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Recording shows Trump asked canvassers not to sign official document confirming Biden had won, Detroit News saysDonald Trump made a phone call in November 2020 in which he put pressure on two Republican election officers in Michigan not to sign the official document from the state confirming that Joe Biden had won the presidential election there, according to an exclusive report by The Detroit News late on Thursday.The Detroit News outlet has obtained recordings of the call, made on 17 November 2020, where Trump, who was refusing to accept that he had just lost the White House to Joe Biden, and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel talked to Wayne county election officials Monica Palmer and William Hartmann and told them they would look terrible" if they signed to endorse Trump's defeat in the crucial swing state, according to the report. Continue reading...

Overturning a US election in 2024 depends on more believers in powerful positions using these well-documented tacticsTwo Republican officials in Arizona got charged for delaying approval of 2022 election results - and GOP state lawmakers vowed to retaliate against the Democratic attorney general who filed the charges.Rudy Giuliani faces millions in damages for defaming two Georgia election workers in 2020 - and continued to defame them outside the courtroom. Continue reading...

The Maui wildfires illuminated the ongoing failures of the Hawaiian Homes Commission ActOn a one-acre farm at the foot of Maui's dormant Haleakal volcano, Kekoa Enomoto grows dragonfruit, pineapples, yuzu, avocado, kabocha squash and chilli peppers. She tends to a laying chicken, two honeybee hives and an aquaponics system that spawns Mexican oregano, lemongrass and tilapia.As a beneficiary of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, a century-old program to return Native Hawaiians to their ancestral lands, Enomoto, 77, pays just $600 a month in mortgage fees for the farm and three-bedroom house where she's lived for the past two decades. The average mortgage payment in Hawaii exceeds $2,500, the second-highest among all US states. Continue reading...

Facing book bans and laws like Florida's don't say gay' measure, educators describe threats against them - and what keeps them goingA fifth-grade teacher who showed her class a Disney film. A children's book author whose graphic novel about a Boy Scout shot to the top of the banned books list. A 27-year veteran of Florida's public school system who was accused of Marxist" indoctrination of his students for teaching an AP African American history class.These are some of the people with livelihoods threatened by what's been called the ed scare" - a coordinated attempt by conservative-backed groups like Moms for Liberty and Citizens Defending Freedom to prohibit instruction about race, sexuality and gender in US public education. Continue reading...

Tanisha, 36, and Barbara Wiggins, received degrees in human services together from Onondaga Community College in SyracuseA New York mother and daughter duo have earned their college degrees together on the same day, fulfilling a lifelong dream for both of them.With her toddler in tow, Tanisha Wiggins, 36, walked across the stage alongside her mother, Barbara Wiggins, 58, at their college, Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York. They were both awarded degrees in human services. Continue reading...

The disgraced ex-congressman seems to be trying to remake himself as a campy gay icon. Too many people are falling for itGeorge Anthony Devolder Santos was born in 1988 with a serious congenital condition which means he is incapable of feeling shame or embarrassment. I'm not sure what the name of the affliction is or whether it's recognized by the medical establishment - but many of his former colleagues in government seem to suffer from the same thing.Still, the disgraced New York Republican, who was expelled from Congress three weeks ago and pleaded not guilty in October to a total of 23 federal felony charges ranging from wire fraud to money laundering, clearly has an extreme case. Santos, who was elected to represent parts of Long Island and Queens last year, has been dogged by controversy throughout his short political career. It turns out he lied about pretty much everything in his life - including his mother surviving 9/11.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Rhetoric that was widely seen as echoing Hitler was not enough for some senior Republicans to break ranks with the former presidentDonald Trump has the tacit blessing of senior Republican figures as he seeks to put border security front and center of the 2024 election by deploying fascistic language to fire up his support base, political analysts warn.The frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 has called for a sharp crackdown on immigration and asserted at a weekend rally that migrants are poisoning the blood of our country". Continue reading...

Even if the Colorado justices don't prevail, they've reminded us that Trump has gone far beyond what's acceptableShould there be a political price to pay for a president who refuses to engage in a peaceful transfer of power and incites a violent coup to stay in office?Common sense says yes.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Boredom, nostalgia, good cheer ... there are all sorts of reasons we send the Long time no speak, how are you?' message at this time of yearThere's a chill in the air, but it's not just the December cold. As inevitable as the twinkling lights or gingerbread men, an unmistakable urge is making itself known. My fingers are twitching. I'm crafting the perfect opener in my head. That's right: I'm starting to wonder whether I should text my ex-partner.Since the last time we saw each other, earlier this year, I have been strict with myself. I drew a solid, impassable line between us, and I was happy about it - tearing our lives apart was difficult enough without the added confusion of staying in touch. But surrounded by a sea of hand-holding couples in matching Christmas jumpers, tunes that celebrate happy twosomes and twinkling skies of fairy lights, I might be having doubts. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to wish him a merry Christmas? Check in? Catch up? Reminisce together about the good times?Anya Ryan is a freelance journalist Continue reading...

Around the world, the people fighting for the survival of our planet are being shamefully silenced and villifiedInjustice is easy to oppose after it has receded into the past, and there is no cost to imagining yourself as a hero long after the event. Everyone celebrates the suffragettes now, but at the time they were vilified as hateful spinsters and terrorists. McCarthyism is a pejorative political label on right and left alike now, but at his peak, more Americans approved of Senator Joseph McCarthy than frowned on his witch-hunt. Most people would like to believe they'd have stood up against the homophobia of 1980s Britain - yet, by 1987, only 11% of the British public believed same-sex relations to be not wrong at all".Which takes us to climate activism. This year has seen a global onslaught against people agitating for more action to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. Courts can issue stern judgments, but so can history, and you have to wonder its future verdict on how the persecution and silencing of those raising the alarm only escalated when the scientific evidence had become so cast-iron, and when extreme weather events hammered home the imminent danger facing the human species. Here in Britain, a government which is reneging on its climate commitments - not least by expanding oil and gas licences - is simultaneously introducing repressive legislation to silence those holding them to account.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Pressure is mounting on Biden to strike the Houthis, but that could mean war across Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and IranSince 7 October the world has been horrified by the gruesome fighting between Israel and Gaza. But the war could still get much worse.Iran's proxy in Yemen, the Houthis, have been firing missiles and drones at commercial shipping and naval vessels and at southern Israel for weeks now. Global markets are spooked as the danger to shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait rises.Christopher S Chivvis is the director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...

Mike Johnson's links to key leaders prompts alarm he might try to erode elements of constitution on separation of church and stateLinks between the new Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and key Christian nationalist leaders have sparked fears the devout Louisiana congressman might seek to erode elements of the first amendment, which protects key US civil liberties including freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.Long before th eevangelical conservative Johnson became speaker, he had forged close ties with Christian nationalists like David Barton, whose writings claiming the country's founders intended to create a Christian nation have been widely debunked by religion scholars. Continue reading...

US sportswear brand announces job cuts and simplification of product ranges in streamlining' of operationsNike is to cut hundreds of jobs, simplify its product ranges and increase its use of automation as part of attempts to save $2bn (1.6bn) in costs over the next three years amid poor sales.The US sportswear brand said it was taking steps to streamline the organisation" and would be spending up to $450m on the changes, mainly on payoffs for employees. Continue reading...

It was Diwali in New York and I was out of my comfort zone. But then two Carrie Bradshaws in saris made me feel at home

A pair of AFC contenders guided by second-string quarterbacks meet on Christmas Eve with massive ramifications for their playoff chancesAs the regular season draws to a close, we'll take a look each Friday at a game likely to affect the playoff race, along with the teams whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don't neglect the also-rans, we'll see which teams are in the hunt for next year's No 1 pick. Continue reading...

The deleted social media post, which also called for the execution of Hunter Biden, led some to wonder if Schneider could be chargedActor John Schneider called for the executions of Joe Biden and the president's son Hunter in a now-deleted social media post that drew ridicule and questions about whether he should be criminally charged.Schneider, perhaps best known for his role as Bo Duke on the TV series Dukes of Hazzard as well as his recent runner-up finish on The Masked Singer, fired off the post on X at 2am local time on Thursday. Continue reading...

Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who killed Niani Finlayson, 27, previously had killed another civilian under similar circumstancesA Los Angeles county sheriff's deputy shot and killed a 27-year-old woman who had called 911 to report that she was under attack by a former boyfriend, police officials and lawyers for the victim's family said on Thursday. Records show the deputy had killed another person in similar circumstances three years ago.On 4 December, Niani Finlayson called police and reported that her boyfriend would not leave her alone and then screaming and sounds of a struggle could be heard", the LA sheriff's department (LASD) said in a statement. When deputies arrived at the apartment in Lancaster, a city in the northern region of LA county, they could hear screaming, LASD said. Continue reading...

Mayor turned Trump lawyer turned debtor has extensive list of claimants clamoring for his assets, which he valued at $1m-$10mPaperwork submitted in Rudy Giuliani's filing for bankruptcy protection reveal the daunting extent of debts faced by the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer. It is a mountain added to this week by a $148m award to two former Georgia election workers.Giuliani, 79, claimed Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Shaye" Moss were involved in electoral fraud as part of Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in 2020. Continue reading...

Torrents of rain on Wednesday night submerged streets and prompted rescues of people and petsA strong, slow-moving storm unleashed torrents of rain on southern California on Wednesday night, submerging streets and prompting water rescues, and residents across the region are bracing for more wet weather.Evacuation orders were issued in parts of Ventura county due to the extreme rainfall, where the deluge dumped more than 3in of rain in a single hour, and emergency responders were inundated with calls for help through the night. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Oxnard and the city of Ventura at 1.28am due to the high-intensity thunderstorm; it expired an hour later as the risks calmed. However, the rain continued. Continue reading...

A shock ruling by the state's supreme court has barred him from its presidential ballotLike so many troubles, the legal cases dogging Donald Trump come not singly but in battalions. News of the bombshell ruling by the Colorado supreme court on Tuesday - barring him from the state's 2024 presidential ballot under the US constitution's insurrection clause - soon jostled for space with the latest wrangles over his indictment by the special counsel Jack Smith for attempting to overturn the last election.Until this year, no president or former president had ever been indicted. Mr Trump now faces 91 felony counts. But he also faces multiple cases directly challenging his candidacy under section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bars insurrectionists from holding office. The Colorado challenge is not only the first to be upheld against Mr Trump, after attempts in other states failed, but it is the first time that the clause has been used against a presidential candidate since its inception in the wake of the civil war. While Mr Trump does not need Colorado, a Democratic state, the case may encourage those bringing suits elsewhere. Continue reading...

Data shows 60,000 unhoused women in the state, among them domestic violence survivors, pregnant women and mothersLynda Reed loved her work in the research office of San Diego's Naval medical center, but when her mother's health began to falter she quit and became a full-time caregiver, moving in with her mother. She cooked her diabetic meals, administered medications, drove to medical appointments, and helped with housekeeping and daily living - full-time work with no pay at all.Then, in 2019, her mother died. Her mother's house was sold - and a combination of a family trust dispute and their inability to keep up with the mortgage payments left her with nowhere to live. At 55 years old, Reed found herself homeless, living in her truck. Continue reading...

Florida congressman Maxwell Frost, who introduced Fight Banned Books Act, says bans are baseless attack on our civil rights'The growing number of book bans in the US are using a so-called parental rights movement as cover for a wide-ranging attack on civil rights in America, a Democratic congressman has warned.Earlier this month, a new study by PEN America revealed that there had been at least 5,894 book bans in US public schools from July 2021 to June 2023, with more than 40% of them in Florida, birthplace of a rightwing parents group called Moms for Liberty. Continue reading...

City's new law guarantees some drivers nearly $30 an hour but bosses are trying to reassert their dominance. I got back on my delivery bike to find out moreI'm straddling my road bike, carrying two boxes of Chinese dumplings in a paper tote. The DoorDash app tells me I need to sprint my payload across Manhattan - cutting across the Holland Tunnel's on-ramp - in the next eight minutes.I'm trying out food delivery under New York City's new minimum wage law on a frigid December afternoon. Before - I was a part-time delivery worker between 2018 and 2020 - an order like this would have paid just a few dollars, making it a frantic rush to finish and move on to the next one. Now the new rules guarantee delivery workers nearly $30 an hour of trip time". So I stop at red lights, yield to pedestrians, and though I end up arriving a couple minutes late, I feel surprisingly relaxed. My customer seems pleased, too. Continue reading...

Jack Smith says court should make decision on whether former president is immune from criminal prosecution on federal chargesJack Smith has urged speed for the supreme court to take up the issue of whether Donald Trump is, as the former president claims, immune from criminal prosecution on federal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.On Thursday the US special counsel submitted a new file to the supreme court in Washington DC, reiterating his argument for urgency in their consideration of such a key element of the federal election interference case, in response to Trump's latest move the day before. Continue reading...

Glynn Simmons, who served US's longest wrongful imprisonment for a 1974 murder, wins rare rulingThe man who served the US's longest wrongful imprisonment for a 1974 murder he has always denied committing has now won a rare ruling declaring him to be actually innocent of the crime.Glynn Simmons's murder conviction was dismissed in July after a judge in Oklahoma determined that prosecutors withheld some evidence in the case, including a police report that documented how a witness may have identified alternate suspects. The 71-year-old was freed from prison, and state prosecutors later said they would not retry him in the case because there was no longer any physical evidence. Continue reading...

Some liberals and leftwingers have joined conservatives in skepticism about the Colorado court decision. But the ruling is carefully consideredThe decision by the Colorado supreme court to ban Donald Trump from the Republican primary has received pushback from some predictable and some not-so-predictable quarters.The former president's supporters of course consider him the great Maga martyr, temporarily hindered by nefarious elites from his rightful return and revenge; in this morality play, the US supreme court, besieged with accusations of being undemocratic, can now play the savior by putting him back on the ballot and making the people Trump's ultimate judge.Jan-Werner Muller is a professor of politics at Princeton University. He is also a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

The official narrative has been that Hamas is weakened, but in reality the IDF's doctrine of massive force is failing

Report finds significant violent rhetoric' against justices and Democrats online after ruling to exclude Trump from ballotJustices on the Colorado supreme court are receiving a barrage of death threats after it ruled to exclude Donald Trump from the state's presidential ballot next year because of his attempts to cause insurrection.A report compiled by Advance Democracy, a non-partisan non-profit organization, said there was significant violent rhetoric" against the justices and Democrats on social media, according to NBC News. Continue reading...

The best broadcast in the US features a presenter with a mid-Atlantic accent, a Frenchman, an Englishman and a citizen of the people's republic of LiverpoolAnyone who's watched soccer live in the United States will be familiar with him: the English fan, always a male, who's tediously insistent that by right of birth he knows more than anyone else on the face of the earth about the sport.Lurching up from the bar or dropping into the group chat at the invitation of some naive administrator, he'll never miss a moment to remind everyone that the league leaders have benefited from an easy run, that Ben White's haircut should be the real talking point of the Premier League title race so far, that football has laws rather than rules, that many Manchester United fans are not from Manchester (this point must be emphasized with a grim relentlessness), that pre-relegation early 2000s West Ham was way better than the Moyesian vintage, that Graham Potter is better than Ange Postecoglou, that Seaman and James were better than Alisson and Ederson, that actually, Chelsea's back four in the 1998 Winners' Cup was the best that English football has ever seen". Continue reading...

Spokesman for Greg Abbott says flights are result of criticism over his operation of bussing migrants to Democratic-led citiesTexas sent a plane with more than 120 people who crossed the US-Mexico border to Chicago in an escalation of Greg Abbott's bussing operation, which has sent more than 80,000 people to Democratic-led cities across the country since last year.The first flight, which the Republican governor's office said left from El Paso and arrived Tuesday, was arranged a week after Chicago's city council took new action over the busloads of migrants that have drawn sharp criticism from Brandon Johnson, the city's mayor. The city has said bus operators began trying to drop off people in neighboring cities to avoid penalties that include fines, towing or impoundment. Continue reading...

Whatever strategy Biden pursues in congressional negotiations appears destined to alienate at least one wing of his partyJoe Biden has been left with only bad and worse options in his flagging campaign to send more aid to Ukraine amid its war with Russia and has now found that its fate is tied to one of the thorniest issues in US politics: immigration.In addition to the implications for Ukraine's fate in its fight against invasion, it could be a serious hit for Biden in a crucial election year. Biden's progressive base is already in uproar over his unwavering support for Israel in its war in Gaza, and if he is forced to adopt a hardline immigration policy, then that faction will likely be even more angered. Continue reading...

Hamas has said it will not discuss releasing more hostages until Israel ends its war, while Israel has vowed to continue to the end'. Plus, the women who fought back against a couch-surfing predator

The January 6 insurrection will have succeeded if Trump is re-elected and he avoids accountability for the crimes of his first termNo one is above the law. That's a familiar axiom of American life, and it's often been bent by the power of wealth and those possessing a wealth of power, but it has never been tested as it is being tested now. If it breaks, then something fundamental to the country's meaning and function breaks, and repair will not be easy.But as far as the Republican party and its leading candidate for the presidency, conservative members of the supreme court, and much of the Republican delegation in Congress - that is, parts of all three branches of the federal government - are concerned, someone should be above the law and all of the rest of us should be unequal under the law. It's part of their larger commitment to inequality as law and culture. Continue reading...

The president is never slow to recall his early years in the former Pennsylvania coal-mining town but still faces questions about his age and effectivenessLocal history buff Nick Petula has crossed paths with Kennedys, Clintons and pretty much any other president who came through his home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for the past 60 years. But there's one politician whose hand he never managed to shake, even though he is more closely tied to the city than any other: Joe Biden, the current president who spent the first 10 years of his life in the north-eastern Pennsylvania city.His visits have been, you know, pretty quick and pretty orchestrated," said Petula, 76, noting that the Covid-19 pandemic complicated campaigning three years ago and made interacting with Biden all the more difficult. Continue reading...

The USMNT star has been a key figure for the Italian giants, earning the trust of coach Stefano Pioli on and off the fieldChristian Pulisic is still half a decade too young to serve in the US Senate, but no such age restrictions apply to the Italian sporting lexicon. As Milan prepared to face Newcastle in a do-or-die Champions League group game last month, the Gazzetta dello Sport named him together with Olivier Giroud as the two players who teammates would look to for leadership. Milan must trust in experience," wrote journalist Marco Passotto, it must trust its senators."Aged 25, Pulisic is 12 years Giroud's junior. Yet he had already made 53 Champions League appearances - only 13 fewer than the Frenchman, and 18 more than any Newcastle player. Continue reading...

Not only are more runners doing ultramarathons in their seventies and eighties, they're also going fasterOn a bone-cold morning in November, Wally Hesseltine, far from his cozy California home, was lying prone in southern Illinois - beside a trail of crushed gravel - his right knee bruised and bloodied. The initial 95 miles of the Tunnel Hill 100 footrace had unfolded with the swiftness of a fleeting breeze. Brisk, beautiful miles under a collage of crisp autumn foliage. The 80-year-old hadn't fallen once. But the last five miles presented a particular problem. They were all downhill.He couldn't feel it, but he could see it - his upper body drooping like a glove without a hand - his hunched shadow sinking into itself until he finally dove into the soft grass. Little is known about the leans", a temporary but debilitating condition that can crop up in older ultrarunners. The phenomenon is oft observed but poorly understood. The same is true of Hesseltine. Continue reading...

Bulgarian workers far from home make Europe's wreaths and jumpers. What if we chose another way to celebrate?The wreath is made from real pine branches. It is attractive and cheap. I can smell the pine. But the label confirms what I already know: made in Germany and shipped across the sea then loaded on to lorries along recently expanded motorways, to this supermarket in Scotland. And it so happens that I know the people who made this and the million other wreaths that sit in the warehouses of Europe's supermarket chains. They are unskilled" workers from the mountains of southern Bulgaria. I can hear their voices, humorous and philosophical. They know it's absurd, and many of them are Muslims, too.You plant the saplings and next season you cut the branches and make Christmas wreaths for the Germans."Kapka Kassabova is a Bulgarian writer based in Scotland. She is the author of Elixir and Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe Continue reading...

First mass thefts, then fossil fuel sponsorship and claims of Soviet-style management. This is how an incredible institution lost its wayThere are six floors in the British Museum, three above ground and three below. In terms of the crisis that has exploded into public view since the summer - the alleged theft of up to 1,500 artefacts - it has felt, a curator recently told me, as if the institution's standing had finally risen above the very lowest possible level, and was moving slowly upwards. But, the staffer added, it had not yet risen to the ground floor.This week it feels as if the lift has hurtled back down to the adamantine depths. The British Museum's decision to accept 50m from BP is, aside from the profound ethical objections to receiving support from one of the world's biggest polluters, a decision remarkable in its tone-deafness. It has already been widely condemned, and, in practical terms, this will lead to years of protests by campaigners. To many who love the museum, it feels like a betrayal.Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian's chief culture writerDo 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...

Fiona Hill, a former White House Russia expert, argues in a podcast why Moscow is eager for the ex-president to returnVladimir Putin has had Donald Trump's number for some time ... knows how to manipulate him" and still sees him as an asset", the former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill said, discussing the Russian leader and the Republican presidential frontrunner.That's literally [Putin's] trump card," Hill told the One Decision Podcast, hosted by the reporter Jane Ferguson and Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, when asked if she thought the Russian president, bogged down in war in Ukraine, was betting on Trump beating Joe Biden next year and returning to power. Continue reading...

At church, we feel our fragile hopes, together. Raising your voice along with others somehow redirects the gloom, even redeems it a littleI tell myself I'm not a crier, but Christmas carols always prove me wrong.I'm old school. By carols", I don't mean the jolly background tunes to your Christmas shop, still less the shiny, happy singalong that is Carols in the Domain. It sounds bah humbug but I'm a purist who's stingy with my limited tears. Those songs won't make me weep. Trad carols, however, will. Continue reading...

Two leaks of anhydrous ammonia were reported at La Quesera Mexicana in Greeneville on Wednesday morningTwenty-nine workers at a Tennessee cheese factory were sent to the hospital on Wednesday morning after a leak of anhydrous ammonia, the Greeneville city manager, Todd Smith, said at a news conference.The Greeneville fire department was first called to La Quesera Mexicana at 7.15am when a leak occurred during maintenance on a valve. Six people were hospitalized at the time. Continue reading...

Colorado's supreme court concluded the ex-president could not hold office. Alas, the US supreme court will likely not agreeThis is how dictatorships are born." Such was Donald Trump's response to news that the Colorado supreme court had ruled that the former president is disqualified from holding office and so should be removed from the state's Republican primary ballot.Anytime Trump speaks of dictatorships" these days we should pay attention. He has all but declared his intention to engage in dictatorial rule should he win in 2024. It isn't clear, then, whether his statement, in a fund-raising missive fired off minutes after the news broke, was meant as a condemnation of the ruling or a prediction of how he would handle such legal setbacks should he be returned to the White House.Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US and teaches at Amherst College Continue reading...

Worden Butler and Alexis Hartnett charged after FBI search house in Horry county following alleged racially motivated campaignThe FBI has searched a house in South Carolina after a white couple allegedly put up a cross that faced their Black neighbors and set it on fire.On Wednesday morning, federal agents searched the house of 28-year-old Worden Butler and 27-year-old Alexis Hartnett in Horry county for a civil rights investigation involving allegations of racial discrimination", WBTW reports the agency saying. Continue reading...