by Joan E Greve and Alice Herman in Milwaukee on (#6P858)
Kari Lake attacks media as fake news' as Elise Stefanik calls Biden feckless and failed' and says he's caused chaos'Speakers at the Republican national convention ramped up their rhetorical attacks on Democrats on Tuesday night despite Donald Trump's presidential campaign signalling that the party would adopt a message of unity in the face of political violence.Kari Lake, a Trump ally and Republican candidate for senate in Arizona, used her speech time to launch an attack on the media, which she called fake news", and said more Americans were no longer tuning in to mainstream media. Continue reading...
Georgian Michail Chkhikvishvili, 21, accused of planning to have associate dressed as Santa hand out poisoned candyThe leader of a neo-Nazi extremist group based in eastern Europe has been charged with plotting to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York City to sow terror, prosecutors said Tuesday.Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old man from the Republic of Georgia, was indicted on four charges including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence, according to a statement from the US justice department. It was not known if he has an attorney. Continue reading...
President also considering support for constitutional amendment to eliminate immunity for top officeholdersJoe Biden plans to endorse term limits for supreme court justices and a new ethics code, the Washington Post reported, as an emboldened rightwing court continues to upend US legal precedent despite operating under the cloud of multiple ethics scandals.Biden is also mulling whether to call for a new constitutional amendment that would eliminate sweeping immunity for presidents and other officials, the Post reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the president's thinking. Continue reading...
by Chris Stein (now) and Léonie Chao-Fong (earlier) on (#6P8CP)
This live blog is closed. For the latest from the Republican national convention - including speeches from ex-Trump rivals Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio, follow our dedicated RNC live blog here:
Secret Service and Trump campaign informed but alleged threat appears unrelated to assassination attemptA threat from Iran prompted the US Secret Service to boost protection around Donald Trump before Saturday's attempted assassination of the former president, though it appears unrelated to the rally attack, according to two US officials.Upon learning of the threat, the Biden administration contacted senior officials at the Secret Service to make them aware, the officials said, adding it was shared with the lead agent on Trump's protection detail and the Trump campaign. That prompted the agency to surge resources and assets. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. Continue reading...
Group seeking to enshrine rights in state constitution sue secretary of state over refusal to count valid signatures'Organizers behind a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the Arkansas state constitution sued a senior state official on Tuesday, accusing him of illegally rejecting the signatures they submitted in support of putting the measure on the November ballot.The group, Arkansans for Limited Government, submitted more than 101,000 signatures backing its ballot measure on 5 July, according to its lawsuit. Five days later, the Arkansas secretary of state John Thurston rejected their signatures because, he said, they failed to turn in the required paperwork, including a statement that identified any paid canvassers used by the group. Continue reading...
by Edward Helmore in Butler, Pennsylvania on (#6P8VC)
Residents of Butler keen to put assassination attempt behind them amid swirl of questions over security lapsesThree days after Donald Trump came close to being assassinated by a sniper's bullet, the town of Butler, Pennsylvania, was attempting to return to normality as questions continue to swirl about security lapses that preceded the shooting.It is now believed that Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old suspect, was spotted by law enforcement officials on the roof of a glass research company at 5.45pm, nearly 30 minutes before shots were fired that injured Trump, killed a former fire chief and injured two others in the crowd. Continue reading...
Top Democrats including Chuck Schumer and Cory Booker demand Menendez's resignation after convictionA slew of senior Democrats demanded the resignation of US senator Bob Menendez on Tuesday after the New Jersey politico's conviction on all counts following a nine-week federal corruption trial in New York City.A jury found the 70-year-old former chair of the Senate foreign relations committee guilty of 16 charges, including accepting bribes of cash, gold and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen, and acting as an overseas agent for Egypt. Continue reading...
California Democrat also reportedly says Biden staying on ticket hurts chances of keeping Senate and winning HouseThe high-profile California Democrat Adam Schiff told donors Joe Biden remaining on top of the ticket for November would cost the party the presidency and probably the House and Senate too, the New York Times reported.I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose," Schiff told donors in East Hampton, New York, last Saturday, the paper said, citing a person with access to a transcription of a recording of the event". Continue reading...
by Laurence H Tribe and Dennis Aftergut on (#6P8RE)
The federal judge's ruling in the Trump document case is a travestyIf Trump v United States, the US supreme court majority's shocking immunity decision on 1 July, left anyone unconvinced that America's courts are on the ballot, federal judge Aileen Cannon just sealed the deal, dropping a sledgehammer on the rule of law. Just two weeks after the disgraceful immunity decision, she tossed out Trump's prosecution for stealing national security documents after losing re-election, smashing the longstanding and vital authority of special counsels in the bargain.This election, our constitutional republic is at stake, along with its first principle: no one, including the most powerful, is above the law. Only We, the People, can preserve the freedom and security our laws safeguard.Laurence H Tribe is the Carl M Loeb University professor of constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard University. Follow him on @tribelawDennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy Continue reading...
Nancy Pelosi and other officials join gathering at bridge as relatives see hope in years-long fight for suicide prevention barrierMore than a decade after the death of her son at the Golden Gate Bridge, Kymberlyrenee Gamboa stood behind a podium as she prepared to give a speech at the ceremony marking the completion of a suicide net for the landmark, long known as one of the deadliest locations in the world.
Kimberely Cheatle tells ABC News assassination attempt on her watch was unacceptable'The attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally was unacceptable", the director of the US Secret Service said as investigations continued, adding that though the buck stops with me", she would not resign.It was unacceptable and it's something that shouldn't happen again," Kimberly Cheatle told ABC News, amid growing pressure to explain how the gunman who tried to kill the former president and current Republican nominee was not stopped by agents and local police. Continue reading...
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's show reportedly taken off air over fears of inappropriate' commentThe MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has criticised his own network for taking his Morning Joe show off air on Monday in the wake of the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump.The left-leaning talkshow was reportedly pulled because NBC bosses feared an anti-Trump guest might make an inappropriate" comment about the prospective Republican presidential nominee, exposing the program and the entire network to a political backlash. Continue reading...
Ban follows debate at fraternity's annual convention and subsequent voting and approval processAlpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc has reportedly become the second Black fraternity to institute a ban on transgender members. The ban follows a debate at the fraternity's annual convention and a subsequent voting and approval process.It is yet unclear how the ban will be enforced, how many active members it applies to and whether it will only apply to new members or current members. Eric Webb, the director of communications for Alpha Phi Alpha, said, We have no comment," when reached by the Guardian. Continue reading...
Hillbilly Elegy perpetuates a stereotyped representation of Appalachia, one in which people like me don't existBack in 2016, I was an Appalachian expat living in Boston, feeling homesick and displaced like I do most of the time up here. I saw a book in the Harvard Coop with the word Hillbilly on the cover and jumped at it. No one up here knew that word, or if they did, they understood it as derogatory, while I understood it as home. Here home was, I thought, staring me in the face from the front table at a major bookstore.I barely read thirty pages before I saw the book Hillbilly Elegy for what it was: a political platform masquerading as memoir. Before I saw JD Vance for what he was: an opportunist. One willing to double down on stereotypes, to paint the people of Appalachia with a culture of poverty brush, rather than be honest about the ways in which both electoral politics and industry have failed our region. Continue reading...
It's not the first time athletes and officials have been showered with contraceptives. But is there any logic to the options on offer?Sex may not be an official discipline at the Olympics, but it sure looks like Paris is readying itself for vigorous indoor sports. The Covid-related intimacy ban instigated during the Tokyo Olympics has officially been lifted and a bulk order of contraceptives has been placed. During a recent press conference, the organisers of the 2024 Games said that 200,000 male condoms, 20,000 female condoms and 10,000 dental dams will be made available in the Olympic Village, where 14,500 athletes and staff will be heading in about a week's time.In some respects, this is business as usual. For decades, there have been boatloads of free contraceptives at the Olympic Village. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games broke records, providing 450,000 condoms, including (for the first time) 100,000 female ones. Even the no-sex Tokyo Games featured 160,000 free condoms - with strict instructions for athletes not to use them, but to take them home as souvenirs. (Hello, Mum and Dad! I had a great time in Toyko! Would you like to see my commemorative condom?") Continue reading...
JD Vance, a venture capitalist turned Ohio junior senator who rose to fame with his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, once said he 'never liked Trump' and that he was 'leading people in a very dark direction'. He has now been declared as Trump's running mate ahead of the 2024 presidential election. So what changed?
Independent candidate's son posts video online in which Republican also rambles about vaccines, horses and babiesThe independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr apologised to Donald Trump on Tuesday, after Kennedy's son posted video and audio of a call between the two men in which Trump made bizarre remarks about vaccines and babies, as well as appearing to offer Kennedy some sort of political deal.When President Trump called me I was taping with an in-house videographer," Kennedy said. I should have ordered the videographer to stop recording immediately. I am mortified that this was posted. I apologise to the president." Continue reading...
As his body faltered, he was fed by a tube, hydrated by a drip and pumped with powerful drugs. But he needed love and pain reliefTwelve months ago, I received a call familiar to many migrants with relatives spread around the world. Bare Papa was gravely ill in intensive care in our Indian home town. In Hindi, Bare Papa (pronounced Ba-rey Papa) means Elder Father. He was a father figure to my dad after the boys lost their father and an anchor for our whole family.My cousins reported that Bare Papa was looking worse every day. There must be a diagnosis, I pressed. We don't know, they said glumly, in a story that is repeated across so many hospitals around the world. One glimpse of him on a video call and I sensed trouble. He was listless and gaunt, one limp arm hijacked by an IV. Take me home, he groaned through parched lips. Continue reading...
Anthony Odiong, prohibited from ministering in Texas and Louisiana amid criminal investigation, arrested in FloridaA Catholic priest under criminal investigation for sexual misconduct with multiple women - and consequently prohibited from ministering in two states - has been charged with illegally possessing child abuse imagery depicting girls.Anthony Odiong was arrested Tuesday as he was leaving his home in Ave Maria, Florida, on a warrant obtained by police in Waco, Texas, charging him with possessing digital images of exposed genitalia and a nude breast. According to sworn statements in support of the arrest warrant that were obtained by the Guardian, police said they discovered the illicit pictures while investigating complaints from at least four women that made officers aware Odiong, 55, could be a potential serial sexual assault suspect". Continue reading...
In his journey from self-help author to Republican courtier, JD Vance may find the presidential candidate just as fickle as he isEncouraging scenes from the Republican national convention (RNC), where US politicians and the wider world are being told to dial down their rhetoric by a crowd of people rhythmically raising their right fists and screaming Fight, fight!" It's just a hunch, but when historians come to assess the period we seem to be marching into, they're not going to say that metaphors" did it.By way of an unnecessary recap, Donald Trump has survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, and your jaw just had to drop at his extraordinary instincts. He was back on his feet within seconds, while Joe Biden's campaign is suffering the PTSD.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The rifle is a central symbol in the US gun debate - but will Trump's assassination attempt change the way it's seen?Images of AR-15 semi-automatic rifles are everywhere in American public life: Republican congressmen sport lapel pins shaped like AR-15s. Confederate flags with the silhouette of an AR-15 and the phrase come and take it" flying outside the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. They're also used to evoke the need for stricter gun safety measures.On Saturday, the AR-15 re-entered American politics in another way - as the weapon used in the assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Trump's survival of a chilling assassination attempt doesn't free him from accountability for his innumerable misdeedsSince Donald Trump was injured on Saturday in the chilling assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally, the nation has been advised - including by Joe Biden - to reduce the political rhetoric that can lead to violence.Turn down the temperature," is the going phrase.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
One person pulled a trigger; thousands of politicians, lobbyists, and gun industry employees made it possible to do soPolitical violence is unacceptable and has no place in this country," said Arizona's governor, Katie Hobbs, and political violence has absolutely no place in this country", insisted California congresswoman Barbara Lee, while President Joe Biden stated, There's no place for this kind of violence in America."As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society," affirmed Nancy Pelosi, referencing the attacker who broke into her home in 2022 to kidnap her and, in her absence, seriously injured her husband. There is no place for political violence in this country, period," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of a kidnapping plot by far-right militiamen in 2020 who intended to make her the centerpiece of a show trial.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility Continue reading...
I have an excellent genetic inheritance: I can carry four pints at once and am treated with awe and respect in every bar I enterVery early in life, I perfected one skill: I can carry four pints at once. I put them in a straightforward quadrant; nothing dumb like balancing one on top. I have an incredible hand span, but also very pouchy, sausage-like fingers, qualities not much prized by the checklist of female allure, but extremely useful for carrying glasses. I had a brilliant apprenticeship, pulling pints at festivals around people who were too far gone to notice. When youthful hubris led me to try five, I learned my limits in a safe place, with plastic cups, surrounded by grass.People always worry, even if they know me well, that this is just more of my bullshit. They try to help me out by each ordering the same drink. But they needn't, because I can carry four of any pint - the technique isn't shape-related. (The exception that proves the rule is Camden Town Brewery's weirdly squat pint glass.) It's a kind of genius. Swap one out with a glass of wine and I'm still your person. Continue reading...
About a thousand people demonstrated against Donald Trump and his party outside the Republican national convention (RNC) in Milwaukee on Monday.The march on the RNC gathered in a park a couple of blocks from the Fiserv Forum where Trump was formally nominated as the Republican candidate for president
The days of assuming a major tournament, in the US or anywhere else, will proceed smoothly appear to be over. Organizers must prepare for disruptionConmebol should have seen it coming.Throughout this summer's Copa America, the signs of an impending logistical disaster were clear. In cities throughout the United States, transportation bottlenecks frustrated fans, security failures made them less safe, hot weather endangered everyone and games themselves were either sparsely attended or, as on Sunday, the dangerous opposite. Continue reading...
Concert footage shows Tenacious D's Kyle Gass being presented with a birthday cake by his bandmate Jack Black on stage at the band's concert in Sydney, Australia. Gass is told to 'make a wish' as he blows out the candles, before appearing to say: 'Don't miss Trump next time.' The gig took place hours after a shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania left the former US president injured
No one should accept the idea that that opposing Trump's authoritarian aspirations is equal to incitement to violenceThe horrific attempt to assassinate Donald Trump - and reactions to it - created a kind of X-ray of our body politic. It demonstrates how, contrary to the conventional wisdom about polarization" - which suggests some kind of symmetry between the parties moving towards extreme poles - US politics is fundamentally asymmetrical. Democrats, from Biden to AOC, have been statesmanlike and stateswomanlike, condemning political violence in unison. Republicans, by contrast, have immediately blamed the attack on Biden. Worse, they have used the attack for a novel form of blackmail: stop warning about Trump's authoritarianism or be accused of inciting violence. Of course, Trump must be protected on the campaign trail and beyond; at the same time, US democracy must be protected from Trump.Democrats were right to repeat the civics textbook wisdom that democracy is about processing conflicts - including deep moral disagreements - in a peaceful manner. Meanwhile, commentators, out of naivety or noble idealism, did not always choose to remain faithful to the historical record: political violence might, in theory, be un-American;" in practice it is, alas, as American as apple pie. If anything, the recent period - both in the US and European democracies - has been somewhat exceptional in not featuring many high-profile attempts on politician's lives (which is not to deny the continuity of racist domestic terrorism in the US).Jan-Werner Muller is a professor of politics at Princeton University and a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
The ex-president names JD Vance as his running mate and becomes the official party nominee on an eventful first dayJust two days after a gunman targeted a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, leaving the candidate grazed by a bullet and one of his supporters dead, the Republican national convention kicked off in Milwaukee in a strikingly normal fashion.Donald Trump, who made his first public appearance but did not yet address the convention, has now been officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. Here are key takeaways from the day: Continue reading...
Even after election wipeout, the Conservatives are too blinded by ideology to see their voters don't want a Reform mergerThe Bruges Group celebrated its 35th anniversary last week in the august portals of the Army and Navy club in Pall Mall in central London. The group was formed in 1989 and, in case you weren't around back then, ignited the great split in the Tory party, after Margaret Thatcher made a speech in Bruges calling a halt to any closer federalism in Europe. Though she was never mad enough to be a leaver, this group used her words to send the first Brexit snowball rolling downhill until it turned into the avalanche that finally broke the Tory party into pieces. They spread Europhobia through their party until all candidates had to test positive for Brexit. Now many of their members are joining a new rebellion, clamouring to merge with the Faragists. What you are seeing is a revolution!" one hissed at me. There's no going back!"Days after their party's worst ever election defeat, I was expecting more of a wake. But no tears were being shed for their deceased government or fallen MPs. Instead a gleeful we told you so" filled the room, which often devolved into naked hatred for their defunct government. From a lectern decked with a portrait of Thatcher, the chair, former MP Barry Legg, said that in its 14 years in office, it's not been a Conservative government at all. It's been a big state party." The claim that One Nation took over the party" raised jeers. (Odd this, as the One Nationers were notably silent over ever-more extreme policies.)Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnistThis article was amended on 16 July 2024. Due to an editing error, an earlier version incorrectly said that John Redwood and Michael Howard were present at the Bruges Group meeting. Continue reading...
Sean O'Brien thanks ex-president for opening RNC's doors', breaking with most major unions who have backed BidenIn an unprecedented address, Sean O'Brien, the president of the powerful Teamsters union, delivered remarks at the Republican national convention (RNC) Monday night.In addressing the RNC, O'Brien broke with most major unions in the US, which have overwhelmingly thrown their support behind Joe Biden. Continue reading...
President uses word mistake' in NBC interview with Lester Holt but unclear if he was referring to bullseye' usageDuring a high-stakes conversation at the White House with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt on Monday, Joe Biden addressed his prior comments about putting Donald Trump in the bullseye", saying he thinks there needs to be more focus on the former president's agenda.In a preview of the interview that will air on Monday night at 9pm ET, Holt asked Biden about the language he had used to describe Trump - as an existential threat", and, on a call with Democratic donors, that it's time to put Trump in the bullseye" - and the consequences for the election of the attempted assassination of his opponent two days ago in Pennsylvania. Continue reading...
First-in-nation law bars passing of policies that require school staff to reveal student's gender or sexual orientationCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law Monday barring school districts from passing policies that require schools to notify parents if their child asks to change their gender identification.The law bans rules requiring school staff to disclose a student's gender identity or sexual orientation to any other person without the child's permission. Proponents of the legislation say it will help protect LGBTQ+ students who live in unwelcoming households. But opponents say it will hinder schools' ability to be more transparent with parents. Continue reading...
Buxtun, who had Alzheimer's, revered for role in bringing to light one of worst medical research scandals in US historyPeter Buxtun, the whistleblower who revealed that the US government allowed hundreds of Black men in rural Alabama to go untreated for syphilis in what became known as the Tuskegee study, has died. He was 86.Buxtun died on 18 May of Alzheimer's disease in Rocklin, California, according to his attorney, Minna Fernan. Continue reading...
by David Smith in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on (#6P7X1)
The Republican nominee could have picked a woman or person of colour but opted for what looks like an unapologetic play for even more white male support
Two defendants sought recusal of Ural Glanville over meeting judge held with state witness and prosecutorsThe judge overseeing the long-running racketeering and gang prosecution against Young Thug and others has been removed from the case after two defendants sought his recusal, citing a meeting the judge held with prosecutors and a state witness.Ural Glanville, the Fulton county superior court chief judge, had put the case in Atlanta on hold two weeks ago to give another judge a chance to review the defendants' motions for recusal. Judge Rachel Krause on Monday granted those motions and ordered the clerk of court to assign the case to a different judge. Continue reading...
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