Blaze engulfed landmark building where Jim Morrison and bandmates posed for a photograph for their 1970 LPFlames engulfed the historic Morrison Hotel, featured on the cover of The Doors' 1970 album of the same name, after a fire hit the landmark downtown Los Angeles building.More than 100 firefighters responded to the fire, which began around 11am Thursday, and had the burn under control in under two hours. Several dozen people inside were able to escape, including possible squatters and three people rescued by firefighters on the third floor. Continue reading...
Nearly 900 flights have been cancelled already as tornado watches are issued in Texas and LouisianaAs the US braces for one of its busiest travel weekends of the year, the threat of severe weather has already led to hundreds of flight cancellations.Tornado watches were issued in the southern states of Texas and Louisiana on Thursday, CNN reported. In Texas, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered ground stops at two airports, CBS reported. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas activated emergency response resources in the state on Thursday. Continue reading...
So-called moderates are mimicking populist demagogues, with potentially disastrous consequencesIt was once known as the centre right", and this was the year it definitively perished. It never had a coherent political philosophy, but it tended to blend deference to the perceived needs of large business interests, the championing of so-called traditional values that were actually longstanding prejudices, and admiration for established institutions. Above all else, it supposedly offered a cordon sanitaire, preventing anything further to the right from acquiring political legitimacy.That hasn't quite worked to plan. Nigel Farage now claims his populist-right Reform party has a higher membership than the Tories: if true, it is the first time in British history that members of a rightwing rival have outnumbered the Conservative party's. Nearly two decades ago, then Tory leader, David Cameron, dismissed Farage's Ukip as fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists mostly"; but today, Cameron's party has ceded ideological ground to its challengers and the current Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, is fighting Reform on Farage's terrain.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
William Webster writes in letter to senators that the safety of the American people ... depends on it'William Webster, the only man to head both the FBI and the CIA, has urged the US Senate to reject Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump's nominees as directors of the bureau and national intelligence, arguing that they are unqualified.Writing to senators, Webster, who is aged 100 and who was appointed by both Democrat and Republican presidents, called on them to weigh the critical importance of nonpartisan leadership and experience" and suggested that Patel and Gabbard possessed neither attribute. Continue reading...
Athena, a four-year old German shepherd, pulled off a Christmas Eve miracle when she rang home after 2amA Florida dog missing for more than a week came home on Christmas Eve and rang its owner's doorbell to announce its return.It was about 2.30am. She came pawing at the door, ringing the doorbell," Brooke Comer told local television station KSBW, which was Christmas Eve. And then that morning I woke up to - she had made it on everybody's [doorbell] camera." Continue reading...
They've been around for ever; now they're running the US. And beneath all the podcasts and punching lie questions of grievance, self-ownership and self-expressionA creature of various talents, and the owner of at least three types of shirt, the Great American Bro can take different forms.The finance bro, for example, favours a Patagonia power vest over his button-ups. The brocialist still thinks Bernie would have won. The gym bro likes to wear the tightest vest he can find, and has biceps you can crack a walnut with. Whatever his particular vibe, however, the bro is a pack animal, most comfortable when surrounded with a group of people who look and act just like him. Continue reading...
Strategist who aided resurgence after Reagan urges focus on fundamentals' - but cautions against leftward driftRepublicans jubilant after winning the White House with a candidate who promised to make America great again". Democrats lost in the political wilderness, apparently out of touch with working people. America, apparently, shifting inexorably to the right. Not 2024 but 1984, when Ronald Reagan won the presidency in a landslide.Al From remembers it well. The political strategist responded by launching the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) with a mission to rebuild the party and make it electable again. He succeeded in 1992 when Bill Clinton led the New Democrats" back into power - and four decades on he has advice for how the party can rise from the ashes of another election defeat. Continue reading...
The anti-abortion movement is looking at ways to control information about how and where to obtain abortionsThe next front in the US abortion wars may be what people are allowed to say about it.More than two years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in the case Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, US abortions are on the rise, thanks in large part to the spread of abortion pills and travel across state lines. This has infuriated anti-abortion advocates, who have proposed policies to help the incoming Trump administration curtail the mailing of abortion pills and targeted individuals and groups that help women get out-of-state abortions. In a sign of how the issue is pitting states against one another, Texas earlier this month sued a New York-based doctor who allegedly provided a telehealth abortion to a Texan woman. Continue reading...
Dance till you drop, then home by 10pm - daytime events offer a glorious escape for those of us bogged down by responsibilityLast Saturday night, I went clubbing with friends. Once upon a time, this wouldn't have been a remotely odd sentence to type, because it was what I did pretty much every weekend. But a lot has changed since then - let's just say that in my peak raving years there was a Labour government in power, only it was actually popular - and like most people whose happy place was once on the dancefloor, inevitably with time comes the feeling that you no longer belong. Deep down, you still come to life when the bassline kicks in. But you morph from hardened raver to the kind of person who's always up for dancing at parties and weddings, and then finally into the kind of person whose friends aren't getting married any more and who spends their Saturday nights giving their children lifts to parties. So eventually you tell yourself sadly that those days are over now, and that clinging on would be a bit mutton-behaving-as-lamb.Well, not any more. Enter what was almost certainly the cheeriest thing about an otherwise lousy 2024: the rise of what is now regrettably known in my house as Old Lady Clubbing, AKA daytime events specially laid on by music promoters for the over-30s. It's like going back in time, but better: partly because this time round you have learned to wear the big coat, instead of going without and shivering glamorously to death in the queue, but mostly because it starts in the afternoon. The secret of middle-aged socialising, it transpires, is to do roughly what you always did - but earlier: hitting the club at 3pm means being home in time for the 10 o'clock news, and blissfully asleep by last orders. (Though the truly multitasking could do as one of the DJs at Day Fever, the over-35s night set up by the actor Vicky McClure and her promoter husband, Jonny Owen, reportedly sometimes does and cram in a big supermarket shop on the way back.) Even the bar staff love it, one told me, because unlike most nights there's no hassle: everyone's just too thrilled to be out of the house.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
My wife and I are one and done' on kids. We're also one and done' with unsolicited advice about our decisionFor a few years now, I've kept a few vials of a stranger's sperm on ice. Not just hanging out in my freezer next to the frozen peas, to be clear. They're in a fancy cryobank and every six months a $285 charge pops up on my credit card statement for the privilege of storing them.I've been justifying that hefty price tag as the cost of keeping my options open. My wife and I have a perfect little three-year-old girl and we've ummed and ahhed about having another one. (I won't get into the specifics of assisted reproduction, but if you're a same-sex female couple, then sperm is kinda key.) We've held on to our toddler's baby things just in case a second one appears: our basement is full of boxes of old toys and clothes. It looks like we're going to have to clear out and cancel that sperm storage, however - we've finally decided that we are firmly in the one and done" club.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Green Bay and Minnesota have been flexed into the late-afternoon slot over Dallas-Philadelphia in what could be a preview of the NFC Championship GameGreen Bay Packers (11-4) v Minnesota Vikings (13-2)
Buy a power bank and write a will. You'll need a bug-out bag' packed and ready to go. In Kyiv, we've learned how to survive Russia's hybrid warfareDay 1,024 of the invasion. Kyiv, 7am. Friday the 13th. In a former life, someone would have observed that this is a day that portends bad luck. But in a country where shelling is a daily occurrence, it has become irrelevant. I wake up to the sound of an app on my phone warning me of an increased missile threat. While my partner and I are hiding in the corridor, I read the news that the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, has called on members of the US-led transatlantic alliance to shift to a wartime mindset".With the first bang of the air defence system, a thought strikes me: for those who have not already been living with it for nearly three years, how would you explain this mindset? What is this wartime thinking? Continue reading...
Kathy Hochul calls for ousting of correction officers and nurse allegedly involved in death of Robert Brooks, 43The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, has directed 14 workers at a state prison to be fired after they were allegedly involved in an attack that resulted in the death of an incarcerated man.Robert Brooks, 43, died in a local hospital a day after a 9 December incident at the Marcy correctional facility in central New York. Continue reading...
Outgoing Senate leader also says 235 judges appointed by Biden will preserve departing president's legacyDemocrats will rely on judges appointed by Joe Biden to protect his White House legacy from Donald Trump and blunt the most extreme elements of the president-elect's agenda, the outgoing Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has said.Schumer, a senator for New York and the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in US history, said the party would use the judiciary to spearhead a fightback following an election defeat that left a Republican trifecta" in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. Continue reading...
Northwest Naturals has told customers to throw out Feline Turkey Recipe pet food after batch tested positive for virusA voluntary recall of raw and frozen cat food has been issued in Oregon after a cat that died of bird flu was linked to the product, state officials have said.Northwest Naturals has instructed customers of its Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food to throw out the product if its sell-by date falls between 21 May 2026 and 23 June 2026. Continue reading...
On Truth Social, president-elect also lashes out at Chinese troops in Panama Canal and Canadian PM Justin TrudeauDonald Trump has told 37 people on death row who had their sentences commuted by Joe Biden to go to hell" in a lacerating Christmas Day social media post.The president-elect - long a vocal advocate of capital punishment - lashed out at Biden's decision on his Truth Social platform, after wishing a merry Christmas to political opponents he addressed as Radical Left Lunatics". Continue reading...
Over the holidays, this column will explore next year's urgent issues. Today we look at the crisis in western democracy, Donald Trump's victory and the role played by digital mediaIn November 2020, shortly after DonaldTrump's defeatin the US presidential election, Barack Obama observed that America risked entering anepistemological crisis". The prospect of MrTrump's return to the White House in January validates his predecessor's premonition.Mr Obama was talking about media fragmentation and polarisation: different segments of society existing in discrete information spaces; arguments no longer drawn from a common reservoir of facts; no shared reality, no foundation of truth. Then by definition themarketplace of ideas doesn't work," he said. Andby definition our democracy doesn't work."Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Tom Homan also said that undocumented parents of US-born children will be deported, with or without their kidsUS immigration authorities will resume the controversial policy of putting families with children in detention centres as part of a drive to deport undocumented immigrants, the incoming Trump administration's border czar", Tom Homan, has said.Homan, regarded as the architect" of the widely vilified family separation policy applied to undocumented immigrants in the first Trump administration, also said officials would not hesitate to deport parents whose children were American citizens because they had been born in the US. Continue reading...
Every day, we walk Odie along the same paths. He eats the same food at the same time. And yet, for him our bounties feel limitlessThe last patient on my rounds is elderly, cognitively impaired and wonderfully complimentary. The nurse is dedicated. Dutiful interns like mine go places. She loves my dress. We joyfully acknowledge these statements because we dread the next, heartbreaking question: Do you know I have a dog?"Lizzy is a corgi named after the late Queen. For 10 years, they have lived and grown as one, watching television, pottering in the garden and sleeping side by side. Continue reading...
by Andrew Lawrence, Alaina Demopoulos and Matthew Can on (#6T5MY)
From comedy to courtroom drama, if you thought you'd seen it all before, that's because this year ... you hadIf 2024 was defined by anything, it was a distinct feeling of deja vu. Donald Trump ran and won, Death Cab and Janet Jackson headlined music festivals, and aesthetes on social media lusted after Windows Vista design language circa 2007. Same old, same old - almost. Because 2024 was also the year of unexpected second chances: in some very special cases, those who suffered a fall from grace or otherwise unfortunate first run in the spotlight got another shot at glory. Call it a comeback, a redemption, or deja vu all over again ... for better or worse, it was their year once more. . Continue reading...
Announcement comes as Trump has threatened to reassert control over canal, which US handed to Panama in 1999President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated the Miami-Dade county commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera to serve as ambassador to Panama.Trump described Cabrera as a fierce fighter for America First principles" who he said has been instrumental in driving economic growth and fostering international partnerships. Continue reading...
The party is already looking ahead to the 2028 election, with a bench of contenders ready to take the mantleStill reeling from Kamala Harris's defeat to Donald Trump in the 2024 election, Democrats are already looking ahead to 2028 and assessing potential candidates for the White House. While some believe Harris deserves another shot, others are calling for a change of direction and new blood. The race appears to be wide open but state governors feature prominently because of their executive experience and ability to combat Trump's policies. Here are a dozen of the leading contenders: Continue reading...
So much of early 2000s indie' music was nothing but a backward-looking rerun of movements pastYou've probably noticed it by now: the smeared makeup in fashion editorials, the messy girl" style of gen Z celebrities like Olivia Rodrigo, and the dance-y, LCD Soundsystem-esque sound of artists like the Dare and ... well, LCD Soundsystem, whose reunited lineup seems to be playing shows every night now.The no-longer-so-niche pop star Charli xcx further foregrounded it with her breakout hit Brat this past summer, an album whose inescapable promotional cycle improbably combined an embrace by the Harris/Walz presidential campaign - cue Jake Tapper trying to explain brat summer" to your parents - and a birthday party photographed by none other than aughts-era shutter bug the Cobrasnake in his trademark high-flash, low-res style.Each artist ... fits the mold of a bygone trope. Ryan Adams was the self-professed wannabe beat poet guy,' fitting the chain-smoking mold of folk predecessors like Bob Dylan; LCD Soundsystem saw James Murphy fusing rock sounds with electronic elements as had been covered ad nauseum [sic] through the 80s; and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O rocked the costume-heavy art-punk done 20 years prior by Wendy O and the Plasmatics. Continue reading...
Show livestreamed on Netflix is first live performance of material from country-themed album Cowboy CarterSome of Beyonce's most iconic moments have been on an American football field. Her barnstorming 2013 Super Bowl performance, complete with a Destiny's Child reunion, was outdone by her guest appearance during Coldplay's 2016 half-time show as she paid homage to the Black Panthers and freaked out a sizeable section of the US establishment (It is now cool' to embrace violence, mayhem and, frankly, even racial separatism in the cause of civil rights," the rightwing Heritage Foundation thinktank fumed at the time). Her 2018 Coachella performance, Homecoming, though not on a football field, featured college football's majorettes and marching bands as she celebrated historically Black colleges and universities.On Wednesday - in a Christmas Day half-time show streamed on Netflix from her native Houston as the Texans played the Baltimore Ravens - she again used a football game as somewhere for her to interrogate and play around with American iconography. Continue reading...
Joseph Benza III, main officer involved in incident with Emmett Brock, pleaded guilty in federal court last weekAt least eight deputies with the Los Angeles sheriff's department have been dismissed for their roles in the arrest and beating of a transgender man in February 2023, the Los Angeles Times reports. An FBI investigation remains ongoing.Deputy Joseph Benza III, the main officer involved in the incident with then 23-year-old Emmett Brock, pleaded guilty in federal court last week to one felony count of deprivation of rights under the color of law, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. Continue reading...
Flight left Chicago's O'Hare airport on morning of Christmas Eve and body discovered at Hawaii's Kahului airportPolice are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii, the airline and the Maui police department said in statements on Wednesday.The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an emailed statement. Continue reading...
Donations, not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries seek favor with incoming administrationUS business leaders are spending big on Donald Trump's second inaugural fund, which is predicted to exceed even the record-setting $107m raised in 2017.The donations, which are not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries and business leaders seek to curry favor with the incoming administration after the president-elect decisively won a second, non-consecutive term in November. Continue reading...
Wemby at The Garden! LeBron v Steph! The biggest day of the NBA regular season tips off on Wednesday with a jam-packed slate of blockbuster matchupsLeBron James made his Christmas debut in 2003. Victor Wembanyama was born 10 days later.That's right: James has been featured on the NBA's big day for longer than Wembanyama has been alive. And on Wednesday - when the league celebrates Christmas with games for the 77th time - the league's oldest player and brightest young star will be big parts of the holiday showcase. Continue reading...
Before he has taken a single executive decision, countries around the world are positioning themselves for his impactA revisionist state has arrived on the scene to contest the liberal international order, and it is not Russia or China, it is the United States. It is Trump in the Oval Office, the beating heart of the free world. The incoming administration contests every element of the liberal international order - trade, alliances, migration, multilateralism, democratic solidarity and human rights.The narrative now at home and abroad is that the US is not what we thought it was. Trump was not an aberration, not a bug, but a feature of American politics and of America's story." Continue reading...
Democrat Kris Mayes is not afraid' of Trump administration and vows to push back against key immigration policiesKris Mayes, the attorney general of Arizona, has vowed to fight the incoming Trump administration over key aspects of its immigration policy, including any attempt to set up deportation camps on Arizonan soil or remove thousands of migrant dreamers" who came to the US as children.In an interview with the Guardian, Mayes said that any move by Donald Trump in his second presidential term to unpick the rights of dreamers to remain and work in the US would be a bright red line for me. I will not stand for an attempt to deport them, or undermine them." Continue reading...
Candy canes, peppermint bark and minty mochas are signs the holidays are here - but how did it come to be?Peppermint has been the reigning flavor of winter since before pumpkin spice conquered the autumn season. Candy canes, peppermint bark, and Starbucks peppermint mochas - now, they're all clear signs that you're overdue to start your holiday shopping.But the association between peppermint and the winter holidays is still somewhat of a mystery. After all, peppermint is an herb commonly harvested in the spring and summer months. Pumpkins and apples are both autumn harvests, so their historical connection is clear. So, how did a minty herb become the icon of the coldest months of the year? Continue reading...
When a terrifying Ebola-like pandemic struck the Roman empire, Christianity offered solutions that the old ways didn'tIn our Christmas imagery, ancient symbols such as fir trees, mistletoe, holly and ivy sit alongside the baby Jesus, Virgin Mary, angels and shepherds. This mixture of pagan and Christian traditions reminds us that Christmas was superimposed on to much older midwinter festivities. Yet had it not been for a devastating pandemic that swept through the Roman empire in the third century AD, the birth of Jesus would probably not feature at all in our winter solstice celebrations.If the New Testament is to be believed, Jesus managed to fit a great deal into his short life. But despite all his wise words, good deeds and miracles - not to mention the promise of everlasting life - Christ was nothing more than the leader of an obscure sect of Judaism when the Romans crucified him in AD33.Jonathan Kennedy teaches politics and global health at Queen Mary University of London and is the author of Pathogenesis: How Germs Made History Continue reading...
Labour party divided on whether incoming US ambassador should lean on Reform leader's ties with Donald TrumpNigel Farage has said he would be willing to help Peter Mandelson negotiate with the Trump administration, after the Labour grandee was confirmed as Westminster's new ambassador to the US.Lord Mandelson has indicated he believes the Reform UK leader, a friend of Donald Trump, could serve as a link between the UK and the Republican president-elect. Continue reading...
Trump can't reverse commutations of 37 people but says US will be Nation of Law and Order' when he is inauguratedDonald Trump has said he will direct the justice department to vigorously" pursue the death penalty for the perpetrators of violent crimes, one day after Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of most prisoners on the federal government's death row.In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect said as soon as he is inaugurated next month, he will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters". Continue reading...
Report comes day after Ford and GM said they'd donate $1m each as big companies look to cozy up with president-electToyota is reportedly donating $1m to Donald Trump's inauguration.The report, per Reuters citing a company spokesperson, comes one day after Ford and General Motors said they would donate $1m each to the president-elect's inaugural fund. The two US automakers will also provide vehicles to the 20 January event, the outlet reported. Continue reading...
IRS says payments going to those who did not claim under 2021 recovery rebate plan in what may be final installmentUS tax authorities have announced that special, $1,400 payments are going out to 1 million taxpayers who did not claim under the 2021 recovery rebate scheme, in what may be a final installment of pandemic-era stimulus checks.The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said in an advisory that the disbursements were a special step" after a review found that many eligible taxpayers who did not receive one or more Economic Impact Payments (EIP), also known as stimulus stimi" payments. Continue reading...
Ruling rejects part of governor-backed law that imposes criminal penalties on librarians for giving harmful' material to kidsA federal judge ruled on Monday that sections of an Arkansas law, which sought to impose criminal penalties on librarians and booksellers for distributing harmful" material to children, were unconstitutional.The law, known as the Arkansas Act 372, was signed into law last year by Republican governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It was challenged by a coalition of organizations in the state, leading to a lengthy legal battle that concluded this week. Continue reading...
Award in advocating on behalf of women and girls' revoked after suit filed by Lively accusing him of sexual harassmentAn award recently given to actor and director Justin Baldoni, honoring him for courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls", was rescinded following a complaint filed by actor Blake Lively accusing him of sexual harassment and a coordinated effort to damage her reputation.The Voices of Solidarity Award was granted to Baldoni on 9 December by the Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international non-profit organization focused on women's empowerment. Continue reading...
In Middletown there's little indication that a local luminary will become second in line to the presidencyOrdinarily, the home town of an incoming vice-president of the United States ought to be awash with pride, vigor and celebration one month out from their big day.But across Middletown, JD Vance's home town in south-west Ohio, you would hardly know. Continue reading...
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