Team reportedly asks Secret Service for dramatic array of protections, including military aircraft and vehiclesDonald Trump's team has asked for officials to provide him with a dramatic array of military protections as the presidential campaign wraps, including travel in military aircraft and vehicles, according to reports.Trump's campaign has also requested ramped-up flight restrictions around his residences and rallies, and ballistic glass pre-positioned in seven battleground states" for his team's use, the Washington Post reported, citing internal emails and sources familiar with the requests. The New York Times first reported on these requests. Continue reading...
Trump ally and election denier declares readiness to fight it out' to ensure a Republican presidential victoryThe longtime Donald Trump ally and friend Roger Stone said Republicans should send armed guards" to the polls in November to ensure a Trump victory, according to video footage by an undercover journalist.The video, first published by Rolling Stone, shows an embittered Stone, still angry about the 2020 election and ready to fight in 2024. Stone described the former US president's legal strategy of constant litigation to purge voter rolls in swing states. Continue reading...
Only about one-third of homes in Florida's flood zones are covered by insurance. Residents say the state should provide every incentive' to obtain itMany of the million-dollar houses lining South Dundee Street in Tampa's Sunset Park Isles neighborhood appeared to be hosting one huge outdoor garage sale this week.Piles of chairs, tables, mattresses, bookshelves, chests of drawers, sofas and other household items sat unattended in the gathering dusk on Thursday evening - but these articles bore no price tags. They had been irreparably damaged by the massive storm surge that engulfed much of south Tampa in late September when Hurricane Helene barreled past the Tampa/St Petersburg metropolitan area, and their owners had stockpiled the discarded furniture for retrieval by sanitation workers. Continue reading...
Federal watchdog says FAA does not have effective system to oversee Boeing's manufacturing facilitiesA federal watchdog on Friday criticized the Federal Aviation Administration's oversight of Boeing airplane production, saying it did not have an effective system to oversee the US plane maker's individual manufacturing facilities.The transportation department's office of inspector general said in a report the FAA's current audit processes are not comprehensive enough to adequately identify key discrepancies and noncompliances within the Boeing production line" and said the FAA has not addressed longstanding weaknesses in Boeing's oversight of suppliers despite long-known risks. Continue reading...
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz denounced Donald Trump's record on supporting US manufacturing during a campaign appearance in the battleground state of Michigan. Walz defended Detroit from the insult Trump made on Thursday, accusing him of manufacturing bullshit'.
There's a war that's killing tens of thousands, but it's not getting the attention it deserves. The reasons why are as complex as the conflict itselfRemember when we said that Black Lives Matter? We didn't mean it. That much is clear now, as the world watches a war that is killing tens of thousands, that has displaced more than 10 million and which is threatening to devour 13 million more through famine - and barely gives it a glance. Most of those are Black lives and it could not be more obvious that, to an indifferent world, they don't matter at all.Don't be too hard on yourself if you haven't yet guessed which conflict, and project of ethnic cleansing, I'm speaking of. With a few honourable exceptions, it's barely covered on TV, on the radio or in the papers. Most politicians never mention it. There are no mass demonstrations on the streets, no hashtags on social media. Instead, the war in Sudan is out of sight and out of mind - for reasons that say a little about Africa and much more about everyone else.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The storm has created a crisis within a crisis for families in North Carolina who need safe infant food - but some areas may not properly recover for monthsIn the days leading up to Hurricane Helene's arrival in North Carolina, Ziska Maria tried to stock up on her five-month-old son's formula in nearby stores, but none had it. We were like, okay, we'll just get it after [the storm],'" says Maria, who lives in Black Mountain with her partner, three-year-old and infant.But after the morning of 27 September, the family quickly realized they wouldn't be making grocery runs anytime soon. We didn't have water, we didn't have power, we didn't have cell reception, we didn't have internet, all the roads were blocked and we couldn't leave," says Maria. Continue reading...
Remember when the existence of natural disasters wasn't up for debate'? It seems like a long time ago nowI increasingly wonder why Elon Musk is bothering trying to establish himself on Mars, and not just because it looks like a complete dump up there. (Seriously, if you think that's beautiful, I have around a hundred thousand disused quarries I'd love to show you right here on Earth.) Watching Hurricane Milton play out on Musk's platform and elsewhere cemented the notion that the goal of being on another planet along with millions of people had already occurred. The only problem is that this whole other planet is here, sharing meatspace with what we used to call reality".Once upon a time, relatively recently in the scheme of things, a looming natural disaster would have felt like a fairly ineluctable fact. You couldn't debate" a natural disaster any more than you could disagree with gravity. There is a point, we used to say, where you really can't argue with reality. There is a point where shit gets real. But is there, any more? Certainly that point has receded much further over a still-darkening horizon than we might even have imagined back in, say, 2016, when people were warning of attempts to destroy the very notion of shared reality. In fact, it was already receding back in 2004, when a Bush administration official (widely believed to be Karl Rove) spoke disparagingly of what they called the reality-based community".Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistA year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar. On Tuesday 3 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back at a political year like no other, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live Continue reading...
Dozens of other people received medical treatment during Deer Park's second shelter-in-place order in weeksAt least two workers at a Houston-area oil refinery were killed on Thursday after hydrogen sulfide leaked at the plant, setting off urgent warnings for nearby residents to stay indoors before authorities later determined that the public was not in danger.Nearly three dozen other people were either transported to hospitals or treated at the scene, said Ed Gonzalez, the Harris county's sheriff. Hours after the leak began, Gonzalez said the area was still unsafe for investigators to enter and that officials may not be able to get inside until Friday. Continue reading...
At Fruit Camp in Baltimore, Geo Mccandlish and Emi Lynn Holler are breaking through the old boys' club tendencies of the tattoo industry to make LGBTQ+ clients feel welcomeTattoos are everywhere nowadays - peeping out of shirtsleeves during office meetings, adorning the shoulders of neighborhood baristas. Nearly a third of Americans are tattooed, according to the Pew Research Center. And more than half of lesbian, gay or bisexual Americans are inked, according to data from the same organization.Tattoos can discreetly signal identity - for example, lesbians in the 1940s got nautical stars inked on their wrists that were cleverly concealed with wristwatches during the day and on display at night. But the tattoo industry isn't always welcoming towards the LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading...
Review concluded two men drowned due to glaring training failures after raid to seize Iranian weapons bound for HouthisTwo US Navy Seals drowned as they tried to climb aboard a ship carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen because of glaring training failures and a lack of understanding about what to do after falling into deep, turbulent waters, according to a military investigation into the January deaths.The review concluded that the drownings of chief special warfare operator Christopher Chambers and navy special warfare operator first class Nathan Gage Ingram could have been prevented. Continue reading...
If we treated this service as vital state infrastructure, it could make a huge difference to parents - and to the economyYou can't get much for 5.50 nowadays. A takeaway coffee and a muffin, maybe; a pint and a packet of crisps, outside London. But in parts of Canada, roughly that amount can buy you a day's childcare. Or it can, at least, if you can find a nursery place.The country is now three years into a post-pandemic social experiment, offering parents heavily (and expensively) subsidised childcare for what is by envious British standards a staggeringly cheap C$10 a day. The idea is that ultimately this multibillion-dollar state programme will pretty much pay for itself, thanks to the boost in GDP expected to be provided by more parents going out to work. But arguably, its biggest insight has been treating childcare less as some kind of perk the state sadly can't afford right now and more as what Chrystia Freeland, Canada's deputy prime minister, calls social infrastructure": an essential part of the national plumbing, like commuter trains or fast broadband or any other thrusting great multibillion-pound building project we are wearily prepared to believe will ultimately be worth it.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Advocates say multiple strategies must be used to lower prices as new drugs threaten to bankrupt health systemA new report finds some of politicians' most popular proposals are likely to only have a single-digit impact on drug prices.The report, compiled by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), examined seven different policies that ranged from capping drug prices to bringing greater transparency to the market. Of the seven, the most effective would only likely reduce drug prices by 5%. Continue reading...
Amid two hurricanes - one of which hit two swing states - conspiracy theories swirled, such as the weather being controlled to prevent Republicans from votingAlex Jones, the longtime conspiracy theorist liable for millions for defaming school shooting victims, started a broadcast this week with one of his favorite topics: weather manipulation.All right, I did a lot of research and a lot of preparation the last 30 years for what I'm going to be covering today," he said. Coming up, I'm going to do a big presentation for everybody on what's really going on with weather weapons." Continue reading...
GOP spent over $65m on ads, with Trump's most often aired ad targeting Harris for her support of gender-affirming careDonald Trump and the Republican party are pushing an agenda of division, chaos and hate" by spending tens of millions on ads attacking transgender people, advocates said, as the right wing intensifies its anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.The GOP has spent more than $65m on ads targeting trans people, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, with the former president's most frequently aired ad targeting Kamala Harris over her support for gender-affirming care. Continue reading...
The veteran reporter has long worried about a lack of diversity in the league. Now he is hoping to help the next generation of Black football journalistsIn the contact sport that is the NFL news beat, Jim Trotter breaks away from the huddle. At Sports Illustrated he hooked readers with his revealing profiles of reticent stars and his insider's perspective on the league's inner workings. At ESPN and NFL Media he was an even more marked outlier, the TV watchdog who insisted on holding league power brokers to account without giving a moment's thought to lost access or favor. At The Athletic, the expectation was that Trotter would keep up the good work after joining the company in May 2023 - the same month he became the second Black journalist to ever be recognized with the equivalent of the pro football writers' lifetime achievement award.But then, four months later, a bombshell hit the sports ticker: Trotter had filed a lawsuit against the NFL. I told them before I ever took the job that there was a very real possibility I was going to sue the NFL," Trotter says. I was told that it wouldn't be a problem. But once I told them I was going to file, I was given the option of delaying the suit and continuing to cover the NFL or being taken off the beat while the case was pending. I told them the case was too important for what I was fighting for to not go forward." Ultimately, The Athletic's splashy new NFL hire was dispatched farther afield. Continue reading...
The franchise plays in one of the world's largest sports markets but has yet to win an MLS title. The former Liverpool coach could help change thingsIn hiring Jurgen Klopp as its new global head of soccer, Red Bull has pulled off the biggest off-field personnel coup in the game. The Austrian conglomerate known for its energy drinks and sports ventures succeeded in securing Klopp's services when many others, including the United States men's soccer team, had failed, leading CEO Oliver Mintzlaff to describe it as the strongest signing of Red Bull's soccer history".Klopp will officially begin his role in January 2025, but between now and then the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund coach may take a glance at the network of Red Bull-operated teams and notice a franchise in Major League Soccer in need of some attention. Continue reading...
Balloting would have provided a rare opportunity for the world's governments to vote on complicity in Israeli war crimesSomething unusual happened this week at the UN: the US government decided not to run for a second term on the human rights council. Taking a year off is mandatory after a country serves two three-year terms, but the Biden administration chose to bow out after a single term. That is extremely unusual. What happened?Various rationales are circulating, but one, in my view, looms large: Israel. Or more to the point, Joe Biden's refusal to suspend or condition the massive US arms sales and military aid to Israel as its military bombs and starves the Palestinian civilians of Gaza. Continue reading...
The ex-president ignited a firestorm in Aurora by amplifying a local conspiracy about Venezuelan immigrants in his debate with HarrisWhen crossing the state line from Wyoming into Colorado, drivers have recently been confronted with a giant billboard that reads: Venezuela ahead, BE PREPARED!"The xenophobic political ad - funded by Donald Trump's largest individual campaign donor - is, in part, a reaction to the more than 40,000 migrants who've arrived in the Denver metro area over the last two years, many of them Venezuelan families fleeing poverty and violence. Continue reading...
In the stretch of desert between Arizona and Mexico, Trump's unhinged discourse has pushed the Democrats to the right on border issues. Could mass deportations be achieved without harm? I went to find outIn a nondescript parking lot in Tucson, Arizona, the toxic politics of immigration are omnipresent. I am here for the launch of a Republican car rally, where 100 vehicles clad in rightwing regalia have congregated in the dry heat in this southern part of the state, about 60 miles from the border with Mexico. Trump, who launched his political career in 2015 by describing Mexican migrants as bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," has since plunged the discourse to even lower depths. From unhinged falsehoods about the consumption of pets in Springfield, Ohio, to the brandishing of thousands of signs reading Mass Deportation Now!" at the Republican convention earlier this year, any nuanced leadership on the right has been largely superseded by a disturbing lust for cruelty.Among the drivers here is a Trump supporter named Lupe Hernandez, a Mexican American who tells me she arrived in the US with a visa in November 1963 on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated. But she has cousins, nephews and nieces who came to the US without paperwork decades ago. They are all good, hardworking people, she says. I ask how she feels about Trump's plans for mass deportation, given it could mean these members of her own family would be targeted for forced removal. She is happy about it, she says: They could be deported, but they can apply to come back." Continue reading...
Incarcerated people are barred from reading a collection of their own letters - and 10,000 other texts - in a state where hundreds remain isolated after a decade or moreIt was a Tuesday in May when Lupe's wife texted me: Lupe said he received the book but they denied it because it contained information that could disrupt the system."Texas prisons are among the most prolific banners of books in the world, with nearly 10,000 banished titles under their belt. But this was unprecedented, in no small part because the author wasn't some Pulitzer prize winner, Nobel laureate or acclaimed civil rights activist. The author was Lupe. Continue reading...
Mauricio Pochettino's first USA squad could just as conceivably been called by his predecessor. But what could be seen as underwhelming could instead be revealingMauricio Pochettino arrived in the US men's national team job with as sterling a resume as anyone to take charge of the program, and boasted in his introduction to US media that he believed the team could win the 2026 World Cup, due to be hosted at home along with Canada and Mexico.It sounded like the start of a revolution. His first squad, named last week, was anything but. Continue reading...
The world must show it cares about the conflict, but relieving civilian suffering should take the place of military interventionIt is the most sickening league table on Earth. Which of the world's three current major wars has resulted in the most deaths? On the latest figures, the Russia-Ukraine war has left more than 200,000 dead in two and a half years, overwhelmingly soldiers. The Hamas attack and ensuing Israeli assault on Gaza has registered 43,000 mostly civilian deaths, according to official figures (though in July a Lancet article estimated the Gaza toll could reach as high as 186,000 as a result of its destroyed public infrastructure).The Sudanese civil war, which began last year, has death toll estimates that vary wildly. According to medics in the region, the number of people killed could be between 20,000 and an even more horrifying 150,000. This follows some 2 million deaths over two wartorn decades in South Sudan and Darfur. It is estimated that since April 2023, more than 7 million Sudanese have been driven from their homes and face starvation in the desert. Their stories rarely feature in the news.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnistDo 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...
Former president Barack Obama made a passionate case against Donald Trump and in favor of vice-president Kamala Harris during a rally at a Pittsburgh college campus aimed in part at spurring young people to show up for the November 5 election.
Harris campaigns in early-voting Arizona and Obama appeals to the youth in Pennsylvania; Trump calls for CBS to be stripped of its licence Continue reading...
Malfunction at Mollie Kathleen gold mine left one person dead and trapped visitors for hours undergroundTwelve people have been rescued from a former Colorado gold mine after an elevator malfunction left one person dead, four injured and trapped the group underground, authorities said on Thursday.The group had been stuck for hours on Thursday as officials tried to determine how to safely rescue them. Colorado governor Jared Polis confirmed Thursday evening that everyone had been brought out of the mine. Continue reading...
by Helen Sullivan (now); with Cecilia Nowell , Chris on (#6RC9Y)
This blog is now closed. You can find all of the Guardian's US elections coverage here.Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman have settled their lawsuit against far-right site the Gateway Pundit, who they accused of defaming them following the 2020 election.Here's more on the agreement, from the Guardian's Sam Levine:The Gateway Pundit, the far-right news website that played a critical role in spreading false information about the 2020 election, has settled a defamation lawsuit with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers it falsely accused of wrongdoing.Notice of the settlement was filed in circuit court in Missouri, where Freeman and Moss had sued the site for defamation. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing. Continue reading...
Ex-president campaigns in Pennsylvania and says fellow Democrat actually cares about making your life better'Barack Obama made his first appearance on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris on Thursday, speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania and at an event for Black voters, where he urged men in particular to support the vice-president.In comments directed specifically to Black men in the swing state during an event at one of Harris's campaign offices, Obama questioned their unwillingness to vote for her - a September NAACP poll showed that over one quarter of Black men under 50 say they will vote for Donald Trump. Continue reading...
by Maya Yang (now); Fran Lawther, Anna Betts, Martin on (#6RBXG)
This blog is now closed. Find the full report on Hurricane Milton hereFootage coming in from the Tampa area as Hurricane Milton makes landfall shows the devastating consequences of what Joe Biden has called the storm of the century".Reporters with NewsNation have captured video from Tampa Bay, where the storm sucked water back from the coast. At the mouth of Tampa Bay, a weather station has recorded a wind gust of 100mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Continue reading...
FCC chair denounces ex-president's threats and denies possibility of broadcast station's licence being revokedAmerica's top broadcasting regulatory body, the Federal Communications Commission, has denounced Donald Trump after the former US president demanded that CBS be stripped of its licence for airing an edited answer in a primetime interview with Kamala Harris.He also called the network a threat to democracy" and targeted other broadcasters for having their licences revoked also. Continue reading...
The famously loose-lipped presidential candidate couldn't help but insult a key battleground state's largest cityDonald Trump attacked the city of Detroit in a speech he was giving while stumping for votes in Detroit.The former US president and Republican nominee was speaking on Thursday at the Detroit Economic Club in the city, which is the biggest city in Michigan - one of the most crucial swing states in the 2024 US election. Continue reading...
Widow of Bobby Kennedy who brought up 11 children after his 1968 assassination and later devoted herself to social causesEthel Kennedy, who has died aged 96, was one of the most active and best-known US political wives of the 20th century. As her husband, Robert F Kennedy, campaigned first for the Senate and then for the presidency, she supported him while also bringing up their children. The 11th and last of them, her daughter Rory, was born after Bobby was assassinated in 1968. From the 1970s onwards, Ethel devoted herself to social causes and was latterly co-chair of the Coalition of Gun Control.Her life had been touched by tragedy earlier, when her parents died in a plane crash in 1955. Her brother-in-law, President John F Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. Two of her children died prematurely - David of a drug overdose at the age of 28 in 1984 and Michael in a skiing accident in 1997, when he was 39. Her husband was shot at the Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles following his victory in the California primary for the US presidential race. Continue reading...
Rescue shelters across the US provided housing for animals that were evacuated before the hurricane struckHurricane Milton, the category 3 storm that battered many parts of Florida, displaced not only residents but also already vulnerable animals in shelters.Shelters in the state, particularly in cities on the west coast such as Tampa, Sarasota and others, had to scramble to figure out where to relocate their animals ahead of this week's storm. Luckily, rescue shelters in other parts of the country have joined in the effort to help those down south. Continue reading...
More than 200 facilities were evacuated before Milton made landfall, and Tampa general deployed its aquafence'Hospitals across Florida are coming back online after evacuating patients, closing facilities and canceling surgeries ahead of Hurricane Milton.The category 3 hurricane made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday evening and was expected to be one of the most powerful in Florida's history. At least 10 storm-related deaths have been reported and the death toll is still expected to rise. Continue reading...
Republicans denounce comparison of 27 October event to notorious 1939 rally made by Democrats and Jewish leadersDonald Trump's decision to hold a rally in the heart of Manhattan on 27 October, nine days before election day, has been slammed by New York Democrats, with one comparing the booking to an infamous Nazi rally held at the same venue in the lead-up to the second world war.But it has also triggered a backlash to such sentiments, with Republicans saying such rhetoric heightens tensions even more in a presidential election campaign which has already seen two attempts on Trump's life. Continue reading...
Agents were honored' to give back the piece as hundreds of thousands of stolen cultural objects remain unreturnedA Claude Monet pastel looted from a Jewish couple by Nazis in the second world war was returned to the family's descendants, officials said on Wednesday.Adalbert Bela" and Hilda Parlagi purchased the artwork, titled Bord de Mer, at an Austrian art auction in 1936. After Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, the Parlagis had to flee and they left their possessions in storage. Continue reading...
Tempest brought up to 10ft of storm surge and left millions at risk from flooding after hitting Florida on WednesdayHurricane Milton has killed at least nine people and left extensive property damage across Florida, hitting some areas previously affected by Hurricane Helene last month.Here are the key takeaways from what we know about its impact and what experts are saying about a hurricane that it had been feared could be one of the worst in the state's history. Continue reading...
Trump and Vance see the natural disasters not as tragedies but as opportunities to advance their far-right conspiracy theoriesWhipping up hurricanes to merge with great replacement theory took hardly a week, about the time it takes for hurricanes themselves to form. The overheated atmosphere warmed the waters that were drawn up into the winds to churn them into a menacing storm.After Hurricane Helene hit, Donald Trump unleashed a whirlwind of humid lies: the federal government was deliberately preventing aid and even water from reaching areas that held Republican voters, not getting anything"; Kamala Harris spent all her Fema money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants"; and Fema was offering only $750 in disaster relief - all false, all debunked by the Republican governors in the affected states. The Republican congressman Chuck Edwards of North Carolina felt compelled to issue a statement to his constituents not to listen to untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts" and the outrageous rumors spread online". Continue reading...
Drone footage taken on Thursday morning shows the damage caused by Hurricane Milton in the city of Venice, Florida. The hurricane swept acrossthe US state, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to more than 3 million people
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