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Ex-police officer is serving 22-and-a-half-year sentence for the murder of George Floyd in May 2020The Minnesota court of appeals on Monday upheld the most serious murder conviction against the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, for the killing of George Floyd.Chauvin is serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence on the second-degree murder count, arising from the death of Floyd on 25 May 2020. Continue reading...

Juan Williams calls supreme court justice ‘my old friend’ but says ‘smell of financial corruption’ has damaged institutionThe supreme court justice Clarence Thomas must be investigated over allegations of corruption, his friend, the Fox News analyst Juan Williams, wrote on Monday.Williams, who said he enjoyed a close multi-decade friendship with the controversial conservative justice, wrote that Thomas “always represented the best ideals of what Black men … could achieve in modern America” but that growing scandal over his relationship with the rightwing mega-donor Harlan Crow was worthy of investigation. Continue reading...

Substitute teacher at Kimbrough middle school in Mesquite helped coordinate fights during class, officials sayA substitute teacher at a Texas middle school was fired for encouraging students to fight in class.The unnamed teacher at Kimbrough middle school in Mesquite was fired last Thursday, after district officials obtained video of in-class fights from the previous day. Continue reading...

Rupert Murdoch’s channel sued for knowingly or recklessly broadcasting outlandish lies about voting equipment after Trump lost electionThe trial in the closely watched $1.6bn defamation lawsuit between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox will begin a day later than scheduled, the judge overseeing the case announced on Sunday evening, hours before opening arguments were set to begin on Monday and amid reports of settlement talks.The trial was rescheduled to begin on Tuesday. Eric Davis, the Delaware superior court judge overseeing the case, did not say why the trial was being delayed. “The court has decided to continue the start of the trial, including jury selection, until Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 9am. I will make such an announcement tomorrow [Monday] at 9am in Courtroom 7E,” he said in a statement released through a court spokesperson. Continue reading...

High-profile trial over Fox’s airing of false claims of election fraud begins, and could see Rupert Murdoch testifyOne of the most-watched media trials in decades gets under way on Tuesday, after a delay, as Fox News, and potentially Rupert Murdoch, find themselves forced to reckon with the channel’s airing of false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race.Dominion Voting Systems, which provided election machines to 28 states in the 2020 presidential election, claims Fox News damaged its business when it aired conspiracy theories that those machines were used to rig the election in favor of Joe Biden. Continue reading...

Latest disclosure includes claims that social media platforms detect false accounts only 1% of the timeRussia has increased the effectiveness of its disinformation campaigning on social media and boasts that vast amounts of fake accounts are escaping detection, according to a report on leaked US intelligence documents.The latest material disclosed on the Discord chat platform contains claims by Russian operators of false social media accounts that they are detected by social media platforms only 1% of the time. The Russian disinformation network is known as Fabrika, according to the leak. Continue reading...

Thomas Peterffy says Florida governor ‘seems to have lost some momentum’ in undeclared bid for 2024 presidential nominationA top Republican donor said he had paused plans to fund Ron DeSantis’s expected presidential run because of the Florida governor’s “stance on abortion and book banning”.Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, a digital trading platform, told the Financial Times: “I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning … myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry.” Continue reading...

I thought the party couldn’t sink lower than Boris Johnson, but the awful rhetoric now must make it intolerable for people of colourI have been a politics junkie since 1960. Accordingly, I remember the Labour party introducing the Race Relations Act 1965, while Conservatives regularly made and defended racist remarks, the worst being Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech in 1968. My future wife’s Pakistani origin family in Romford experienced racist attacks for the first time after that speech.Despite this, in 1983, as a new convert to free-market capitalism, I joined the Conservative party because I considered that Margaret Thatcher was transforming Britain for the better. I still do.Mohammed Amin is a former chair of the Conservative Muslim ForumDo 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...

Mexican authorities have filed charges against the head of the country’s National Immigration Institute over conditions at the centerWhen Isidro’s phone rang past his bedtime, he knew it could only mean a fire had started somewhere in Ciudad Juárez. The man on the other end of the line told him to head to the immigration detention center near the bridge that connects the Mexican border city with El Paso, Texas.At around 10.20pm on 27 March, Isidro didn’t know he was on his way to an epic tragedy. Continue reading...

Brazen judicial overreach to curb abortion access proves the right wing will abandon their principles to get their wayBefore the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last June, the conservative line on the American judiciary was fairly consistent: judges should be careful interpreters of the rules, not activists; legislatures should decide policy, while courts should simply enforce the law.That was, of course, never true – conservatives have always been thrilled with judicial activists, as long as those activists moved the law to the right. But our post-Roe era has showed just how bankrupt conservative claims to judicial continence are. And perhaps no case – other than Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned Roe – has revealed this rank hypocrisy as much as the decision by a rogue Texas judge to ban mifepristone nationwide.Jill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness Continue reading...

In the richest country on earth, if you work 40 hours a week you shouldn’t have to live in povertyCongress can no longer ignore the needs of the working class of this country. At a time of massive and growing income and wealth inequality and record-breaking corporate profits, we must stand up for working families – many of whom are struggling every day to provide a minimal standard of living for their families.One important way to do that is to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage. In the year 2023, nobody in the US should be forced to work for starvation wages. It should be a basic truism that in the US, the richest country on earth, if you work 40 hours a week you do not live in poverty. Raising the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do morally. It is also good economics. Putting money into the hands of people who will spend it on basic needs is a strong economic stimulant. Continue reading...

Thenmozhi Soundararajan has spent her life battling for equity. Now California could pass a landmark law protecting itThenmozhi Soundararajan had one of her earliest encounters with India’s ancient caste ladder when she was 10, during a playdate at a friend’s house not long after immigrating to the US.When Soundararajan revealed that she belongs to a caste once known as “untouchables” – also known by the Sanskrit term “Dalit” – her friend’s mother, with a disgusted look, asked her to eat communal snacks on a separate plate so she could not taint the rest of the family. Continue reading...

Conspiracy theorist and election denier Marjorie Taylor Greene says national guardsman Jack Teixeira has been treated unfairly. Plus, New Jersey to celebrate Bruce Springsteen DayGood morning.Senator Lindsey Graham condemned his fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene as “terribly irresponsible” yesterday after the far-right congresswoman defended the air national guardsman charged with leaking Pentagon intelligence documents.What did Greene say? “Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more,” Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, said on Twitter. “Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low-level national guardsman? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-Nato nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?”Does anyone else agree with her? Yes. Other rightwing figures have also defended Teixeira, with Tucker Carlson, the influential Fox News host, praising him as someone who “told Americans what’s actually happening in Ukraine”.What is Dominion hoping to get from the case? Dominion is asking a Delaware jury to award $1.6bn in damages because it says Fox knowingly or recklessly disregarded the truth when it broadcast outlandish lies about its voting equipment. US law sets a very high bar to win a defamation lawsuit and cases rarely go to trial. Dominion’s case, experts say, is unusually strong. Continue reading...

Sources say he wanted to impress a bunch of teenage boys and young men who were his acolytes in a Discord chatroomMassachusetts air national guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21, has been charged in a Boston court on two counts under the Espionage Act, and the question on everyone’s minds is why. Unlike with whistleblowers in the past such as Daniel Ellsberg (the Pentagon Papers) and Chelsea Manning (Wikileaks), neither ethics or politics seem to have been the motivation for Teixeira’s alleged leak of hundreds of pages of classified documents related to the war in Ukraine. He doesn’t appear to have been acting as an agent for a foreign government, according to his criminal complaint. So why is he allegedly behind one of the worst leaks of US intelligence in a decade, for which he now faces up to 15 years in prison?Based on what we know so far, the answer may be that Teixeira did it, as they used to say, for the Vine – for social media clout. Sources say he wanted to impress a bunch of teenage boys and young men who were his acolytes in a Discord chat room of 20 to 30 gamers who referred to themselves as Thug Shaker Central – the most wannabe gangster name imaginable for a bunch of gamers whose leader (Teixeira) lived with his mother.Nancy Jo Sales is the author, most recently, of Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno Continue reading...

The Bruins broke the long-standing NHL records for wins and points during a stunning regular-season campaign. But history shows that a Stanley Cup is hardly a given from hereOn 11 April, the Bruins notched their 64th win of the season and pushed their regular season point total to 133, the highest since the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens earned 132. Continue reading...

A post-9/11 switch from ‘need-to-know’ to ‘need-to-share’ explains why a low-level guardsman had access to such sensitive materialLocals living close to the sprawling military base in Cape Cod where 21-year-old Jack Teixeira worked for a US air force intelligence unit have been asking the same questions as everyone else.Was his alleged leak of national security documents some kind of principled stand or an immature attempt to impress two dozen members of a closed chat group called Thug Shaker Central on Discord, a video game chat platform, that he lost control of? Continue reading...

A groundbreaking analysis reveals how Portland, Oregon, was blanketed with toxic chemicals, raising concerns about global teargas use: ‘This was a disaster’ Continue reading...

More than 40m birds have disappeared from UK’s skies since 1970: a trend that imperils the network that gives us lifeMost mornings in spring I listen for a sequence of birdsongs to know that my local area is in good heart, but also to reassure myself that the world is working largely as it should. The default soloist of my dawn in Buxton, Derbyshire, is a mistle thrush that delivers from the ash tree above our house.As I listen to my soloist there is an added delight in knowing that, from Cape Wrath in northernmost Scotland to Kingsdown in Kent, his voice unites with tens of millions of other dawn birds. The blue and great tits of the inner cities, blackbirds and robins among the English villages, chaffinches and wrens through the remotest Scottish glens: it is a collective performance, free of charge, unfolding across all Britain to all people. Continue reading...

Most of the victims teenagers from shooting at dance studio during 16th birthday party in DadevilleAt least four people were killed, including a high school football player, in a shooting that erupted during a birthday party held inside a dance studio in the small town of Dadeville, Alabama, state police and local news media said.More than 28 people were injured, some critically, during the shooting about 60 miles (100km) north-east of the state capital of Montgomery, authorities said. The shooting started shortly after 10.30pm on Saturday. Continue reading...

Seven have died in the incidents since 2021, with much of the violence taking place around LGBTQ+ spacesLast April, Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, met a group of men at the Ritz Bar & Lounge, a nautical-themed gay dance club in Hell’s Kitchen, two blocks from Times Square. Less than two hours after leaving with them, Ramirez was dead from a drug overdose after his new acquaintances abandoned him in the backseat of a cab. Investigators believe they used payment apps like Zelle to steal about $20,000 from his bank accounts before leaving him.A month later, John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant, was found dead in a Manhattan townhouse after meeting the same group of men at the Q, a multi-story queer nightclub around the corner from the Ritz. According to his mother, Linda Clary, Umberger had been with a group of friends until he decided to head to the Q alone to catch a late-night DJ show. Continue reading...

Four people were killed in a shooting in east Alabama on Saturday night and a number of people were injured, police said. A local TV station reported that the shooting happened at about 10.30pm at a 16th birthday party in Dadeville, about 50 miles north-east of Montgomery. It was not immediately known if a suspect was in custody. Investigators believe an altercation led to the shooting, WRBL reported.

Lawmakers from New York, Minnesota and Wisconsin decry the ruling, now on hold by supreme court until at least 19 AprilTop Democratic senators across the US are pushing back after a federal judge in Texas decided to block the FDA-approved abortion drug mifepristone.On Sunday, the New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand criticized as an “outrage” Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision, which is currently halted until at least Wednesday 19 April by the supreme court. Continue reading...

Conspiracy theorist and election denier Marjorie Taylor Greene says national guardsman Jack Teixeira has been treated unfairlySenator Lindsey Graham condemned his fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene as “terribly irresponsible” on Sunday, after the far-right congresswoman defended the air national guardsman charged with leaking Pentagon intelligence documents.Speaking on ABC’s This Week show, Graham said the leaks had “done a lot of damage to our standing” and criticized “those who are trying to sugarcoat this on the right”. Continue reading...

For Muslims, being able to attend congregational Friday prayers stress-free would be a great boon and help counter stereotypes and prejudiceIt was a Friday, the last day of a five-day workshop for young mid-career professionals from refugee backgrounds with skills in engineering, medicine, economics and other areas. Around midday, many of the Muslim participants began to appear anxious.They had been performing the usual prayers and meditations individually in quick lunch breaks the previous four days, but on Friday there was a clear desire to head to a mosque for congregational prayers with other community members. Continue reading...

Police searching for ‘10 or more males’ in black clothing and gray hoodies, as well as white Chrysler 300 and dark pickup truckApproximately 2m dimes, or the equivalent of $200,000, were taken from a tractor trailer in a parking lot of the Philadelphia Mills shopping mall complex in north-east Philadelphia on Thursday morning.According to police, the truck driver had picked up $750,000 worth of dimes from the US Mint in Philadelphia and then parked the truck in the mall parking lot on Wednesday evening. The driver had planned on transporting the dimes, which were organized into 15 pallets that contained $50,000 each, to Florida, CBS reports. Continue reading...

Historic bill aims to ban prejudice based on caste system, practiced for centuries in the Indian subcontinent, in the stateLast month state senator Aisha Wahab introduced SB 403, a historic bill that, if enacted, would make California the first state to ban caste-based discrimination in the US.Practiced for centuries in the Indian subcontinent, caste is an exclusionary system within the Hindu religion that divides people and determines their access to resources. Unlike class, caste is an ascribed status; there’s no mobility to move upwards. Generally, Brahmin communities are in the highest social order, whereas the Dalit community is at the bottom. Continue reading...

The snowpack contains enough water to fill downstream reservoirs ‘multiple times over’, which could mean a rapid runoffSpring has offered California a welcome reprieve from the record rains and historic snowfall that hammered the state in recent weeks, but a new danger wrought by the warming weather looms large. The state’s enormous snowpack will soon begin to melt – and communities are bracing for waters to rise yet again. Trillions of gallons of water packed within the record level of snow blanketing the Sierra Nevada range are expected to rush into rivers and reservoirs as the weather heats up, heightening flood risks in areas already saturated by the state’s extremely wet winter.The snowpack, which stands at 233% of the 1 April average, contains enough water to fill downstream reservoirs “multiple times over”, said climate scientist Daniel Swain in an online briefing this week. “That’s a big deal,” he added. Continue reading...

The picture that Matthew Goodwin paints of modern Britain’s ‘ruling class’ shows a weak understanding of how and where influence worksIn 1956, the radical American sociologist C Wright Mills wrote about what he called, in the title of a book, The Power Elite. America’s elite, he observed, forms a “compact social and psychological entity” that “towers over the underlying population of clerks and wage earners” and whose “values” are “differentiated” from those of the “lower classes”. “All their sons and daughters,” he added, “go to college, often after private schools; then they marry one another… After they are well married, they come to possess, to occupy, to decide.”Seven decades later, the British political scientist Matthew Goodwin similarly paints, in his new book Values, Voice and Virtue, a picture of “the new elite” in Britain. The brushstrokes are familiar, drawing on the work of communitarian and “post-liberal” thinkers of recent years. Britain has “a new dominant class” that has captured its institutions and imposes its “radically progressive cultural values” on the rest of the nation, adrift as it is from the conservative instincts of the majority.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

The conflict in Ukraine has jolted people out of their affluent ease and forced them to take sidesJust what is Germany’s Zeitenwende, the latest coinage in a language famous for its compound nouns? The “change in times” announced by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year rolled like a thunderclap across a country that, since unification in 1990, had flourished on the benefits of the post-cold-war peace dividend, its status as Europe’s powerhouse economy and being de facto regulator of the single currency, calling the shots in eurozone squeezes.For obvious reasons of 20th-century experience, today’s federal republic is an entity more comfortable with its role as a proponent of restraint and cautious multilateralism than decisive action. The Ukraine crisis blew up that placidity, leaving it internally fraught on how to respond and at what cost. Last week, a newspaper leak revealed that a pledge by Scholz to supply a fully equipped army division to Nato in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine by 2025 is coming unstuck. A memo from the head of the army cast doubt on whether his forces could “hold its own in high-intensity combat”, saying it will only be able to “fulfil its obligations to Nato to a limited extent” (a masterful understatement in the context).Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

When those who reach the highest office suffer such brutal misogyny, is it any wonder that breaking the glass ceiling doesn’t look like much fun?I was interested to see Rain Newton-Smith’s sudden promotion to boss of the Confederation of British Industry – so “toxic” with “unchecked misogyny” that both main parties have broken off contact and there is some doubt it will survive at all – celebrated in various quarters as a victory for women.This particular route to female promotion is, after all, rather common, and I always feel it could be better represented in film: the captain of the flooding submarine, busted bank or exploding Death Star announcing chivalrously over the Tannoy that some “brilliantly qualified” woman will now be taking charge; he has “every confidence” she is up to the “steep climb ahead of her”. (Cue stirring ambition in the hearts of young female maintenance droids throughout the ship, for its final few moments.) Continue reading...

The 89-year-old senator has been urged to stand down amid doubts about her cognitive and physical health but Nancy Pelosi claims a man would not face similar questionsHere’s a controversial opinion: when you’re no longer capable of doing your extremely important job you should gracefully step away from your extremely important job. I know that may not sound controversial on the surface, but it appears to be quite the topic of debate in Washington DC. It certainly seems to be a contentious issue for Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, who recently hit back at calls for the 89-year-old Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein to resign over her health. Continue reading...

A report on ethnic inequality reveals that that Irish, Jewish and Traveller people are among the most abusedSomething was amiss but I couldn’t say why. I was a sixth-form student and talking to a girl who told me with utter confidence that “white people can’t be victims of racism”. Racism is about power and privilege. White people have power and privilege. Black people and Asians don’t. This means that only the latter group can be victims of racism; racism is the exercise of power and privilege against people of colour.I nodded at the time – she almost convinced me. Almost. I admired her clarity but felt her account was too neat. I liked her passion but thought it was painfully misguided. Continue reading...

Documents allegedly leaked by Jack Teixeira show US knew of at least four balloons beyond one shot down in FebruaryUS officials were aware of up to four Chinese surveillance balloons, beyond one that flew over the continental US and was shot down in February, according to leaked top intelligence. One balloon flew over a US carrier strike group located in the Pacific Ocean, in an incident that was never reported.The information comes from documents that were allegedly leaked by Massachusetts air national guard member Jack Teixeira that were first reported by the Washington Post. Continue reading...

The NBA postseason (proper) tips off Saturday with the field of 16 fixed. Here’s what to watch for if you’re only just tuning inMuch has been made of the toll that 82 games can take on the human body over the course of an NBA season, as it pertains to the players in those games and their ability to stay healthy enough to participate in most (let alone all) of them. But even for fans of the sport, 82 can be a lot of games to keep up with. As we find ourselves, once again, at the best time of the year – the NBA playoffs – it’s understandable to feel a little scrambled about what it is we’re looking at. So, here’s a primer of sorts. A CliffsNotes, if you will, for all of the first-round matchups: what to expect, what to be excited about, and what to look out for. Continue reading...

The description of ultra-processed food in Henry Dimbleby’s book, Ravenous, is startling and chasteningI want to believe that books can change lives. But I’m not quite convinced they ever do, especially those about food (Middlemarch may be a different matter). On the shelf behind me, after all, is a neat row of excellent titles about what we eat, and why – Joanna Blythman is there, and so is Bee Wilson – and yet, if I’m honest, none of these has drastically altered the way I shop or cook, even if they have affected the way I think, sometimes profoundly. Words on the page are such a puny match for modern life, so busy and tempting and perilously expensive.But maybe I’m wrong. I’ve been reading Henry Dimbleby’s bestselling Ravenous, in which the co-founder of the alternative fast food chain Leon (and the government’s former food tsar) catalogues the catastrophic damage already done to our food systems and bodies, and tentatively makes suggestions as to how we might reverse it. And what do you know? I think this book really might be a little bit life-changing. It may want for extended onion metaphors and lyrical descriptions of sourdough (I’m joking; these are the last things I’m after). In the end, though, its concision and clarity more than make up for their absence, which may be why Ravenous reminds me so much of Maurice Hanssen’s peppy 1984 handbook, E for Additives – another bestseller, and one that had a profound impact on parents (and ultimately on policy) when I was growing up. Continue reading...

Dan Snyder’s record $6.05bn sale of the Washington Commanders will mark the end of a 24-year tenure defined by scandal, dysfunction and ineptitudeThe long national nightmare could soon be over. NFL fans in and around the nation’s capital haven’t stopped buzzing since word spread this week that Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder had agreed to sell the storied NFL franchise. With that hurdle cleared, it’s now down to the league’s 31 other team owners to rubber stamp the record $6.05bn deal. The rumored purchase price would exceed the guestimate Forbes came up with earlier this year for the Dallas Cowboys, ostensibly the world’s most valuable sports franchise, as well as the record $4.65bn cost of the recently sold Denver Broncos.Never mind that the 58-year-old Snyder, one of the great sports villains of the last quarter-century, makes off like a bandit in the exchange. The news of his imminent departure has landed like Dorothy’s farmhouse in the Land of Oz. “DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD,” tweeted one Commanders fan. Another, speaking to radio station WTOP, likened the breakup to a “bad marriage/relationship for 20-something years, then you finally get that divorce and find a hotter, young lady that comes and puts a smile on your face.” Continue reading...

Kristi Noem tells audience at NRA forum toddler has a shotgun, a rifle and a ponySouth Dakota’s governor told an audience of people that her two-year-old grandchild has several guns.While speaking on Friday at a National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbying leadership forum in Indiana, the Republican governor Kristi Noem told audience members her toddler grandchild has multiple guns, reported Mediaite. Continue reading...

Jack Teixeira’s arrest has exposed a system weakened by the legacy of 9/11 and caught off guard by an enemy that is increasingly withinJack Teixeira, 21 years old, clean-shaven, with buzz-cut hair and proudly uniformed, is the face of America’s newest security threat, one it is struggling to resolve.The formidable US counter-intelligence infrastructure is adept at finding spies and rooting out whistleblowers. Teixeira, charged on Friday on two counts of the Espionage Act, is neither spy nor whistleblower. Continue reading...

Family of Lashawn Thompson call for criminal investigation after his death in custody in filthy jail cellAn Atlanta man died in a local jail after being eaten alive by bed bugs, alleges a lawyer representing the man’s family.The family of Lashawn Thompson, 35, is calling for a criminal investigation into Thompson’s death and for the closure and replacement of a local jail after alleging that Thompson died in custody from bed bugs in a squalid jail cell. Continue reading...

Former secretary of state and Trump ally decides not to challenge ex-boss for the Republican nominationFormer US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Friday that he will not run for president in the 2024 election.The devoted ally and defender of Donald Trump opted out of a contest that would have put him into competition with his former commander in chief. Continue reading...

Joe Biden concluded his visit to Ireland with a passionate riverside address to tens of thousands of people in his ancestral town in County Mayo. The US president turned his farewell speech in Ballina into a celebration of Irish and American values, saying: 'My friends, people of Mayo, this is a moment to recommit our hearts, minds and souls to the march of progress.' Biden landed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and met the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, before embarking on a four-day tour

Ernesto Ortega Lima and his family were separated in 2018 as they tried to cross into the US while fleeing gang violence in GuatemalaOn a rainy spring afternoon, Nery Ortega Lima, a 47-year-old Guatemalan man living in Rhode Island, held his wife’s hand at a bodega-style market while his nine-year-old daughter threw boxes of strawberry milk and some tomatoes into the family’s basket.The market was packed with other neighbors getting their grocery shopping off their to-do lists, but for Ortega Lima, this simple errand has become heavenly after years of his family being torn apart. Continue reading...

We are witnessing the logical culmination of win-at-any-cost politics – and Donald Trump has encouraged itAmerica no longer has two parties devoted to a democratic system of self-government.We have a Democratic party, which – notwithstanding a few glaring counter-examples, such as what the Democratic National Committee did to Bernie Sanders in 2016 – is still largely committed to democracy.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...