US news | The Guardian

It must learn to use its global reach and power wisely as other, sometimes predatory, nations grow in influenceThe headlines this past week have been about further terrible events in Gaza and the desperate need for a sustained ceasefire, alongside a paradigm shift in the way the war is conducted, but foreign policy is rarely at the centre of general election campaigns and 2024 is unlikely to be an exception. However, the UK does not have the luxury of thinking that the rest of the world doesn't matter.This was one of the delusions of Brexit: that there is a future where our destiny depends only on our own decisions rather than on our ability to engage, incentivise, bargain with and deter others. Continue reading...

Tina Wilson, 55, and a student were airlifted in critical condition after bus carrying fraternity members hit concrete barrierA charter bus taking university students to a fraternity event crashed in southern Mississippi on Friday afternoon, injuring 11 people, including 10 students and the driver.Mississippi highway patrol said 56 college students were on board when the bus crashed into a concrete barrier on Interstate 10 in Hancock county. Nine students were taken to local hospitals by ambulance, while the driver and another student were airlifted from the scene in critical condition. Continue reading...

Security guard killed at bar in CityPlace Doral following altercation, with gunman then shot dead by policeTwo people have died and seven have been wounded following a shooting at a popular shopping mall in Florida.A fight broke out at the Martini Bar located in the CityPlace Doral early on Saturday morning, according to Miami-Dade police. The altercation resulted in a security guard, who intervened in the dispute, being shot and killed by the gunman, who was then also killed in a subsequent gun battle with police, according to Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade detective. Continue reading...

It was the sneaker of our age, but that's all over nowLook down and check what you're wearing on your feet. If it's a pair of Adidas Sambas, I'm afraid you need to take them off immediately and never wear them again. Sorry. I don't make the rules. Blame our beleaguered leader. In an Instagram video last Thursday, Rishi Sunak wore Sambas during a Downing Street interview to promote his tax policies. The doomed prime minister went for a white pair with navy stripes, teamed with skinny slacks and a tailored white shirt. Listen carefully and you could hear the death knell tolling for the trainerdu jour.The ubiquitous gum-soled, trio-striped trainers are beloved by everyone from rappers to supermodels. They've been hailed as this year's It-footwear", the official shoe of the season", the defining sneaker of our age". They're what Converse All Stars were in the 00s or Stan Smiths in the 2010s. A retro casual classic. An archival pub shoe that works almost anywhere. Continue reading...

The UK branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom has increased its spending and is forging ties with key MPsA rightwing Christian lobby group that wants abortion to be banned has forged ties with an adviser to the prime minister and is drawing up policy briefings for politicians.The UK branch of the US-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has more than doubled its spending since 2020 and been appointed a stakeholder in a parliamentary group on religious freedoms in a role that grants it direct access to MPs. Continue reading...

Musical biopics should convincingly depict theirstars' lives - if you just want to hear the hits, put on an albumThe reviews are in for the trailer for the imminent Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, it stars Marisa Abela as Winehouse, who died in 2011. Vitriol has been heaped on Abela's vocals in a clip depicting Winehouse singing Stronger Than Me from her debut album, Frank. People (who've yet to see the film) are mad that Abela (who broke through in the television city finance drama, Industry) can't sing as well, croon as sinuously, asWinehouse.So, Abela isn't Amy's exact vocal-doppelganger - the only reasonable reaction can be, so what? If the Winehouse magic were that easy to reproduce, you'd wonder what made her so special. That aside, it's weird to see people bashing a film based on singing in a trailer. What does that say about the music biopic genre? What does it say about us? Continue reading...

Last week, a group of Iranian military leaders in Damascus became the trend's latest victimsIn today's lawless world, political assassination is the new growth industry - and anyone, famous or not, is a potential victim. Government-sanctioned killings are proliferating, with Russia, Israel, Iran and India leading the pack. While lone gunmen and crazed zealots still pose random threats, state-organised, premeditated assassination plots are being normalised and popularised. MurderInc is going global with a licence to kill.The assassination business was mostly a superpower monopoly during the cold war. US- and Soviet-directed operations targeted high-profile figures such as Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chile's Salvador Allende and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito. Some hits" were more notorious than others. In 1940, a member of Stalin's secret police, the NKVD, assassinated the dissident Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky in Mexico City with an ice-pick. Who shot Sweden's prime minister Olaf Palme in 1986 is still disputed. Continue reading...

Communities in Washington, California and Maine will receive $755,000 under the Infrastructure Act to build climate resilienceThis month, three Indigenous American tribes on the west and east coasts will collectively receive nearly $755,000 in federal funding to manage ocean and coastal problems, as well as engage in partnerships to offset the effects of the climate crisis in their regions. The tribes' projects will blend together Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to build innovative strategies around coastal resilience.On Monday, the federal agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Department of Commerce announced that the Makah Tribe in Washington, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in California and the Penobscot Nation in Maine will be individually awarded between $200,000 and $290,000 for their two-year projects. The funding comes from the Biden administration's bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which provided Noaa with nearly $3bn to facilitate environmental stewardship, build climate-resilient coasts and support infrastructure around weather forecasting from 2022 to 2026. Continue reading...

Singapore reportedly paid the singer 2.4m a show to host her Eras tour, causing dismay in Thailand and the PhilippinesCongratulations are in order for Taylor Swift, who makes her Forbes Rich List debut this year as one of the world's newly minted billionaires. Not content with inspiring her own branch of economics - Swiftonomics, FYI - the singer is also responsible for causing geopolitical tension in south-east Asia, with her record-busting Eras tour.The financial value of a Swift gig is of such national importance that Singapore reportedly paid her up to $3m (2.4m) a show to ensure it was the only place to host Swift on her jaunt to the region this spring, prompting complaints from Thailand and the Philippines. In the words of one Filipino politician: [It] isn't what good neighbours do." If $3m sounds like an awful lot to secure a concert exclusive, that's small change when you consider the benefits - it's estimated that her six shows have boosted the Singapore economy by $370m. Continue reading...

The X owner is paying legal bills of people unfairly treated' over their posts while weaponizing the law to shut down his criticsLet's check in on the platform formerly known as Twitter shall we? Let's have a gander at how it's doing since Elon Musk, the world's cleverest man, decided to set its extremely valuable brand equity on fire and rename it X". Continue reading...

Cole Brings Plenty, 27, had gone missing amid domestic violence investigationAn actor who appeared in a spinoff of the popular television western Yellowstone was found dead after he went missing amid a domestic violence investigation in Kansas, authorities said on Friday.The Johnson county sheriff's office said in a statement that deputies found the body of 27-year-old Cole Brings Plenty in a wooded area. Crime scene investigators and the medical examiner were at the location, but no details were released about a cause of death. Continue reading...

University of Michigan president Santa J Ono proposes disruptive activity policy' after pro-Palestinian group cuts his speech shortThe University of Michigan is facing backlash from students, faculty and civil rights attorneys following a proposal to significantly restrict the right to protest on campus.The disruptive activity policy", announced last week in a campus-wide email from the university president, Santa J Ono, would create strict punishments for anyone who interrupts official university events, including speeches, classes, athletic events, field trips, performances, graduation and award ceremonies. Continue reading...

Business groups claim hard-fought $20 hourly wage victory will cause reduced hours, layoffs and price hikes - critics say otherwiseAs fast-food workers celebrated a pivotal wage increase to $20 an hour in California last week, an old economic debate was awakened by business groups and others claiming the increase will wind up hurting workers through reduced hours and layoffs, hurt customers with price hikes, and harm the franchise owners of fast food restaurants.Their critics are not so sure. Continue reading...

Advocacy groups raise alarm over threat of third-party candidate: anyone who divides the anti-Trump coalition is dangerous'Celebrating the demise of No Labels as a third-party presidential election threat, two advocacy groups who mobilised against it have said they would now turn their sights on Robert F Kennedy Jr's independent run for the White House.Though it is hard to make solid predictions, a high-profile third-party run in 2024 unnerves both Republicans and Democrats who fear it might siphon off their votes. But the nervousness is especially pronounced among supporters of Joe Biden, who worry such a campaign could split the center and left and allow Donald Trump and his highly motivated rightwing base to win a return to the Oval Office. Continue reading...

An average of 17% of voters in Republican contests registered protest votes - and in an election that will be fought on the margins, every moderate and independent vote mattersBirdbrain. I call her birdbrain." Donald Trump's words form the cold open of a new campaign ad from Joe Biden's US presidential re-election team. If you voted for Nikki Haley," the video continues, Donald Trump doesn't want your vote."The 30-second ad, entitled Save America. Join Us, targets Haley voters in predominantly suburban battleground state postal districts where she performed well against Trump in Republican primary contests. It raises the prospect that the former president's past disdain for Haley and her supporters could come back to haunt him if he fails to unite the party in November. Continue reading...

Excerpts from his speeches do not do justice to Trump's smorgasbord of vendettas, non sequiturs and comparisons to famous peopleDonald Trump's speeches on the 2024 campaign trail so far have been focused on a laundry list of complaints, largely personal, and an increasingly menacing tone.He's on the campaign trail less these days than he was in previous cycles - and less than you'd expect from a guy with dedicated superfans who brags about the size of his crowds every chance he gets. But when he has held rallies, he speaks in dark, dehumanizing terms about migrants, promising to vanquish people crossing the border. He rails about the legal battles he faces and how they're a sign he's winning, actually. He tells lies and invents fictions. He calls his opponent a threat to democracy and claims this election could be the last one.Instituting the death penalty for drug dealers.Creating the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act": If China or any other country makes us pay 100% or 200% tariff, which they do, we will make them pay a reciprocal tariff of 100% or 200%. In other words, you screw us and we'll screw you."Indemnifying all police officers and law enforcement officials.Rebuilding cities and taking over Washington DC, where, he said in a recent speech, there are beautiful columns" put together through force of will" because there were no Caterpillar tractors" and now those columns have graffiti on them.Issuing an executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content.Moving to one-day voting with paper ballots and voter ID. Continue reading...

The Israeli PM has turned to censorship for his survival, as the public increasingly feels despair over his military campaignOn 1 April, the Israeli Knesset approved the so-called Al Jazeera law, granting the communications minister the power to close foreign media outlets deemed security risks, with Al Jazeera in particular in its crosshairs.We have brought an efficient and rapid tool to act against those who use freedom of the press to harm Israel's security, IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers, and to incite terrorism during wartime," said the communications minister, Shlomo Karhi. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he intended to act immediately in accordance with the new law". Continue reading...

The world's richest people are mostly American, big in fintech, and started near the top. Where does that leave the rest of us?There is a tiny new elite at the frontier of money-making and they are known as the centibillionaires. These titans of the universe have personal assets of at least $100bn, and there are now 14 of them in the world - up from six last year. You will find them listed, compared and celebrated by the Bloomberg billionaires index and the Forbes world's billionaires list, which has just been published.Thanks to these annual tallies of the superwealthy, we know that 2,781 people worldwide - 141 more than last year - have personal wealth of $1bn or more. And that Taylor Swift is now one of them. And that their collective wealth - about $14.2tn - is more than the GDP of any country except the US and China. But centibillionaires are this group's porous top tier, described by Forbes as those who have done much better than the average billionaire", and their wealth is unimaginable to most of us.Caroline Knowles is global professorial fellow at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of Serious Money: Walking Plutocratic LondonDo 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...

Big opposition wins in last week's elections, notable for a huge rise in female representatives, reasserted the country's liberal, secular valuesTurkey is a beautiful and complicated country that never ceases to bewilder not only international observers but also, at times, its own citizens. The results of local elections held last Sunday came as a surprise to many pollsters. The opposition won a spectacular victory, changing the political landscape and shifting the dominant narrative. It would be naive to assume that it signals the end of an era, but it sure feels like a new beginning.For so long now, the opposition in Turkey has been demoralised, fractured and weak against an unbridled concentration of power and authority. The lack of checks and balances, the lack of freedom of speech, the lack of free media and the lack of the separation of powers - these all stacked the cards against anyone who dared to question the Justice and Development party (AKP) government and its religious-nationalist-populist ideology. Continue reading...

Bernie Sanders ramps up pressure on White House: My view is no more military aid to Israel when children [there] are starving'More than three dozen congressional Democrats - including representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a key Joe Biden ally - signed a letter to the president and the secretary of state Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers," the letter said. It was signed by Pelosi and 36 other Democrats including Representatives Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Continue reading...

Biden visits site of disaster as body of Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, one of six workers killed, is delivered to familyA third body has been recovered after six construction workers were killed when a cargo ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, authorities said on Friday. The body of Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38, was found just hours before Joe Biden arrived to get a first-hand look at efforts to clear away the debris.The Baltimore mayor, Brandon Scott, expressed his gratitude to the first responders while sending condolences to the workers' families. This evening the Unified Command announced that divers were able to bring Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, one of the remaining missing workers, home to his family," read a statement from Scott. While I take solace in knowing this brings us one step closer to closure, my heart continues to be with all the families still waiting anxiously for their loved ones." Continue reading...

Pedro Romero Perez, 24, was shot five times in the 2023 attack at a mushroom farm that left seven people dead, including his brotherThe lone survivor of a mass shooting at a northern California mushroom farm is suing the farm's owner for negligence in the attack that spanned two locations and left seven people dead and one person, Pedro Felix Romero Perez, injured.Perez, 24, was shot five times, and his older brother Jose Romero Perez was killed in the 23 January 2023 shooting at California Terra Garden and Concord Farms in Half Moon Bay, a coastal community about 30 miles south of San Francisco. He is suing California Terra Garden and its owner, Xianmin Guan, for compensation for the physical and emotional trauma he is facing and for the financial losses he is incurring because he can't work. Continue reading...

US Geological survey reported the quake centered in New Jersey, and was felt across the eastern seaboard

Stephanie Cosme, 32, was killed last year when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an aircraft in CaliforniaA US air force civilian contractor had become disoriented recording data at an airport in California last year when she walked into a jet's rotating propeller and was killed, officials said Friday.In a statement outlining the findings of a report into the contractor's death, the air force materiel command said that 32-year-old Stephanie Cosme was mortally injured on 7 September when she inadvertently walked into the rotating propeller of an MQ-9A that was parked at Gray Butte airfield. Continue reading...

Wrestler and actor endorsed president and Kamala Harris in 2020 but tells Fox News that for 2024 he will keep my politics to myself'The wrestler turned action star Dwayne The Rock" Johnson dealt a blow to Joe Biden, saying he would not repeat his endorsement of the president in his looming rematch with Donald Trump.Johnson endorsed Biden in his first contest with Trump four years ago, saluting the former vice-president and senator for his compassion, heart, drive and soul". Continue reading...

Joe Cunningham says I would vote for Biden over Trump' after third-party group dropped effort to run own candidateThe national director of No Labels, the third-party group which on Thursday said it would not run a candidate in the US presidential election, will now vote for Joe Biden, not Donald Trump.Me, as a person?" Joe Cunningham told Fox News. I would vote for Biden over Trump." Continue reading...

Independent presidential candidate makes promise one day after claiming reference to prisoners as activists' was unfortunate errorRobert F Kennedy Jr, the lawyer, conspiracy theorist and independent candidate for US president, vowed to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends" in convictions of January 6 rioters - just one day after his campaign said a fundraising reference to such prisoners as activists" was an unfortunate error.In a statement on Friday, Kennedy said that as president, he would appoint a special counsel - an individual respected by all sides - to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case, and I will right any wrongs that we discover". Continue reading...

President tours site on Friday, as cranes, ships and divers work to reopen port where up to $200m in cargo moves each day

This live blog is now closed. For more on Biden's visit to the site of the Baltimore bridge collapse, you can read our story here.The Biden administration will try again to implement a large-scale student debt relief plan, a year after a previous attempt was blocked by the supreme court's conservative justices, the Wall Street Journal reports.The plan, which Joe Biden will announce on Monday during a visit to swing state Wisconsin, comes as opinion polls show the president struggling to maintain support among younger voters ahead of his expected November election rematch against Donald Trump.The president's advisers hope to use the rules to begin canceling waves of student debt in the run-up to the November election, but the exact timing of the effort will depend on how quickly the administration can finalize the regulations. The debt forgiveness push could give Biden a political boost, especially among young people, amid polls that show him trailing former President Donald Trump, his GOP opponent, in several key states. But the proposal, once it is completed, is likely to face legal action from Republican attorneys general, who will again try to convince the courts to block it.Just hours after the Supreme Court in June 2023 killed his first student loan forgiveness plan, Biden pledged to try again using different legal authority. That kicked off a lengthy and bureaucratic process led by the Education Department to craft regulations that define under what circumstances the federal government can waive," or eliminate, federal student debt. The administration is basing the regulations on a 1965 law called the Higher Education Act. Continue reading...

At a Cheyenne River Sioux meeting, members voted 12-0 to keep the Republican out over her claims of of tribe-drug cartel nexusKristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota recently sued for promoting a cosmetic dentistry company on social media, suffered another kick in the teeth when she was banned from a second reservation home to Indigenous people.This person has made a lot of accusations about the tribes, about the cartel, council representatives being in bed with the cartel, stuff like that," Robert Walters, a Cheyenne River Sioux representative, told a tribal council meeting this week, presenting a motion to ban Noem from tribal lands over allegations about crime linked to Mexican drugs gangs. Continue reading...

Israel's opening of aid routes is welcome and overdue. But much more is neededA pivotal point has arrived in the cataclysmic sixmonth war in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces' killing of seven foreign aid workers and their Palestinian driver has spurred the US, the UK and other European allies to draw the line that they should have established long ago. On Thursday, Joe Biden called for an immediate ceasefire and told Benjamin Netanyahu that future support would depend on Israel taking steps to protect civilians and relief workers.These warnings come too late for tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. But they could now protect others from the continued offensive, the threatened ground assault in Rafah, and the famine setting in: Oxfam says that people in the north are consuming on average just 245 calories a day. Faced with the prospect of sanctions or a halt to arms deals, MrNetanyahu's war cabinet agreed to the opening of the Erez crossing and temporary use of the port of Ashdod in southern Israel. But as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said, the real test is results". TheUS government wants to see them within days.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Former US president is absent from big boy' course he owns but his presence pervades on stopoff for breakaway tourA key element of Masters intrigue exists outside the ropes. Will Greg Norman and Yasir al-Rumayyan appearat Augusta National next week? It has become increasingly futile for golf's establishment to ignore LIV and its Saudi Arabian backers but Augusta's custodians are extremely precious about potential distraction from the firstmajor of the year.If Norman and the governor ofthe Saudi Public Investment Fund are spotted under the famousoak tree at the Masters it will serve as the latest indication of the normalisation or legitimacy LIV has craved since it was merelyaPowerPoint plan. This has been the most expensive foot-in-the-door project in sporting history; LIV continues apace in year three with $25m (19.8m) events, evenbefore the hundreds of millions spent on coaxing players in the first place is considered. Continue reading...

Justin Allen says he thought doctor was messing' with him and that they'd never forget where they were during quake

Vermont and Maine worst affected areas while new wave of storms moving across southern and central US Sunday into MondayAt least two people were killed and hundreds of thousands of residents of the north-eastern US remained without power on Friday following a major spring storm that dumped up to two feet of snow in some areas.Elsewhere in the country, others prepared for more severe weather that threatened to impede viewing for Monday's total solar eclipse. Continue reading...

We want to hear from people affected by the 4.8 magnitude quakeAn earthquake shook the New York City metropolitan area on Friday morning, the US Geological Survey said. Residents reported feeling rumbling across the eastern seaboard.We want to hear from people in the New York City metropolitan area and along the US east coast. Where were you and did you feel the shaking? How did it feel and what did you do? Continue reading...

Car plant is second such in a southern state to ask the labor board to hold union election to join the United Autoworkers UnionMercedes-Benz workers in Vance, Alabama, have voted to hold an election to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), the second car plant in a southern state to pass such a vote in the last month.A supermajority of more than 5,000 workers at the plant have asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to organize an election. Volkswagen employees in Tennessee made the same decision last month and will vote on whether to join the UAW later this month. Continue reading...

They attract millions, but the viewer never quite knows if it's just entertainment or a way to process recent, seismic eventsWhen Prince Andrew appeared on Newsnight in November 2019, he dispelled any lingering doubt in the notion that truth is stranger than fiction.If you can recall - and let's be honest, who can forget? - the Duke of York made a series of startling claims when called on to address his close ties with Jeffrey Epstein, among them that retaining a relationship with the convicted child sex offender was the right thing to do". There was also the alibi that hinged on a children's party at Pizza Express in Woking and his lack of ability, at the time, to sweat. Continue reading...

In an industry built on the idea that long hours correlate with efficiency, an RV company increases profits - and productivityA minor revolution in the world of work is unfolding at a company 20 miles north-east of Cleveland.Here, workers at Advanced RV are talking about what they'll do on their Friday off. Others are discussing how they'll spend Monday: potter around at home, hang out with their kids or run some errands - anything but show up for work. Continue reading...

Move to increase humanitarian aid came hours after Biden told Netanyahu that US support would depend on Israel taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers. Plus: Microsoft says China will interfere in US and other elections using AI

Polls can't predict - but they can warn. And I'm not sure our horserace-obsessed media are heeding the warningI learned the hard way to be skeptical about the predictive power of public opinion polls.I remember election night 2016 all too well, as I hit delete on my partially pre-written Washington Post column and instead tried to look into the future of a Trump presidency. It was a future that wasn't supposed to happen.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

The 6ft 9in, 280lbs NC State star doesn't look like a typical athlete. But there's no doubting his skill, or his dazzling charismaCollege basketball fans love to fall in love. Every spring, America looks not just for a Cinderella team that may make a run in the NCAA Tournament but for individual heroes to join the pantheon of March Madness greats. These are almost never the players who hear their names called early in the NBA Draft. Most of them, in fact, never get to play in the NBA at all. But they are beloved anyway, for what they did during one or two (or five or six) single-elimination games in college. The American fan also loves a player with an unusual physique, whether tall, short, thin, or portly. Something about the spectacle of an athlete who doesn't look like an athlete has always captivated us. We've seen enough stars built like Greek gods.And the breakout star of this year's men's tournament, DJ Burns, isn't exactly Apollo (Creed or the god). Burns is listed at 6ft 9in and 275lbs, and is cuddly rather than sculpted (for context, the powerfully built LeBron James is the same height but 25lbs lighter). Not that it's affected Burns's play: he is a key cog for the Final Four-bound North Carolina State Wolfpack. As NC State have made their run as a No 11 seed, Burns has become the tournament's hottest name. He has all the makings of a cult hero. More than that, he is two wins away from what would be one of the most shocking championship runs in US sports history. Continue reading...

A year after the Covenant school shooting in Nashville - and a mass movement for gun control - Republicans have accelerated their attacks on democratic normsThe murder of six people at a church school in an affluent, largely white enclave of Tennessee's largest city one year ago sparked a mass protest movement for gun control by Nashville parents. The Republican-dominated legislature met that movement with some spending on school police officers as a gesture to the outrage, a law shielding gun and ammunition manufacturers from liability as a gesture to Tennessee's powerful gun lobby and the expulsion of the two Black lawmakers as a gesture of warning to people causing too much trouble.Other antidemocratic displays over the last year would be just as outrageous, if people outside of Tennessee were still paying attention. Continue reading...

Richard Grenell's shadow foreign policy campaign is unsettling diplomats and threatens to collapse US interestsFor Donald Trump, he is my envoy", the man apparently anointed as the former US president's roving ambassador while he plots a return to the White House.To critics, he is seen as an online pest" and a national disgrace" - and most importantly, the dark embodiment of what foreign policy in a second Trump administration would look like. Continue reading...