US district judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump's motion to review special counsel filing on redacting classified informationA federal judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt by Donald Trump to review a sensitive court filing submitted by special counsel prosecutors that detailed their reasons for wanting to redact some of the classified documents that would be turned over to the former president in discovery.The attempt by Trump to access the filing was a brazen move that would have defeated the purpose of rules to protect national security in Espionage Act prosecutions and potentially thrown into disarray the scope and viability of continuing the case against Trump. Continue reading...
Lieutenant governor pardons' animal and Republican local politician adopts it after it's saved in New OrleansA piglet that was rescued after being tossed like a football near a Mardi Gras event in New Orleans was pardoned" on Wednesday and has found a permanent home with a Louisiana lawmaker.The weeks-old pig - dubbed Earl Piglet" Long, a play on the name of the 45th governor of Louisiana - was ceremoniously pardoned by the lieutenant governor, Billy Nungesser, on the Louisiana capitol steps. Continue reading...
by Léonie Chao-Fong and Lauren Gambino in Washington on (#6JZ5C)
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith rejects Access to Family Building Act, saying bill is vast overreach full of poison pills'Senate Democrats' attempts to move forward a bill that would have granted Americans federal protections for in vitro fertilization access have failed.The bill, sponsored by the Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, came after a recent Alabama supreme court ruling that declared frozen embryos are children and led to the closure of multiple infertility clinics across the state. Continue reading...
by Terence Wesley-Smith and Gerard Finin on (#6JZHC)
Pacific leaders are increasingly concerned that Washington's actions in the region conflict with their objectivesA delay by the US in providing crucial funding to Pacific Island nations is fuelling concern in the region - but questions about the competing visions held by the US and regional leaders are even more pressing.The funding is part of longstanding agreements the US has with three nations in the north Pacific, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands and Palau. The agreements, known as the Compacts of Free Association (Cofa), provide a range of assistance to these nations, including visa-free entry to the US, grant assistance, trust fund contributions, and support for government services including the US postal service. In exchange, the US gets exclusive military access to large parts of the north Pacific.Terence Wesley-Smith is Professor Emeritus in the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa and former director of the CenterGerard Finin is former director of the Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center, and is now affiliated with the Georgetown University's Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies Continue reading...
President's health is under scrutiny due to the upcoming elections even as physician declares the 81-year-old active, healthy, robust'Joe Biden continues to be fit for duty" and able to fully execute all his responsibilities, according to a summary of his annual physical performed by his doctor.Kevin O'Connor, physician to the president, wrote after Biden was examined by him and a team of doctors that: President Biden is a healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old male, who remains fit to execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and commander in chief." Continue reading...
After sifting through monuments of childhood, Margaret McNally realised it was time to confront her own belongings - and those of her late husbandIn the midst of this country's housing crisis, my mother has called time on living in our four-bedroom, one-bathroom home of 52 years. The 90-year-old matriarch of our family, who ran the modest Moonee Ponds abode with spit'n'shine precision, will now join my 95-year-old father, who has a two-year head start on life in aged care.My parents are lucky to afford residential care at a time when financial insecurity can slide into homelessness for so many. They'd worked hard throughout their lives (one for wages; the other unpaid for home duties) to buy and keep the 1927 weatherboard and wood-stumped house above the heads of their five-kid brood.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...
Smokehouse Creek fire at 0% containment with several counties still evacuated amid growing flamesA historic wildfire in Texas continued to rage on Wednesday morning as firefighters work to contain the flames and survey damage.The Smokehouse Creek fire, the second largest wildfire in Texas to date, has consumed more than 500,000 acres in Texas's Panhandle area since it ignited on Monday. Continue reading...
More than 100,000 Democrats checked uncommitted' in primary election in rebuke to president's unwavering support for IsraelA last-minute push by anti-war activists to reject President Joe Biden over his unwavering support for Israel far exceeded expectations in the Michigan Democratic party primary on Tuesday night.Leaders from the grassroots campaign, called Listen to Michigan, said ahead of the primary that they would count 10,000 uncommitted" votes - roughly Trump's winning margin in Michigan eight years ago - as a victory. Continue reading...
A person of such profound commitment and depth of feeling could be much more useful to the world alive than deadThe horror of it is beyond my capacity to describe. On Sunday afternoon, a US air force airman named Aaron Bushnell doused himself in gasoline outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC and lit himself on fire. His phone was propped on the ground nearby, livestreaming to Twitch. I will no longer be complicit in genocide," Bushnell said. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal." Then he set fire to his body and screamed, Free Palestine." Bushnell died at a nearby hospital some nine hours later. He was 25.Bushnell's political self-killing has opened a rupture in American political discourse, dividing even those with a commitment to the Palestinian cause and a fervent opposition to US aid to Israel. Bushnell's slow and violent death, the terrifying spectacle of it and its brutal irreversibility, have proved profoundly disturbing to many. There have been wild speculations about his mental health. (Who but an insane person would do such a thing?" some wonder; as if this question could not be asked of Israel's war itself.) And there have been, too, fervent calls for caution, for reporters and commentators to write about the act in ways that will not encourage others to follow Bushnell's lead.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist.In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. 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...
Company pleads guilty to using distribution center where FDA discovered decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors'Family Dollar Stores has been ordered to pay $41.675m - the largest criminal penalty in a food safety case - after getting caught using a rodent-infested warehouse to distribute food, cosmetic and medical device products to more than 400 stores in the US.After conducting an investigation, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting", according to a statement released by the US Department of Justice. Continue reading...
Bill mandates insurance carriers cover discredited practice and would force people to list sex assigned at birth on driver's licensesHundreds of LGBTQ+ people gathered on the steps of the Florida state house on Wednesday to protest against a first-in-the-nation bill that critics say would raise health insurance costs for all state residents.The Republican-backed proposal, house bill 1639, mandates that insurance carriers cover conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice whose practitioners falsely claim to be able to change the sexual orientation or identity of LGBTQ+ people. Continue reading...
Envelope addressed to Judge Arthur Engoron intercepted by two court officers just before 9.30am WednesdayThe New York judge who oversaw Donald Trump's civil fraud trial was sent an envelope containing a white powder on Wednesday, triggering a police investigation.The envelope addressed to Judge Arthur Engoron, who clashed repeatedly with the former president and his legal team throughout the Manhattan fraud trial, was intercepted by two court officers just before 9.30am. Court staff check the mail as a security measure after the judge was inundated with threats before, during and after Trump's civil fraud trial, including a bomb threat at his home on the day of closing arguments. Continue reading...
Body-camera footage shows Nex Benedict, 16, speaking with police after altercation in Oklahoma high school bathroomNewly released body camera footage gives new insight into a fight that took place at an Oklahoma high school just before a non-binary teenager who was bullied died.Body-camera footage released by the Owasso police department on Friday shows 16-year-old Nex Benedict and their mother speaking with police on 7 February, the same day the teenager visited an area hospital after a fight broke out at their high school, CNN reported. Continue reading...
Self-help author says Biden can't defeat Trump, who she calls a fascist' and a juggernaut of dark, dark vision'The self-help author Marianne Williamson un-suspended" her quixotic, all-but-certainly doomed campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying she did so because Joe Biden could not defeat Donald Trump, who she called a fascist" and a juggernaut of dark, dark vision".I am un-suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States," Williamson said, in a social media video the morning after a Michigan primary in which despite having suspended her campaign she finished third, way behind Biden and uncommitted" but slightly ahead of the Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, another rank outsider. Continue reading...
Republican Senate leader, hell-bent on getting the majority', said to be ready to push principles aside in quest for political powerMitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, will look past a load of shit" to endorse Donald Trump for president, a GOP colleague said.He'll look past a load of shit to improve the path to the majority," the senator said, speaking anonymously to the Hill. That'd be the one reason why Mitch would rise above principle and do the politically expedient thing ... because he is hell-bent on getting the majority, and he'll make personal sacrifices for that." Continue reading...
We all know how devastating a second Trump term would be. It's also important to understand the damage that Biden is doing by funding a plausible genocideHere we go again, eh? For a short but wonderful period, it looked like Donald Trump's political career was over. An indicted former president running again? It had never happened before. Trump's legal problems looked insurmountable.And yet, like a phoenix with a toupee, Trump has risen from the ashes. It now seems inevitable that 2024 will be a repeat of 2020: a Joe Biden vs Trump rematch.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
David Martosko discovered Silas Burke enslaved a six-year-old named Fenton and suggests name change to honor him insteadA former reporter has launched a campaign to rename his Virginia hometown, Burke, to stop the commemoration of an enslaver and instead honor a child he enslaved, a six-year-old boy named Fenton.My town is named after an unusually horrible person," David Martosko said, but it doesn't have to be. Names say something about who we are and what we aspire to become. Continue reading...
Antoinette Candia-Bailey was a beloved administrator at Lincoln University. Her suicide devastated a community - and roiled Black academiaAntoinette Candia-Bailey couldn't wait to slap a Lincoln University bumper sticker on her mother's car upon receiving her acceptance letter to the historically Black college. After graduating in the late 90s with a degree in sociology, she made regular trips back to the central Missouri school to celebrate homecoming with her sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc, the nation's oldest Black sorority. When a position as vice-president of student affairs came available at Lincoln in spring 2023, Candia-Bailey - a polished administrator with a PhD in leadership studies, whom most knew as Bonnie" - saw fit to continue her higher-ed career where it started. I don't know anybody who loved that school more than she did," says Monica Graham, a former classmate.But when the two met up at homecoming last October, Graham couldn't help noticing a dip in her friend's school spirit. Things have gotten really, really bad at the university," Candia-Bailey told her, but I'm not going to let it kill me." Three months later, Candia-Bailey was found dead by suicide at age 49. Says Graham: My heart just dropped." Continue reading...
Amid a lack of popular support for fetal personhood', GOP seeks to support IVF without drawing attention to its record of undermining itRepublicans have been forced to stake an uncomfortable position between their anti-abortion base and the wider American public, as fallout from an Alabama supreme court ruling that embryos are extrauterine children" continues into a second week.Meanwhile, Democrats have seized on the issue as the forewarned conclusion of decades of Republican policies to restrict reproductive rights, and pointed to contraceptives as the next frontier for restrictions. Continue reading...
Tamarin Norwood's son, Gabriel, lived for 72 minutes, all spent in her arms. Now she has written a memoir of her pregnancy and his death Continue reading...
As the Israeli PM talks of indefinite military control in post-war Gaza, all the Biden administration has done is wag its fingerBenjamin Netanyahu, announced his plan on Friday for post-war Gaza, revealing that Israel would maintain indefinite military control and create buffer zones" in the territory. The Israeli prime minister is planning a military occupation, dressed up under a vague civilian administration made up of Palestinians who would be willing to collaborate, once Israel ends its devastating assault on Gaza. Netanyahu's plan is slap in the face to Joe Biden, who has insisted for months that the US won't accept an Israeli military occupation or attempts to seize parts of the Gaza Strip.Since Biden announced his unconditional support for Israel after the brutal Hamas attacks on 7 October - embracing Netanyahu in a bear hug during a visit to Tel Aviv - Netanyahu has openly defied Israel's most important ally and paid no price for it. Each week, Biden and his top aides vent at Netanyahu and his handling of the conflict, but they continue to provide US diplomatic cover and weapons shipments that allow Israel to sustain its war. Continue reading...
What happens to Kinsey Institute may signal if conservative US lawmakers can dictate the bounds of research on sexualityThe future of the Kinsey Institute, the world's premier sex research center, is in limbo.Last April, lawmakers in Indiana's Republican-dominated state legislature voted to block the Kinsey Institute from receiving any state funds through Indiana University (IU), which houses the institute. Its researchers have spent the months since scrambling to figure out what this means for their work - and Indiana University, they say, has largely left them out of the discussion. Continue reading...
Police have long known the dangers of holding people in prone restraint. So why do so many keep dying?On a Thursday morning in October 2020, less than five months after George Floyd was held on his stomach by Minneapolis police officers until he died, Shayne Sutherland called 911 from a convenience store in Stockton, California, and asked for a taxi.When the operator told Sutherland he'd dialed 911, he said someone was trying to rob him. Continue reading...
by Joan E Greve and Lauren Gambino in Washington on (#6JYWP)
Congressional leaders work to keep government funded and pass wartime aid for Ukraine as far-Republicans refuse to budgeWith a government shutdown looming and Ukraine desperate for Washington's aid, the House returns to session on Wednesday to face a towering to-do list and strong objections from the Republican right flank.Congressional leaders worked frantically to reach a deal ahead of the 1 March deadline to avert a partial government shutdown that could shutter vital services in several key departments, temporarily endangering access to federal food assistance programs and federal housing vouchers. Continue reading...
Critical resources' on way to draw contrasts with Republicans tied to Trump and to hammer home reproductive rightsDemocrats are targeting seven battlegrounds in their first campaign spend of the year on state legislature elections, the Guardian has learned, and intend to draw clear contrasts" with Republican candidates tied to former US president Donald Trump.The latest round of investments will deliver critical resources" to Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) said. Continue reading...
US climate chief hits out at disinformation' and demagoguery' by special interests to delay climate action. Plus, the lost 80s song baffling the internetGood morning.The populist backlash against net zero around the world is imperilling the fight against climate breakdown and must be countered urgently to avoid facing planetary destruction beyond comprehension", the US climate chief, John Kerry, has warned.Did he name any politicians? No. Though Kerry refused to name any specific interests or people, his words reflect the widespread concern that the climate is likely to be weaponised in the US election campaign this year, and in other countries as billions of people around the world head to the polls.How did Trump do? Donald Trump has won Michigan's Republican primary election, the latest in a string of primary victories as he closes in on the GOP presidential nomination. The Associated Press called the race for Trump over the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley at 9pm ET. Continue reading...
A focus on young South American players has underpinned Miami's star-driven transfer strategyInter Miami already had the actual Sergio Busquets. Now they also have the young midfielder described as his natural successor. Federico Redondo certainly isn't the biggest name or most recognisable face to have pitched up at Chase Stadium recently, but his arrival in Major League Soccer proves Inter Miami's project is about more than just Messi.Of course, a lot of it is about Messi. He's the reason countless celebrities - including Will Smith for last week's season opener - have made the trip to Fort Lauderdale for a game. He has doubled Inter Miami's valuation as a franchise to $1bn and sold out stadiums in El Salvador, Hong Kong, Japan and Saudi Arabia on a global pre-season tour. There is a gravity around Messi and MLS has been sucked into it. Continue reading...
Joe Biden has backed a Native American lacrosse team's bid to compete at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. But IOC rules stand in their wayLacrosse is returning to the Olympics in 2028, and the Haudenosaunee Nationals have no intention of watching from the sidelines. The team represents the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the sport's birthplace, which straddles the US-Canadian border and is made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Tuscarora, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga people. The Haudenosaunee Nationals' Olympic campaign in 2028 wouldn't be a first. In 1904 a team of Mohawk players took part in the St Louis Olympics, but they were officially representing Canada. Now these longtime contenders on the international scene seek to make history and play under their own flag at Los Angeles 2028, making them the first North American Indigenous nation to do so.[Lacrosse] is part of our existence," says Leo Nolan, executive director of the Nationals. It's us, so it's as important as anything else in our lifestyle, who we are. It's about who we are, so it's absolutely important for us to contribute this game to the rest of the world." Continue reading...
As president, Trump's approach was chaotic - but after four years of international upheaval, his views may resonate with the American peopleDonald Trump has all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination, kicking off a US general election campaign between two elderly one-term presidents, each of whom is profoundly unpopular in their own way. Perhaps more unusually for the US, however, it also kicks off an election in which the foreign policy stakes are far higher than usual, and one in which the two presidential rivals offer radically different visions of the US's role in the world.Political scientists have long known that American voters do not typically vote on foreign policy issues, which pale in comparison with economic or social issues. In 2024, however, that rule is not likely to hold. A plethora of recent polls suggest that Americans are increasingly concerned about foreign policy; one survey found that four in 10 voters rank the issue among their top concerns.Emma Ashford is a senior fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy programme at the Stimson Center, Washington DC, and the author of Oil, the State and War Continue reading...
Firearms expert says he sees no evidence gun was broken, despite actor's claim it went off without his pulling the triggerCourtroom testimony by an independent gun expert on Tuesday cast new doubt on Alec Baldwin's account that his gun went off without his pulling the trigger in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer during a 2021 rehearsal on the set of the western movie Rust.Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, with a trial scheduled for July in the death of Halyna Hutchins during a movie rehearsal on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Continue reading...
People who lost loved ones or were injured may be eligible for payout from fund announced Tuesday - but there's a catchHawaii governor Josh Green unveiled on Tuesday a multimillion-dollar fund to compensate families of people who were killed on Maui during the deadliest wildfire in the nation in more than a century.The announcement marks the first phase of the $175m One Ohana Fund that was proposed on 8 November, two months after at least 101 were killed in Lahaina, a coastal town on Maui. If found eligible, people who lost a loved one will receive $1.5m, and disbursements for those who survived but were gravely injured will vary, according to Green's press release. The fund will begin accepting applications on 1 March. Continue reading...
Taking photos of random strangers in public places can create little gems of personal interactionDo you ask before you take someone's picture?" It's the first question people ask when they see my photos. The answer is no. If I see an interesting scene like this shirtless sunbaker, I frame it and press the shutter button.This is kind of unremarkable to me - candid street photography is a genre almost as old as the medium itself, and I spend a lot of time looking at it. But I can see why going for little walks to take pictures of strangers might seem a strange, even slightly deviant, hobby. Continue reading...
All 11 board members sign as sponsors of historic' resolution, with several supervisors stating this was just the start of reparationsSupervisors in San Francisco formally apologized Tuesday to African Americans and their descendants for the city's role in perpetuating racism and discrimination, with several stating that this was just the beginning of reparations for Black residents and not the end.The vote was unanimous with all 11 board members signed on as sponsors of the resolution. Continue reading...
Joint statement announces agreement to work toward labor agreements on constructive path forward'Starbucks and the union organizing its US workers said Tuesday they have agreed to begin talks with the aim of reaching labor agreements.The announcement was a breakthrough for the two sides, which have been at odds since Workers United first organized baristas at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, in late 2021. Continue reading...
Samuel Meyer, 99, received France's highest decoration by Laurent Bili, the country's ambassador to the USFor decades, Samuel Meyer has been New Orleans's most celebrated hatter, devoted to a now-iconic business founded by his grandfather in 1894, and steering it into its second century with a fifth generation of family members in training.On Tuesday, the 99-year-old military veteran was celebrated for an altogether different achievement: becoming a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his service to the allies during the second world war. Continue reading...
Amin Mitchell, who is Black, posted about incident on social media and believes it was racist response to disagreement with managerBus drivers in Missouri staged a protest this week after a coworker found a noose at his work station and posted about it on social media.Amin Mitchell, a diesel mechanic, shared video of the noose on the floor of his employer - Missouri Central School Bus - on Facebook on 22 February. Continue reading...
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