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After retiring, I finally had time to practise. But I soon realised that playing and making music are two different thingsOn a hot June day in 2015, I retired after 34 years of teaching high school. I packed up my classroom, went home and tossed my briefcase in the attic. Then, I drove to meet my new piano teacher, Mark.I had worked for more than three decades as a busy English teacher with an endless stream of papers to mark and precious little time to experiment or learn new skills. Now, I was determined to make up for all I had been missing. I wanted to finally master the piano and learn how to make music.Brian Hanson-Harding is a retired English teacher living near New York City. He has written for publications including the New York Times, New Jersey Monthly and Working Mother Continue reading...

Department of Justice said aircraft maker violated settlement related to two fatal 737 Max crashes

Biden has a tough task ahead in this week's debate - but, thanks in part to rightwing attacks, the bar he faces is lowIf Joe Biden is to win November's election, he must win this week's televised debate. He must come off as energetic and competent. He must make the case, persuasively, that Donald Trump is a danger to the nation and the world. And, perhaps most of all, he must seem mentally sharp.That's a lot to do in under 90 minutes, especially while sharing the stage with someone as unpredictable as Trump, whose dominant personality and in-your-face tactics can put him at an advantage.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Over the next few weeks, the Guardian will profile figures playing a key role in boosting the ex-president's attempt to regain the presidencyIt takes a village to run a presidential campaign, and in the case of Donald Trump's bid for reelection, that village is led by a group of shadowy, wealthy and well-connected figures working to shape the infrastructure of the election and his policies and messaging.Meet the election operators. Continue reading...

I was 10 when the US supreme court ruled against school prayer. Now Louisiana and Texas want to turn back the clockI was 10 in 1962, when the supreme court ruled, in Engel v Vitale, that the officially sanctioned recitation of prayer in public schools violated the constitution's first amendment, which prohibits the establishment of a state religion.Before that, my school day started with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by an appeal to God. We rose and pushed our chairs under our desks. Then we stood erect, gazed at the flag sticking out at an angle above the blackboard, and placed our right hands over our hearts. After the pledge, we bowed our heads and said a prayer composed by the New York state board of regents, which held authority over the schools: Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country."Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books Continue reading...

Rather than providing a check on the far right, the party opened the door to Faragism - and made his fantasies come true

The 70-year-old former Trump White House strategist has hosted a number of future GOP leaders and folds in absolutely anyone willing to listen'It is not your typical man cave. Christian iconography. A bust of Julius Caesar. A painting of John Paul Jones, the revolutionary war naval officer. A book, The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes, sitting on a crowded desk. A sign resting on the mantelpiece declares: There are no conspiracies, but there are no coincidences."Welcome to the War Room, where the classical, contemporary and conspiratorial nourish Steve Bannon's grand vision of himself as a historical figure. Each day he holds court in this basement on Capitol Hill to plot not only Donald Trump's return to power but the next American revolution. Screens, microphones and other podcasting paraphernalia sit above piles of books and newspapers, namely the Financial Times and New York Times. Continue reading...

Fishers take to shore three boatloads of hound dogs who had plunged in while chasing a deer during a fox huntInsurance agents Bob Gist and Brad Carlisle headed out to a Mississippi lake with fishing guide Jordan Chrestman hoping to catch some crappies.They came back with nearly 40 dogs whom they saved from drowning, according to the men, who took photos of the dramatic 8 June rescue and have since been feted as heroes on the local and national media circuits. Continue reading...

No team has come back from 0-3 down in the Stanley Cup Final since 1942. The Oilers could do just that while becoming the NHL's first Canadian champion in more than 30 yearsNo NHL team has come back from 3-0 down to win a Stanley Cup Final since the Toronto Maple Leafs did it against the Detroit Red Wings in April 1942. Now, 82 years later, the Edmonton Oilers may change that history. On Monday night on the edge of the Everglades, the Oilers will face off against the Florida Panthers in Game 7 and try to win their fourth straight to take the Cup and become the first Canadian NHL champions since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. If it goes the Oilers' way, the game will most likely be crowned one of the NHL's all-time best - or at least one of the most memorable in league history. And the Oilers captain, a generational talent, will have come back to where his career with the team began.26 June 2015 was a Friday and there was a buzz in the BT&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, home (still, under a different name) of the Panthers. It was NHL draft night, and the assumed No 1 pick was an 18-year-old from north of Toronto who'd lit up the Ontario Hockey League for three years and led Canada to a World Junior Championship the previous winter. Connor McDavid had been playing on another level his entire life, allowed to skate at age six with the nine-year olds and granted exceptional status" to enter the OHL at age 15, a year early, where he became the most decorated player in the league's history. Continue reading...

Comedians are increasingly leaning on audience interaction to sell their shows - and changing the nature of the shows themselvesCrowd work. For some, it's the fun bit when standups cruise the front row asking: What do you do for a living?" For me, it's the scary bit where I avoid eye contact with said standups - because they don't want to hear, and I don't want to say, comedy critic". That terror aside, crowd work can be comedy gold in the hands of some acts, the most in-the-moment and authentic section of their whole show. Elsewhere, it's filler: so much so-so throat-clearing before the good gags, the ones the comic has bothered to write, begin.That is how crowd work has always been considered - until now. In 2024, it's increasingly the main draw - for which we have social media to thank, or blame. If you've noticed your socials clogged these days with crowd-work clips - this or that standup engaging in oh-so-spontaneous bantz with someone in row C - you're not alone. And it's not happening by accident. Clipped-up crowd work is standup for sale to the TikTok generation, a phenomenon changing not only how comics tout their work, but the work itself - and the nature of live comedy.Brian Logan is the Guardian's comedy criticDo 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...

Correspondents covering the UK election find Brexit amnesia bemusing, Nigel Farage's return surreal and the sense of public disillusionment overwhelmingFor a German audience currently staring with disbelief at an upsurge of far-right populism on its own doorstep, the British elections are mostly a reminder of where the destructive cluelessness of populist politicians can lead a country. Nothing you want to look at too closely, when you are potentially just at the beginning of such a turn of events yourself.Annette Dittert is the senior UK correspondent for ARD German TV Continue reading...

Christian Pulisic scored in the third minute and assisted on Folarin Balogun's goal in the 44th as the USMNT cruised past Bolivia 2-0 in their Copa America opener on Sunday night.Against an overmatched, youthful Bolivia side, the US were comfortable winners. Ten of Bolivia's starters entered the opening game of the tournament with 10 caps or fewer, and an experienced US side wasted no time in showing the gulf in quality. Continue reading...

Balogun wins a corner kick. US players do a sharp sequence of short passes, and Pulisic blasts a curling shot from one corner of the penalty area to the far upper corner. Viscarra gets a finger or two on it, but it's not enough.1 min: The USA could easily be up 1-0 already. A few seconds after kickoff, Weah raced down the right and fired off a cross that Viscarra had to come out and punch clear. The USA kept possession, and Bolivia should count themselves lucky that Balogun wasn't quite ready for a sharply hit through ball. Continue reading...

Robert O'Brien explains his outline to sever US-China economic ties would only be to send in fighting force'Donald Trump's former national security adviser Robert O'Brien - tipped to play a leading role if the ex-president returns to the White House - backtracked on parts of his proposal to sever US-China economic ties, an aspect of which called for sending the entire US Marine Corps to Asia.O'Brien, who recently submitted a 5,000-word article outlining his thinking to Foreign Affairs, explained on Sunday that instead of the entire US Marine Corps", it would be only the fighting force". And he said some Marines would still be stationed at bases like California's Camp Pendleton and North Carolina's Camp Lejeune. Continue reading...

One dead and 34 wounded as incidents in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio swell 2024 mass shooting tallyA series of mass shootings rocked the US early on Sunday, leaving at least one dead and 34 others wounded in just four cases reported in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio.The shootings came amid a broader spate of recent mass shootings, including the one at an Arkansas grocery store on Friday that left four dead and nine wounded - as well as another at a nightclub in Kentucky on Saturday that killed one and injured seven.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Residents rescued by boat as Governor Kim Reynolds declares disaster in 21 counties in north of stateFloodwaters forced people out of their homes in parts of Iowa, the result of weeks of rain, while much of the US longed for relief on Saturday from yet another round of extraordinary heat.Sirens blared at 2am in Rock Valley, Iowa, population 4,200, where people in hundreds of homes were told to get out as the Rock River could no longer take rain that has slammed the region. The city lacked running water because wells were unusable. Continue reading...

Civil liberties group calls for hate crime charges against suspect in alleged racist attack at apartment complex poolThe US's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization is calling for hate crime charges to be filed against a Texas woman accused of trying to drown a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl while saying that the child's mother wasn't really American.For now, the suspect in the case has been booked on counts of attempted murder and injury to a child. Continue reading...

Political surrogates hit Sunday talkshows as candidates take different approaches before next week's face-offPresidential political surrogates fanned out across the Sunday talkshows to prepare the ground for next week's televised debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which could help the Democratic incumbent and his Republican predecessor focus the minds of undecided or unengaged voters on November's election.But the candidates themselves are taking strikingly different approaches. Biden is hunkered down at Camp David in debate preparation, reportedly with his personal attorney Bob Bauer standing in for Trump in mock exchanges. Continue reading...

While political leaders hundreds of miles away clash over the border crisis', the El Paso sector has served more than 200,000 people since OctoberIt was just past 10am, but the west Texas sun already burned high above the border fence, a serpentine steel line slicing the Chihuahuan desert in two. On the US side, a short distance from the Paso del Norte International Bridge, the Sacred Heart shelter stirred with activity.Children giggled and shrieked as they chased each other in circles around the converted gymnasium, decorated with brightly colored pinatas, a mural of the Virgen de Guadalupe and a string of plastic flags, a small reminder of the countries they left behind: Venezuela, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico. Their parents, who carried them across jungles, rivers and entire countries, rested on mats. A mother breastfed her son. A woman braided hair. Continue reading...

I could easily give up. But should I? It isn't necessarily an easy question to answer, writes Emma BeddingtonThe sun is out, the football is on, beer gardens are packed and sunset-pink shots of condensation-frosted palomas (the new negroni) are plastered across Instagram, but I bet someone in your life has given up drinking. Maybe more than one person. I know lots (if you count parasocial knowing", and I don't get out much, so I do). Sobriety is everywhere; I downed two long reads on the subject just last week. Reporting spans personal reckonings, generational nuances and shifting advice (Ireland has adopted tobacco-style warnings on alcohol). Sobriety is chic, too: it made a list of new status symbols" in Grazia (though so did orange wine; they contain multitudes).Never an early adopter, I am finally experiencing sober curiosity. I don't have a problematic relationship with alcohol: we are more than Facebook friends, but hardly Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. In my formative drinking years, I took antidepressants that made my hangovers so frighteningly dark I was turned off drinking for a decade. I enjoy a dirty martini or a margarita now (both vehicles for the one substance I really have a problem with: salt), but remain relatively take it or leave it. I'll have a drink if I go out (so, almost never) and my husband and I have one most Friday and Saturday nights, but I don't miss it when it doesn't happen. Continue reading...

I just want my baby back,' the mother of one of four people killed said, as 10 others wounded in shootingFamilies who were shopping at the Arkansas grocery where four people were killed and nine others were wounded during a mass shooting on Friday reportedly hid in the freezer as they desperately tried to stay out of the attacker's view, according to reports.The chilling details emerged as authorities identified the alleged shooter and the people slain at the Mad Butcher store in Fordyce. Continue reading...

Karen Read, 44, accused of hitting boyfriend with SUV and leaving him to die in snowbank, claims she was framedOver the last eight weeks, a jury in Massachusetts has pondered whether 44-year-old Karen Read murdered her boyfriend, a police officer, in an act of domestic violence, or was framed by corrupt authorities trying to cover up the killing.Read's trial has captivated Boston residents' attention and triggered a wave of conspiracy theories far beyond the city. At the center is Read, a suburban woman who worked as an equity analyst, and her boyfriend, 46-year-old John O'Keefe, a veteran Boston officer who was found dead in the snow on 29 January 2022. Continue reading...

Jamaal Bowman faces challenge from George Latimer in New York primary that has become testy - and expensiveIt was one of the hottest days of the year in New York City on Saturday - but as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the stage in the Bronx, you wouldn't know it.At a rally to support Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democrat facing a primary campaign that has seen pro-Israel lobbying groups pump more than $15m into the race, Ocasio-Cortez was amped up. Continue reading...

I've worked with family-owned businesses, and their internecine battles and succession struggles ain't greatBrian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, just made a very honest admission: It is true that a company's not a family," he said in a recent podcast interview. We used to refer to ourselves as a family, and then we did have to fire people, or they'd have to leave the company, and you don't fire members of your family."Whenever a CEO says their employees are family", they're lying. Your company is not your family. Continue reading...

Lukas McClish hadn't notified anyone of his planned three-hour hike that turned into a more than weeklong ordealA man who got lost in California's mountains for more than a week - after heading out on what he expected would be a hike of just a few hours - survived his ordeal by drinking creek water and eating wild berries, he told a local news station.I didn't bring anything" besides a flashlight and folding scissors because I thought I was doing a three-hour hike" on the way to work, Lukas McClish told KSBW for an interview published on Saturday. Continue reading...

Atlanta has extra significance this election cycle, between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris trying to court voters and Donald Trump's Fulton county caseJoe Biden will debate Donald Trump on Thursday night in an unnerving repeat of the 2020 election cycle, and once again Atlanta is the center of the political universe.The question is whether the two candidates can influence Atlanta, or if Atlanta, which influences everything in American politics, is beyond their influence. Continue reading...

The US will kickoff their tournament against Bolivia on Sunday. Here are the players to know, what you should track and how to win kudos at the bar

Young people don't want prospective employers to merely pay lip service to their liberal social valuesYoung people are used to being told they expect too much when it comes to the world of work. Judge Judy, Whoopi Goldberg and Jodie Foster were among the latest of their elders to give them a ticking off - accusing indulgent parents of setting them up to fail. Curmudgeonly employers would not pander to their requests for better hours, they said, or align themselves with their pet social causes, as young people seemed to think.But as generation Z starts to make up a chunkier portion of workers, another story is emerging. The unreasonable" demands of this generation are in fact beginning to be met. Instead of giving young people a rude awakening, the corporate world is falling over backwards to accommodate them - you cannot, after all, fire a whole generation. Continue reading...

Mexico scraped out a 1-0 victory over Jamaica in their Group B opener in the Copa America in Houston on Saturday, but their joy at making a winning start was tempered by what appeared to be a potentially tournament-ending injury to captain Edson Alvarez.Alvarez, who plays for West Ham United in England and is one the most experienced players on the Mexican team, collapsed clutching his hamstring in the 30th minute and limped off the pitch in tears. Continue reading...

The pact of pariahs between the Russian leader and North Korea's unpredictable Kim Jong-un risks destabilising regionVladimir Putin's visits to North Korea and Vietnam last week caused great consternation among the western powers, which was undoubtedly his intention. The Russian president is keen to demonstrate that, notwithstanding the widespread condemnation of his illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing diplomatic ostracism and sanctions, he still has international support, and can raise the cost to his opponents of continued backing for Kyiv.If anyone doubted the extent to which the war in Ukraine has become a truly global issue, here was conclusive proof of its almost universal impact. Putin and North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong-un, signed a mutual defence treaty that commits each country to provide military assistance to the other with all means at its disposal" in the event of an attack. The treaty represents a significant boost for Kim's isolated regime - and for Putin's efforts, with China, to build up an anti-democratic, anti-western international alliance. Continue reading...

The former president used his first rally in the city of brotherly love to tie violent crime with illegal immigration, despite the evidence against thisCrooked Joe or Sleepy Joe? Donald Trump wanted to know which nickname his supporters prefer. That's the first time Sleepy Joe has ever beaten Crooked Joe!" he said with surprise, after asking the crowd to make noise for each contender.That, however, is not the branding exercise the former US president cares about most right now. On Saturday night he wanted his followers to go home with three words: Biden. Migrant. Crime. Continue reading...

Joseph Komrosky, who decried critical race theory and called Harvey Milk a pedophile, was recalled by 51% of Temecula votersVoters in Temecula, California, have ousted the local school board president who thrust the political body to the forefront of rightwing culture wars by seeking to eliminate discussions of race and gender identity from the classroom.Joseph Komrosky on Thursday lost a recall vote with 51% of voters favoring his removal. Continue reading...

The Tories want people to assume the outcome is decided, but the only way to remove this government is to vote them out, says Labour's national campaign coordinatorGeneral elections should be an intensive debate about the country's future, as well as a reckoning for the record of any incumbent government.At stake is how to make Britain's economy stronger, rebuild our public services, expand opportunity and exercise power and influence in the world. Continue reading...

Despite the defeat by South Africa, Jos Buttler's side are well-placed to reach the last four if a washout is avoidedThe next 48 hours are a bit of a logistical head scratcher for England but the task at hand back in familiar Barbados on Sunday is straightforward. They meet USA, the co-hosts and associates who pilfered Pakistan's intended spot in the Super Eights and, according to Harry Brook, they are hoping to give them a good battering".This may read like trash talk before a big fight in Las Vegas but Brook looked like he had just stepped out of a boxing ring when he said it. It followed Friday's tense seven-run loss to South Africa in the sweltering daytime heat of Saint Lucia, with Brook sat in the sweaty tent, adrenaline still flowing from his near-miss in the run chase, and offering up some good old Yorkshire plain-speak. Continue reading...

From Netanyahu to Nasrallah, the region's politicians are flailing. Will no one stop the lunacy?When Benjamin Netanyahu flies to Washington next month, he would be advised to avoid British airspace and airports. As a founding party of the international criminal court (ICC), the UK could find itself legally and morally obliged to detain Israel's prime minister should he stray into its territory.That's because the ICC's chief prosecutor is seeking a warrant for Netanyahu's arrest for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, where more than 37,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the 7 October Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people. Continue reading...

Jacob Riis Beach hosts the day of body positivity and fun, in the city at the heart of the fat acceptance movementFat Beach Day events are springing up across the US in an effort to fight back against fat-phobia, reclaim safe spaces for the community and honor plus-size culture. Today, one of these celebrations is being held to coincide with Pride month at Jacob Riis Beach in New York, a location deeply ensconced in the city's activism space.We're going through something culturally that is impacting us every day on an individual level and a systemic level," said Jordan Underwood, the event organizer. We're really trying to open up a space for people to be themselves." Continue reading...

Just as sanity looks like returning in Britain, the French are tearing each other apart; can the masked hero Kylian Mbappe save the day?Following the UK's election campaign feels soothing for a French political observer. The sight of Britain recovering its senses after years of shambles is a joy like no other; like seeing a dear friend turning a corner after a really bad patch. Meanwhile, France, in a sudden fit of rage, decided to overturn the table. The president dissolved parliament, but it is as if he had dissolved the whole country. And, in return, French voters are playing with the suicidal idea of giving him either a far-right or a far-left majority in the national assembly.Many voters have already warned that, if confronted with such a stark choice in the second round, they will simply refuse to choose between the xenophobic far-right or the antisemitic far-left alliance, both Putin admirers. While French artists have been eerily silent during this snap campaign, ducking down, refusing to take sides, one man, Kylian Mbappe, rose to the challenge and asked his compatriots not only to vote but to fight the extremes. Asked whether he made any distinctions between the far right and far left, he replied that, non, they were the same to him. Their ideas are divisive. I'm for ideas that unite." Liberte, egalite, Mbappe! A few hours later, he was breaking his nose on the pitch; he has since reappeared as a superhero with a tricolour protective mask. Continue reading...

America's evangelicals sense a chance to impose a radical agenda and resist what they see as a tide of liberal secularismGod's army is on the march. And many of its foot soldiers are wearing Make America great again" regalia, sensing that their unlikely standard bearer, former US president Donald Trump, is once again close to the promised land.I do not believe that America can survive another four years of Joe Biden," Ralph Reed, founder and chair of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, told a gathering of the religious right in Washington on Friday. I haven't felt this way since Jimmy Carter was president." The audience burst into knowing laughter. Continue reading...

Burning slopes are now battered by golf ball-sized hail and 8in of rain, creating a grim mix of extreme weather eventsIt's been a harrowing week of fire and flood in New Mexico. Just days after a pair of fast-moving fires roared across drought-stricken landscapes and into communities, a tropical storm swirled north, unleashing downpours and golf ball-sized hail over scorched slopes that had only just burned.As the dueling dangers of two weather extremes converged, charred debris flowed into neighborhoods, crews were temporarily evacuated from the fire fight as emergency officials pivoted from fire support to flood rescues, and strong winds swept up dried soils to create one of the largest dust storms the state has ever seen. Continue reading...

Clark made a bit of a wishy-washy statement, but after the shrill rightwing complaints, she should be applauded for speaking upYou don't need to know anything about basketball to have heard of Caitlin Clark. She's a record-breaking superstar who has helped take women's basketball to new heights. Unfortunately, she's also been shoved into a starring role in the culture wars. An awful lot of conservative men, who don't ordinarily give a damn about women's sports, have decided that she provides a very convenient excuse for them to be racist and misogynistic on main. Although, to be fair, they don't normally need an excuse. Continue reading...

Anti-gun control and gun-safety advocates prepare for fall elections, with National Rifle Association beset by woesAnti-gun-control groups and gun-safety advocates are launching hefty voter-mobilization drives this year with the stakes high in the fall elections given the stark differences on gun violence policy between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.But the long-powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), which has been beset with financial and legal headaches for several years, is not expected to be nearly as active as in 2016, when it spent more than $31m to back Trump's victorious campaign by boosting his political fortunes in key states, say gun experts and ex-NRA insiders. Continue reading...

Anna Lee Dozier bought ceramic vessel at Maryland thrift store but it will now reside in Mexico City's main museumMexico has regained a lost ancient Maya vase because of a US woman who bought the artefact for less than $5 at a thrift store.Anne Lee Dozier recently received an expression of gratitude from the Mexican embassy in her home town of Washington DC for her role in reuniting the 1,200-to 1,800-year-old vase with its motherland. Continue reading...

An impatient federation has forced a roster reboot in preparation for 2026 but the quality of the squad has dwindled as players shun the chance to play abroad

After chaos in 2020, the switch from non-partisan overseer to commercial TV has some critics fearing a slippery slopeWill you shut up, man?" It was hardly oratory worthy of Abraham Lincoln, but Joe Biden's primal plea in the face of relentless interruptions and heckling from Donald Trump provided a defining soundbite of the 2020 presidential debates.The two will face each other again on Thursday for the first of two head-to-head debates for the 2024 campaign, under new rules designed to prevent matters degenerating as they did four years ago. The US president and the former president will meet in a TV studio without the presence of a partisan audience, which some saw as an essential ingredient of Trump's rabble-rousing approach. And to counteract the repeated butting-in that so irked Biden, the candidates will have their microphones muted when they are not speaking. Continue reading...