8bn fraud convictionSam Bankman-Fried should spend between 40 and 50 years in prison after being convicted for stealing $8bn from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, prosecutors said on Friday.His life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people's money," federal prosecutors in Manhattan wrote. And even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong." Continue reading...
The US president, Joe Biden, said the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer's concerns about Israel were shared by many Americans. Biden said: 'I'm not going to elaborate on his speech, he made a good speech and I think he expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans.'Biden made the remarks during a bilateral meeting with the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, after Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, said the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was an obstacle to peace. Israel's president and Netanyahu's Likud party criticised Schumer's comments and a state department spokesperson distanced the Biden administration from them
Scathing letter from White House counsel tells Republican Mike Johnson it is clear the House Republican impeachment is over'The White House's top lawyer has told House Republicans to give up on their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, calling the investigation a charade".The White House counsel, Ed Siskel, told the House speaker, Mike Johnson that it is clear the House Republican impeachment is over" in a scathing letter sent on Friday morning. Continue reading...
More than 40 Muslim, Palestinian and Arab American leaders and groups said meeting would whitewash' Biden's support of IsraelAhead of next week's primary in Illinois, more than 40 Muslim, Palestinian and Arab American leaders and groups in Chicago refused a meeting with White House officials, citing the US's continued funding of Israel's war on Gaza.In a letter sent to the White House on Thursday, the leaders said there was no point" in additional meetings when they had already made clear their demand for a permanent ceasefire to the Biden administration through prior discussions, protests and media interviews. We believe another meeting would only act to whitewash months of White House inaction followed by meek handouts. We are interested in serious action," they wrote in the letter. Continue reading...
Attorneys say prosecutors diverted attention from evidence during grand jury proceedings into the death of Halyna HutchinsDefense attorneys for Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Thursday to dismiss a grand jury indictment against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the western movie Rust.The indictment in January charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on 21 October 2021 at a movie ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Continue reading...
Bernie Moreno, a hardline LGBTQ+ opponent running to face Sherrod Brown, seemed to seek men for 1-on-1 sex' in 2008 profileA former intern to Bernie Moreno, Donald Trump's endorsed candidate for US Senate in Ohio and a hardline opponent of LGBTQ+ rights, said he wrote as an aborted prank" a post on the Adult Friend Finder website in which Moreno appeared to look for young guys to have fun with" and men for 1-on-1 sex".I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago" in late 2008, the former intern, Dan Ricci, said in a statement provided to the Associated Press by Moreno's lawyer. Continue reading...
They're trapped in a deal they can't uphold, scrutinised by a nation of trolls who demand they live perfect, trouble-free livesKensington Palace, which remains in its private quarters the London residence of Prince William and Kate (for ever to be known as) Middleton, currently has an exhibition in its public rooms of Untold Lives", a medley of royal servants. If any of the tourists walking round on Thursday felt the piquancy of treading so close to a home Kate Middleton may or may not be in (for the first time since her marriage, probably, nobody can say for sure where she is), that didn't show on their politely interested faces.The opening portrait is of Bridget Holmes: 96 years old, carrying a mop in comedic representation of her role as a necessary woman" to monarchs all the way from Charles I to William III. Taking into account the different conception of childhood in the 1590s, when she was born, we can reasonably assume Holmes spent about 90 continuous years shovelling shit, her life remaining untold so that the story of kings could be told. Continue reading...
Chain of private members' clubs increases debt as it continues its international expansionSoho House, the private members' club popular with celebrities including Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner, Ellie Goulding and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has reported losses of $118m (92.5m) for 2023.The company, which has expanded from a single house" in London's Soho to 42 locations around the world, has lost money every year since it was founded by the restaurateur Nick Jones in 1995. Continue reading...
As disaster capitalists' text survivors with offers to buy their ruined homes, a land trust is trying to help residents keep themMere days after wildfires tore through Maui last August and leveled the historic town of Lahaina, community organizers warned that longtime residents were vulnerable to predatory land grabs.And they were right. As search and rescue teams painstakingly combed through the scorched ruins, traumatized survivors began receiving texts, voice messages, and letters from speculators and realtors offering to buy their burnt-out homes. Continue reading...
Independent lawmaker says it's time for workers to have a better quality of life with a 32-hour workweek without loss of payBernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, introduced a bill to establish a four-day US working week.Studies and pilot programmes have shown that four-day workweeks can increase productivity and happiness. Given Republican control of the House and a Senate split 51-49 in favour of Democrats, however, the legislation stands little chance of success. Continue reading...
Could this national madness have been Meghan's revenge? Plus, questions about chafing and a vet bills shockPlease make sure you are sitting down before I break this news to you. The Princess of Wales edited a photo of herself and her three children. It is thought she used several shots taken by her husband, a bald man, and sort of mushed them together to make a slightly better one. As a result, millions died. Continue reading...
by Julia Ranney, Beau Dure and Megan Swanick on (#6KC9C)
The new season kicks off on Friday night with the NWSL Challenge Cup. Our panel of writers deliver their verdicts on the MVP, champions and plotlines to watchVibrant, young players looking to make their mark on professional football. USWNT stars Trinity Rodman, 21, and Jaedyn Shaw, 19, will lead the frontline for Washington Spirit and San Diego wave respectively, while draft picks Ally Sentnor (No 1) and Savannah King (No 2) will bolster expansion teams Utah Royals and Bay FC. JR Continue reading...
Millions of young Americans love the social media app - but it's alarmingly addictive and a national security riskImagine a world where America's foreign adversaries don't need spies or hackers to infiltrate our society or meddle with our democracy. Instead, they can deploy a far more insidious tool: a digital platform, addictive by design, that captivates its users and then mobilizes them to influence our democratic institutions.The scenario may sound farfetched, but something like that recently happened. Earlier this month, while the US Congress was considering a bill that would curtail TikTok's operations in the United States, the popular, Chinese-owned social media platform confronted its users with a kind of digital ransom note calling for political action. As the New York Times reported, TikTok's campaign sparked a deluge of calls to Capitol Hill, overwhelming some congressional offices and demonstrating the platform's political influence.Nita Farahany is the author of The Battle for Your Brain: Defending Your Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology and the Robinson O Everett professor of law and philosophy at Duke University Continue reading...
The point guard is a talented prospect. But the French Federation of Basketball's ban on religious headwear means she cannot play in her hometown of ParisThe energy radiating from Diaba Konate is palpable, even over our transatlantic Zoom chat. The wide-smiling college star has dreamed of playing basketball in the States ever since she was a young girl. She moved to the US from France in December 2018 on a full scholarship from Idaho State University, later transferring as a junior to the University of California, Irvine.The 23-year-old point guard's collegiate highlights include averaging 8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.2 steals per game as a junior, ranking among the top-30 in the nation with her free-throw percentage, and tying eighth in single-season school history with 63 steals. She also reached 1,000 points in her collegiate career after dropping a season-high 20 against UC Santa Barbara in February 2023. Continue reading...
With restaurants serving dinner until 1 am, we are outliers in Europe. But some are attacking calls for change as a loss of freedomSpain's employment minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Diaz, described the late opening hours of restaurants and bars, earlier this month, as madness". A country that has its restaurants open at one o'clock in the morning is not reasonable," she said. Hospitality industry figures and conservative politicians responded with outrage. The deputy prime minister thinks she lives in Sweden instead of Spain," a furious restaurant owner in Barcelona told El Pais, pointing out the late sunset in her city. That day, 6 March, the sun set in Stockholm at 5.29pm, and in Barcelona at 6.48pm. In Stockholm, restaurants typically close at 11pm; in Barcelona, restaurants and bars are allowed to open until 2.30am on weekdays, and until 3am at weekends.Spain is not Sweden in many ways. In 2022, in Sweden, the GDP value of a worker's hour was $75, compared with $53 in Spain, which is below the European average. GDP per capita is almost double in Sweden. The standard working week in Sweden is one hour longer than in Spain. Overall life satisfaction is higher in Sweden.Maria Ramirez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain Continue reading...
Five years on from the massacre, the government is preparing to roll back gun reforms and progress to make New Zealand safer is falteringThe day before the fifth anniversary of a terrorist attack at my mosque, New Zealand's prime minister Christopher Luxon sent an email to the bereaved and survivors of the massacre in Christchurch, including me. Fifty-one Muslims were killed at Masjid al-Noor and at Linwood Islamic Centre during Friday prayers on 15 March 2019, and 40 were injured. In his note on Thursday, Luxon praised our strength, courage, compassion and dignity.The government is committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and secure," he wrote. We will ensure that lessons learned from these attacks continue to inform how we keep New Zealand safe." Continue reading...
In a groundbreaking verdict, James Crumbley has been found criminally responsible for the conduct of his son Ethan Crumbley. Ethan took a gun from home and killed four students at Oxford high school on 30 November 2021
Denver expected to receive up to 2ft of snow as city rolls out the plows and airport braces for delays and cancellationsA major storm dumped heavy snow in Colorado on Thursday - forcing flight cancellations and shutting down a highway that connects Denver to Colorado ski resorts for much of the day, stranding some people in their cars for hours.Numerous schools and government offices closed due to the severe weather, along with stretches of highway, as meteorologists warned of difficult-to-nearly-impossible travel by Thursday afternoon. Continue reading...
Groundbreaking verdict holds James Crumbley, father of teen who killed four students, criminally responsible for actions of his childThe father of a school shooter in Michigan has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a case that created headlines across the United States for seeking to find a parent criminally responsible for the actions of their child.James Crumbley, 47, is the father of Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old boy who took a gun from home and killed four students at Oxford high school on 30 November 2021. Continue reading...
Michael Christian Green faces up to year in prison after pleading guilty over incident in town of Pearl in DecemberA Mississippi police officer pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal misdemeanor charge after authorities accused him of forcing a prisoner to drink his own urine.In court filings, first reported by the Daily Beast, prosecutors for the US district court for the southern district of Mississippi alleged that the patrol officer, Michael Christian Green, ordered a prisoner to lick up his own urine after the man had urinated in the corner of his holding cell. Continue reading...
Aileen Cannon indicates that argument from ex-president's attorneys that law is too vague is question for jury at trialThe federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents has rejected an effort by his lawyers to throw out the case, indicating that their argument that the law is too vague is a question for a jury at trial.The two-page ruling from the US district judge Aileen Cannon came on Thursday evening after a daylong hearing in federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida. Throughout the hearing, Cannon expressed reservations about the former president's complaints against the case. Continue reading...
After undergoing extensive refurbishment, a Concorde aircraft has been floated on a barge down the Hudson River in New York to return to the museum where it resides. This Franco-British jet, which last flew across the Atlantic in 2003, had been housed at the Intrepid Museum until it was removed for refurbishment in August 2023; it has now been returned to the museum. Leslie Scott, a former Concorde pilot said: 'I've never seen it look so good. I mean, it is a beautiful, beautiful job that the Intrepid have managed to do. As I said, when I used to fly it, it didn't look like that'
Manhattan prosecutors say they are willing to delay ex-president's trial - due to start later this month - up to 30 daysManhattan prosecutors on Thursday said they are willing to delay Donald Trump's trial on charges related to making hush-money payments for up to 30 days so they can review records newly obtained from federal authorities.The request has the potential to delay the proceedings, which were to begin with jury selection on 25 March in New York and would be the first of the four criminal indictments against the former US president to go to trial. Continue reading...
Michelle Mack allegedly recruited women to steal for her and would then sell the goods on Amazon, raking in almost $2m in 2022From a mansion in a San Diego suburb, Michelle Mack allegedly oversaw a retail theft ring that stole $8m in cosmetics from stores such as Ulta and Sephora, which she then sold on Amazon.In December, police arrested the 53-year-old along with her husband, Kenneth, taking the pair into custody on their sprawling property, according to footage taken by CNBC and published this week. Their teen daughters watched nearby, the outlet reported. Continue reading...
Secretary of state Jocelyn Benson denounces Republican effort as PR campaign masquerading as a meritless lawsuit'The Republican National Committee (RNC) has sued Michigan's secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, in federal court, using a flawed analysis of population data to argue that the state's voter rolls are bloated and inaccurate.The filing claims that in 76 of the state's 83 counties, registered voters exceeded the number of citizens eligible to vote there or have rates of active voter registration" that are suspiciously high". The claim closely matches a similar one that has been circulating since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden - that a high level of voter registration is a smoking gun for fraud. Continue reading...
Vice-president toured Planned Parenthood facility signaling issue will be key in electionKamala Harris visited a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on Thursday, becoming what is believed to be the first vice-president ever to do so.Harris stopped by a clinic in Minnesota, a state where abortion remains legal following the overturning of Roe v Wade, as part of her nationwide tour to highlight the impact of Roe's downfall. Harris also toured the clinic, which remained open to patients as the nation's first female vice-president made her historic visit. Continue reading...
A Democratic Pac is running an ad meant to boost a Trumpist in the Republican primary in effort to protect Sherrod Brown's seatDemocrats working to boost a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for the US Senate in Ohio, as a way to boost their own progressive senator, should be careful, an aide to the Republican said, lest such efforts backfire and they lose a precious seat.Such tactics have been used by Democrats before - when they support a more extreme Republican to be nominated out of a calculation that that candidate will then stand less chance of winning against a Democrat in a general election. Of course, such tactics could backfire and see extremists elected. Continue reading...
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