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FBI chief’s endorsement of Covid lab leak theory highlights the tussle between hawks and doves within the administrationThe FBI chief, Chris Wray, has endorsed the theory that the Covid pandemic was the result of a laboratory leak in China, further sharpening an increasingly combative bilateral relationship.In making his intervention, Wray, who was appointed by Donald Trump, was also taking sides in an internal debate over Covid’s origins, which has become a proxy for a broader tussle between hawks and doves within the administration. Continue reading...

President calls Su, who is still to be confirmed by the Senate, ‘the American dream’ as he picks her to lead US labor departmentCalling her “the American dream”, Joe Biden on Wednesday introduced his nominee to lead the US labor department, Julie Su, who if confirmed will become the first Asian American cabinet secretary in his administration.“Julie is the American dream,” the president said in a White House ceremony. Continue reading...

Closing arguments to be delivered in gripping case of prominent state attorney, accused of killing wife and son at family estateAfter six weeks of testimony, including 62 prosecution witnesses and 14 for the defense, including the defendant himself, the closing days in the double-murder trial of Richard “Alex” Murdaugh has resembled a fairytale of dynastic corruption and deep south Gothic horror.As the last prosecution witness stepped down from a South Carolina courtroom stand on Tuesday, closing the rebuttal phase of the trial, jurors on Wednesday headed off to tour the 1,700-acre country estate where Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul were found dead on 7 June 2021. Continue reading...

Railroads would be subject to new federal regulations and financial consequences under legislationRailroads like the one involved in last month’s crash and toxic chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, would be subject to new federal regulations and financial consequences under legislation introduced on Wednesday by the state’s two US senators.The Railway Safety Act of 2023 is cosponsored by Sherrod Brown and JD Vance, a Democrat and Republican, and others of both parties. Continue reading...

‘We do not want a war within the PRC, a clash of civilizations,’ says ranking Democrat as new committee holds first hearingCongress must act urgently to counter economic and national security threats posed by China, lawmakers on a newly created special House committee warned in its first primetime hearing.China and the US are locked in an “existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century”, the Republican chairman, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said. Continue reading...

Move comes amid criticism of healthcare companies over rising costs of insulin, as CEO says cuts ‘should be the new standard’Eli Lilly will cut list prices by 70% for its most commonly prescribed forms of insulin, Humalog and Humulin, beginning from the fourth quarter of this year, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.The move comes amid criticism of healthcare companies by US lawmakers over rising costs of insulin, with Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act including a $35 cap on insulin for those enrolled in Medicare health insurance plans. Continue reading...

Eric Adams says ‘Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state’ at an interfaith breakfastCivil rights groups blasted the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, after he said he believed God had made him mayor, appeared to support compulsory prayer in public schools and said: “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state.”The head of the New York Civil Liberties Union led the condemnation. Continue reading...

Cargo vessel the Ironton sank in 1894 killing five but has been rediscovered ‘remarkably preserved’ in cold waters off MichiganEven for the Thunder Bay area, a perilous swath of northern Lake Huron off the Michigan coast, the fate of the Ironton seems particularly cruel.On a blustery night in September 1894, the 191ft cargo vessel collided with a grain hauler, sinking both. The captain of the Ironton and six sailors clambered into a lifeboat but it was dragged to the bottom before they could detach it from the ship. Two crewmen survived. Continue reading...

Far-right activist Laura Loomer denounces Florida governor, who is expected to challenge ex-president for Republican nominationRon DeSantis is a “tyrant”, the far-right activist Laura Loomer said, after she and other Trump supporters were barred from a book signing staged by the Florida governor.“They told me to say anybody wearing Trump has to go right now,” a uniformed officer said in video posted online by Loomer, a failed congressional candidate, conspiracy theorist, Islamophobe and rightwing political gadfly. Continue reading...

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson qualify for election on 4 April to replace city’s first Black female and gay mayorPaul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters denied the incumbent, Lori Lightfoot, a second term, a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the third-largest US city.Vallas, a former schools chief executive backed by the police union, and Johnson, a Cook county commissioner endorsed by the teachers union, advanced to the 4 April runoff after none of nine candidates was able to secure more than 50% of the vote. Continue reading...

As Canada Soccer undercuts support for the women’s team in a World Cup year, Kaylyn Kyle discusses the disputeKaylyn Kyle is an Olympic bronze medalist turned broadcaster with deep, personal experience playing for Canada. Speaking exclusively to Moving the Goalposts this week, Kyle says that when it comes to the labour dispute between Canada Soccer and the women’s national team: “Everything is at stake.”Where are the funds? This is the resounding question defining the present fallout. It was asked pointedly by the Canadian Soccer Players’ Association (CSPA) in their original strike announcement. It was underlined by Kyle in speaking to the Guardian. Continue reading...

A revealing new book challenges the notion of miscarriage as a blip in the past, rather than an experience that can reverberate in the present“It’s the idea that everything is healed.” Jennie Agg is talking to me about miscarriage. Or, specifically, how it feels to have a baby after miscarriage – or miscarriages, plural; Agg had four before she gave birth to her boy. Life, Almost – her book detailing her experiences and investigating why miscarriage still remains such an under-researched and under-acknowledged experience – has just come out, and it’s a vital new examination of the subject, with each chapter given the title of some of the false, trite or dismissive things people say: “It’s just nature’s way”, “it’s not a real baby yet”, “everything happens for a reason”.In a book full of insights, perhaps one of the most affecting is the dawning understanding of the legacy that pregnancy loss can have. There is still an absurdly prevalent notion that finally getting a healthy baby – as most couples who experience miscarriage will – somehow wipes the slate clean, and makes everything that has happened in the past melt away. “Any residual grief, trauma or yearning is supposed to be washed away by the arrival of a longed-for child,” she writes. “After all – you got what you wanted, didn’t you?” Continue reading...

Comments fuel divide within US intelligence community on origins. Plus, Finland erects Russia border fence

When Adams makes a fool of himself, he mainly just harms himself. But Musk has the power to harm othersEven a cursory exploration of race and racism around the world would yield the conclusion that there is nothing simple about it. Racial identity and race-based oppression emerge, morph and erode in different ways in different parts of the world.But leave it to Elon Musk to try to convince you that racism is simple and straightforward. Musk will tell you what is and is not “racist”. And he will explain to you which institutions are racist and to whom.Siva Vaidhyanathan is a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and the author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy Continue reading...

As the state’s top prosecutor, Democrat Kris Mayes has the power to investigate voting crimes and bring charges against those who break election lawsIn less than two months on the job, Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, reassigned a unit tasked with investigating election fraud to instead focus on protecting voting rights. She then publicly took former attorney general Mark Brnovich, a Republican, to task for hiding documents that showed the 2020 election was free from widespread fraud.“Obviously, there are clear differences between me and my predecessor on these issues,” Mayes said. Continue reading...

The NBA’s era of simmering grudges appeared to be long gone. But a thrilling young Memphis team have an issue with everyone, from opponents to fansNBA rivalries used to be about something: an exclusive claim to hoops supremacy, intra-divisional beefs, a perceived lack of respect. But it’s been hard to keep up those grudges during an era in which players come into the league as childhood pals, move teams constantly and barely play defense against one another. Nowadays only one team keeps the others on edge, and it’s the Memphis Grizzlies. Everybody hates them.Their bad boy arc starts with a classic betrayal. In summer 2019 the Grizzlies were part of a three-team swap that brought Andre Iguodala to Memphis. Iguodala is the gold standard for NBA glue guys, a former finals MVP who remains valuable as an unofficial player-coach and clutch contributor despite his advanced age. But when he balked at filling that same role for a rebuilding Memphis squad and didn’t even show up to their facility, team management reportedly agreed to buy out his $17m contract or trade him to a playoff contender. Naturally, his new teammates swiftly took offense at Iguodala’s stance, beating their chests when Memphis defied expectations and passed Golden State, his former team, in the Western Conference standings. “We all had the vision,” said Memphis’ Dillon Brooks. “He didn’t, which is perfect. Send him back to the Warriors and let him do his thing over there.” Continue reading...

Kasabian was the lookout for the group of cult members who carried out the murder of film star Sharon Tate in 1969Linda Kasabian, a member of the notorious cult led by Charles Manson that murdered film star Sharon Tate in 1969, has died at the age of 73.Her death was announced in the Tacoma News Tribune, but the cause of death was not immediately made public. Kasabian had kept a low profile since the killings and according to her death certificate had changed her name to “Chiochios” to protect her identity. Continue reading...

The agreement was important for reasons beyond the protocol. Better relations could lead to a reset and talks about a raft of key issuesBrexit is done and also it will never be done. Rishi Sunak’s deal to fix the Northern Ireland protocol ends a process that is only beginning. If that sounds paradoxical it is because British politics uses the B-word to describe many things, or rather it confuses different things by pretending they are one.Brexit was an insurrection against the status quo and a promise to upend the established ways of Westminster government. But Brexit is also a technical project and a diplomatic minefield that can’t be navigated without those old skills of establishment statecraft.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Babysitting is all very well, but to truly lighten a woman’s load, partners must juggle physical, emotional and cognitive labour‘Like many men of my generation, I wanted to be a more present father than my own had been.” As I read the first sentence of another article about fathers staying at home, I thought about how we glorify men (or how men want to be glorified) for selflessly deigning to set their careers aside, which is usually seen as being “for” their spouse, and getting away with doing the bare minimum.Staying at home with the children is not babysitting – it is a complicated business of physical, emotional and cognitive labour. Continue reading...

Fans of the game that became a pop-culture phenomenon speculate value could be even higher, as rare cards draw steep pricesThe card game Magic: the Gathering is known for its dedicated fanbase – a community who gather together to play during Friday-night basement matches or during lunch period.The game involves casting spells and using creatures to attack your opponent but players can only gain those abilities from collecting a big variety of cards. That means it’s also a big trading business, with a reported 40 million people playing the game annually. That community drives a healthy resale market, where rare cards and memorabilia can go for thousands of dollars. Continue reading...

Elvis François devoured ketchup while at sea for almost a month and now the brand is providing him a new ride for his dedicationA US ketchup manufacturer is making arrangements to provide a new boat to a man who ate the company’s signature condiment to survive being lost at sea for nearly a month.The Heinz food company, based in Pittsburgh, has made contact with the saved sailor, Elvis François, about buying him a new sailing vessel after it launched a social media campaign which was titled #FindtheKetchupBoatGuy that quickly went viral. François had abandoned his old boat when he was finally rescued. Continue reading...

Comments fuel divide within US intelligence community on origins, as Chinese state media warns Elon Musk on pushing Wuhan lab theoryChristopher Wray, the FBI director, has weighed in on the debate over the origins of the Covid-19 virus, using an appearance on Fox News to endorse the theory that the virus potentially originated from a leak in a Chinese laboratory.“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News’ Brett Baier, adding that the assessment was based on research the agency’s analysts, including scientists, had conducted and that “our work related to this continues”. Continue reading...

A Learjet on Monday was directed to wait for passenger plane to land but began to take off, forcing JetBlue craft to ‘climb out’US aviation authorities are investigating a near miss at Boston’s Logan international airport after a JetBlue pilot had to take “evasive action” while landing when another aircraft crossed an intersecting runway.The close call occurred at about 7pm on Monday when the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance as a JetBlue flight was preparing to land on an intersecting runway, according to a preliminary review from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Continue reading...

Section 702 cast as an essential tool to gather intelligence about terrorists and other foreign targets located overseasThe Biden administration has formally urged Congress to reauthorize a high-profile warrantless surveillance program, warning in a letter to top lawmakers that allowing the provision to expire could sharply limit the intelligence on foreign threats and targets the government collects.The law – named section 702 – allows the US government to collect the communications of targeted foreigners abroad by compelling service providers like Google to produce copies of messages and internet data, or networks like Verizon to intercept and turn over phone call and message data. Continue reading...

Signature policy at risk as conservatives argue president does not have authority to lessen debt burden

A shocking attack by settlers in Huwara, hours after Israeli-Palestinian talks concluded, testifies to the dangers aheadThere could hardly be a grimmer demonstration of the challenge facing those who still hope to curb growing violence in the occupied West Bank. This weekend’s talks between Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs in Jordan were undermined within hours. These were the first such high-level negotiations in years, reflecting belated US re-engagement, in the unpromising context of a far-right Israeli government, a moribund Palestinian Authority and surging violence.Within hours of the summit’s communique, hundreds of settlers were rampaging through the Palestinian town of Huwara with rocks and iron bars, shooting dead one man, leaving hundreds injured and torching cars and properties – retaliation for the murder of two Israeli settlers by a Palestinian gunman earlier that day. Continue reading...

It’s no accident that the Israeli army didn’t stop the violence in Huwara: such intimidation is key to how the state rules over my peopleHundreds of Israeli settlers descended on Sunday night on the Palestinian town of Huwara near Nablus in the West Bank. They assaulted Palestinian civilians, shot one dead and set dozens of buildings and cars on fire. This rampage occurred in one of the most militarised territories in the world. Yet as far as we were concerned, the Israeli army, the strongest in the Middle East, was missing in action.Witnessing such a violent rampage, many observers resort to calls for a “return to calm” in Palestine. But such feeble calls are no longer adequate – if they ever were. One cannot ignore the recurrent nature of settlers’ violence and the way it acts as a pillar of Israel’s rule over the Palestinians. The infliction of violence with impunity, the army’s enabling of this violence and the denial of basic rights embody the existing order. Sunday’s rampage is thus a manifestation of the status quo in Palestine, not an exceptional occurrence or momentary disorder.Nimer Sultany is reader in public law at Soas University of London. He is a Palestinian citizen of IsraelDo 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...

Nishad Singh’s plea is set to come after two of Sam Bankman-Fried’s closest associates in December agreed to cooperateNishad Singh, the former director of engineering at now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges, his lawyer said in court on Tuesday, as US prosecutors ramp up their investigation into members of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle.Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder, was charged in December with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors say he stole billions in FTX customer deposits to plug losses at his hedge fund Alameda Research, and lied to investors and lenders about his companies’ financial condition. Continue reading...

Bill Lee says he will sign law criminalizing drag performances despite emergence of picture from 1977 high school yearbookTennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, is facing accusations of hypocrisy after a photo of him dressed in drag went viral days after the politician confirmed that he would sign legislation criminalizing drag performances.Lee, a Republican, announced on Monday that he plans to sign a bill passed previously by his state’s legislature that prohibits drag in public and in front of children. Lee also said he would sign a bill that bans gender-affirming care for Tennessee minors. Continue reading...

Although the case was decided on a technicality, a dissenting judge on panel said the court should have rejected the claim on its meritsA Florida appeals court denied an attorney’s attempt to have a woman released from jail ahead of trial by arguing that her fetus was being illegally detained without charge – but the attorney says he plans to continue the legal battle.Florida’s third district court of appeal dismissed without prejudice a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by attorney William M Norris on behalf of the “unborn child” of Natalia Harrell. Continue reading...

We’ve all heard of the ‘lipstick effect’ and the ‘hemline index’ as indicators of the overall economy. But perhaps there is another gauge we should consider ...OK, I’m calling tit: we’ve reached peak cleavage. Over the years I’ve selflessly and diligently kept abreast of ridiculous cleavage trends. Which is harder than it sounds, let me tell you, because there has been no end of them. The year 2000, for example, saw the advent of “toe cleavage”. According to Manolo Blahnik, something of an expert on foot-related matters, “you must only show the first two cracks”. A decade later, everything was different: 2012 was the year of sideboob. Then the Daily Mail, which knows a thing or two about cleavage, predicted the “side boob’s days could be numbered” and it was the “bum slip’s” time to shine. Along this journey we’ve seen various fashionistas declare the advent of male cleavage, side cleavage, no cleavage and hip cleavage.I know all this is a lot to take in, but bear with me here because there has been an important new development in the cleavage wars. According to the New York Post, 2023 is the year of the “circumboob”. This is when you wear something that manages to show pretty much everything but the nipple. The year’s general aura of chaos has spilled over to fashion trends and now “sideboob, innerboob and underboob” have converged into one circum-trend. I know that the New York Post is not always to be trusted, but I have it on good authority that this new trend can be spotted out in the wild. I’ll put money on it: the circumboob is legit. In fact, I’m calling it now: it’s going to be Oxford’s 2023 word of the year. Continue reading...

Rampage in Palestinian village likened to ‘Kristallnacht in Huwara’ with one dead and 350 hurt. Plus, what’s the ethical alternative to veganism?

Girls and young women report rising rates of suicide, depression and sexual violence in North America – and a lot of it has to do with social mediaTeenage girls are in crisis, and have been for some time. The CDC’s recently released Youth Risk Behavior Survey has received a great deal of media attention, but it’s only one of many alarming studies, even before the pandemic, charting rising rates of depression, suicidal ideation and suicide in girls.A stream of thinkpieces are asking what lies behind girls’ unhappiness. Some blame social media. Others cite sexual violence: the CDC report found that girls are experiencing an increase – with 14% of them the victims of forced sex, a figure at least three times higher than for boys. Others have speculated that it’s a more generalized misogyny that’s making girls feel hopeless.Nancy Jo Sales is a writer at Vanity Fair and the author of American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers Continue reading...

The leave ultras rely on their Eurosceptic grievances – no wonder Boris Johnson created the disastrous protocol in the first placeIs the grievance factory about to shut up shop at last? The Northern Ireland protocol is the last outpost of the once mighty manufacturing empire that produced, in industrial quantities, self-pitying narratives of Britons oppressed by Brussels. Now, perhaps, that assembly line has finally juddered to a halt.The paradox of the Brexit project for its own advocates is that its very success has cut off the pipeline of complaint that fed their teeming springs of outrage. The protocol was the last excuse for throwing the old shapes, the one remaining arena in which the grand game of Euro-bashing could be played. It is not surprising that there are those – Boris Johnson, much of the European Research Group (ERG), part of the Democratic Unionist party – who can’t bear to part with it.Fintan O’Toole is a columnist with the Irish Times Continue reading...

Prisoners who joined hunger strike to protest extreme conditions describe the damage isolation inflicts on mental healthTexas prisoners who joined a hunger strike in protest against the state’s widespread use of prolonged solitary confinement have described the damage to inmates’ mental and physical health inflicted by a system they equate with torture.Guadalupe III Constante said that despite having a clean disciplinary record, he has been held in isolation every day since he was convicted of robbery 17 years ago. “I went on hunger strike to bring attention to this torture – I haven’t had contact with my wife, kids, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents in 17 years.” Continue reading...

Abdul-Kerim Edilov was an MMA veteran as well as one of the most influential men in his homeland. And then he disappeared from public lifeWhen Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov – the strongman leader of Chechnya and a close ally of Vladimir Putin – gathered his troops in the main square of the region’s capital, Grozny, to signal his readiness to join the war.Positioned on a dais overlooking the crowd, Kadyrov stood against a backdrop of the most powerful men in Chechnya. Among them was Abuzayed Vismuradov, the dictator’s right-hand man who was the target of sanctions by the United States government in 2019 for his role in Chechnya’s purge of sexual minorities. Vismuradov also happens to be in charge of Kadyrov’s mixed martial arts fight club – an entity also the target of sanctions by the US Treasury. Continue reading...

Gymnastics asks its most promising athletes to give everything. Now the LSU star is repurposing herself into the lucrative main eventOlivia Dunne is not the most talented gymnast out there, nor is she the most iconic representative of her sport. But if you were to review the library of slow motion videos Dunne posts on TikTok, especially those featuring her performing backflips and handsprings on the beach (“beachnastics,” she calls it), you’d probably understand why the 20-year-old New Jersey native is, by certain metrics anyway, the biggest thing going in American gymnastics.Dunne has an Instagram following of 3.7m, more than Derek Jeter, Cher or the reigning all-round Olympic gymnastic champion, Sunisa Lee. On TikTok, 7.2m accounts follow Dunne – millions more than Beyoncé. Some of the pictures and videos involve gymnastics. But Dunne, who has long blond hair, a heart-shaped face and kewpie doll features, has mastered the art of posting sports-agnostic selfies that send her fans into a tizzy. Occasionally she wears a leotard, but mostly she dons croptops, minidresses, angel wings. Continue reading...

On a visit with leaders from many religions, we saw so much courage, but also so much to test even the strongest faith

Move comes after Florida governor lashed out at theme park’s protest of law restricting sexual orientation discussion in schoolsRon DeSantis, the governor of Florida, signed a bill on Monday that gives him control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district, punishing the company over its opposition to a state law that restricts sexual orientation and gender identity discussions in schools.“The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said during a press event at Lake Buena Vista near Orlando. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.” Continue reading...

Gambling firms rely on addiction and misery for their business model. They shouldn’t be patronising the arts any more than fossil fuel companiesIn Laura Poitras’s Oscar-nominated documentary, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, we watch as members of the Sackler family – then-owners of the pharmaceutical behemoth behind America’s opioid crisis – are confronted with the testimony of those affected. They sit impassively as a recording is played of a desperate mother’s 911 call after finding her son dead from overdose. Another piece of testimony is from Nan Goldin, the photographer and former OxyContin addict whose successful campaign for the art world to renounce Sackler patronage the film follows.Thanks to Goldin and the activist group she leads, the Sackler name has fallen away from many of the arts institutions that named spaces after the family in exchange for its largesse. First the National Portrait Gallery in the UK rejected a £1m donation. Then the Louvre in Paris removed the name. Then the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Serpentine, V&A, the Tate, and the Roundhouse all followed suit. Continue reading...

Richmond, Virginia, removed likenesses of Robert E Lee and other generals after protests in 2020. Where will they go next?In an open-air industrial area in Richmond, Virginia, lie the remains of Confederate statues.The storage wasteland, whose exact location has been withheld for security reasons, is a carefully organized graveyard of America’s racist past. The remains of Gen Robert E Lee – glorified by a statue that is 60ft tall and was once the largest on Richmond’s Monument Avenue – takes up about half the space. In the background is a slab dedicated to “Stonewall” Jackson, who earned his nickname at the first battle of Manassas, fought only 30 miles south of Washington, DC at the start of the civil war (1861-65). Continue reading...

Raul Rodriguez, 54, was fired after confirming with his father that his US birth certificate was a fakeA former US border patrol agent who routinely deported people before he learned that he was an undocumented immigrant and lost his job is now trying to help veterans facing deportation, according to a new media report.In what is perhaps one of the most unusual of the 11m cases backlogged in the complex American immigration court system, 54-year-old Raul Rodriguez had spent much of his professional career working at two federal agencies which frequently encounter people trying to enter the US without permission. Continue reading...

Network owner also admitted in $1.6bn defamation lawsuit deposition that Trump’s claims were ‘damaging to everybody’Newly released court documents reveal that Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire owner of Fox News, acknowledged under oath that several Fox News hosts endorsed Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him.The mogul made the admission during a deposition in the $1.6bn defamation lawsuit brought against the network by the voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems, which has accused Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, of maligning its reputation. In his deposition, Murdoch said that the hosts Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro “endorsed” the false narrative promoted by Trump. Continue reading...

Self-help author who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race becomes first Democrat to challenge BidenBestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson, who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race, has announced she’s running for the White House again, becoming the first major Democrat to challenge Joe Biden for his party’s nomination in 2024.Williamson, 70, pulled out of the 2020 presidential election in early January of that year, after failing to gain much traction with primary voters. She then endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination and he ended up coming in second to Biden, who had been trailing him badly but surged ahead after a crucial win in South Carolina. Continue reading...