Republican presidential candidate makes comments in New Hampshire on controversial law signed by governor Ron DeSantisRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told a New Hampshire audience the controversial “don’t say gay” education law signed by the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, does not go “far enough”.“Basically what it said was you shouldn’t be able to talk about gender before third grade,” Haley said. “I’m sorry. I don’t think that goes far enough.” Continue reading...
Local 911 dispatches received multiple calls from residents about loud noises and a possible ‘explosion’ that shook their homesA 1,000lbs meteoroid likely exploded in the skies above Texas scattering fragments over the ground on Wednesday afternoon, confirmed Nasa.The meteorite had a diameter of 2ft and its destruction was felt near McAllen, Texas, in the state’s southern area, as residents reported loud noises in the area. Continue reading...
Comments by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham revealed in $1.6bn Dominion defamation lawsuitHosts at Fox News privately ridiculed Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen while simultaneously peddling the same lies on air, according to court filings in a defamation lawsuit against the network.Rightwing personalities Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are among those named in the $1.6bn action brought by Dominion Voting Systems, the seller of electronic voting hardware and software that is suing Fox News and parent company Fox Corporation for maligning its reputation. Continue reading...
Officers plead not guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official misconductFive former Memphis police officers pleaded not guilty on Friday to second-degree murder and other charges in the violent arrest and death of Tyre Nichols.Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith made their first court appearances with their lawyers before a judge in Shelby county criminal court. The officers were fired after an internal police investigation into the 7 January arrest of Nichols, who died in a hospital three days later. Continue reading...
The president’s short address didn’t do anyone – including himself – much good, as it shed little light on what was going onAfter weeks of speculation about a Chinese spy balloon and other weird things in the skies over North America, President Joe Biden on Thursday did what he had to do.He finally talked about the subject in a formal setting – a brief address to the nation from the White House.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
Steve Mulroy, the Shelby county district attorney, discusses the swift charges on the five officers and criminal justice reform in MemphisSteve Mulroy had been the Shelby county district attorney for just over 100 days when five Memphis police officers beat and killed Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man.As the case began to get more and more attention, Mulroy, a Democrat, did something surprising. In high-profile police killings, prosecutors and police are slow to release video while they investigate. Criminal charges against the police officers, if they’re filed at all, come much later. Continue reading...
Our current stage of capitalism demands that poor people make do with less while the rich make no sacrifices“Let’s eat only two meals a day.” Back in the 1990s, North Korea, which was suffering through a terrible famine, adopted a slogan which cheerfully asked its impoverished citizens to eat less. Decades later, it looks like the Wall Street Journal wants to bring that slogan to America. “To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast”, the Journal headlined a recent short piece documenting inflation in breakfast foods like eggs. Which is honestly quite a restrained take for the Journal. Why not up the ante a little bit and ask some really difficult questions, eh? Like: “Hey Paupers, Have You Tried Existing on Grubworms?” Or: “To Save Rich People from Experiencing Any Inconvenience Whatosever, Maybe The Poors Should Live in Underground Tunnels”.It’s a bit of a waste of energy – and without breakfast you can’t afford to waste energy! – to get angry over a Wall Street Journal headline that was clearly intended to provoke people. (It succeeded brilliantly at that, by the way: the headline generated a lot of outrage and mirth on Twitter.) The real issue here, the reason this headline deserves any extra attention, is because it’s not just clickbait, it’s a perfection summation of the economy. Our current stage of capitalism demands that poor people make do with less while the rich make no sacrifices whatsoever. We can’t possibly tax the rich to help combat inflation, that would slow economic growth. Nope, far better for everyone at the top if the people at the bottom just eat a bit less. Who needs breakfast anyway? Continue reading...
‘Private companies’ conclusion likely to fuel criticism that downings were overreaction amid pressure over initial balloon discovery. Plus, there may be a reason you want to sleep more in winter
Bills are part of religious right’s post-Roe strategy, with most prevalent ones relating to age verification of sex-related websitesA wave of proposed legislation pushed by Republicans across the US at the state level is aimed at outlawing aspects of sexuality that could have a huge impact on Americans’ private lives and businesses.Opponents to the laws before legislatures in various states say the planned new legislation could spawn prosecution of breast-pump companies in Texas for nipples on advertising, or a bookstore might be banned from selling romance novels in West Virginia, or South Carolina could imprison standup comics if a risque joke is heard by a young person. Continue reading...
Houston are the latest MLB team to secure a uniform advertising deal as their players become walking billboards for Occidental PetroleumAs soon as it was announced that MLB teams would be allowed to include advertisements on their uniforms, a race seemingly began to see who would land the most dubious sponsor. While results are still coming in, the Houston Astros are leading the pack after signing a deal with Occidental Petroleum. Yes, the reigning world champions, not exactly popular to start with, will be walking billboards for a fossil fuel company as the climate crisis rages.Officially, the league prefers if you call this type of deal a “patch sponsorship,” which sounds folksy and informal. That term feels more than a little euphemistic, so maybe it’s more helpful to take the cue of journalist Paul Lukas, who believes the simpler term “uniform ads” is more to the point. Continue reading...
Number of conservative political commentators expressed doubts about claims being aired on their networkHosts at Fox News did not believe the allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election that were being aired on their programmes by supporters of former president Donald Trump, according to court filings in a $1.6bn (£1.34bn) defamation lawsuit against the network.“Sidney Powell is lying” about having evidence for election fraud, Tucker Carlson wrote in a message on 16 November 2020, according to an excerpt from an exhibit that remains under seal. Continue reading...
The NBA Slam Dunk Contest has become an institution in modern basketball. But for years dunks were outlawed in college and high school gamesIt seems impossible to believe, but there was a time when basketball largely forbade the dunk. From 1967 to 1976, high school and college players were outlawed from slamming the ball through the rim. Instead, they would have to lay the ball up or simply drop it through the hoop as they soared through the air. Now, as we look forward to this weekend’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest, the ban seems silly, especially when considering the eye-popping highlights created by the likes of Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Shawn Kemp and Vince Carter.But such was the state of things a half-century ago. In an era when the game was changing rapidly, when players like the 7ft 2in Kareem-Abdul Jabbar were dominating instead of the shorter, more ground-bond hoopers like Bob Cousy, the dunk was seen as taboo among “purists,” against the very nature of basketball itself. Though that perspective wasn’t shared by many of the players. Continue reading...
Online hate has become a tool of the right and a lucrative business. It’s driving women out of public life, putting democracy and human rights at riskListening to the resignation speech of Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon this week, it was impossible not to think of the all-too similar words from former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern just a few weeks earlier.Politicians are humans, too, as Sturgeon and Ardern reminded us, but the abuse women face online – greater and more vicious than that faced by male politicians – seem to dehumanise them, leaving some to wonder if the problem is a reflection of millennia-old misogyny, or an issue with technology. Continue reading...
by Brent Crosson and Alexandra Villareal on (#68YZW)
Alejandro, who fled his home fearing for his life, is among a vast displaced population used as political pawns in the USThe rough floor of the immigration detention center was Alejandro’s sharpening stone.For hours each day, he scraped trash against concrete at the River correctional facility in rural Louisiana so he could make rings for his loved ones. He wore plastic Coke bottles down to an “O” shape, using the cylinder to give the rings their form. He knew the bottle would leave the rings too big for the fingers he was making them for: his sister, niece, and best friend. But he had nothing else. Continue reading...
People in East Palestine demand answers from Norfolk Southern railroad, which skipped meeting due to staff safety concernsThe head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got a first-hand look on Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later.The EPA’s administrator, Michael Regan, walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals and sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water was fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just less than 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line. Continue reading...
The revelation that the Wieambilla shootings were a ‘religiously motivated terror attack’ should prompt deep introspectionThe announcement yesterday that Queensland police now consider the Wieambilla attacks to be a “religiously motivated terror attack” connected to a Christian extremist ideology should constitute a seismic shift in our understanding of the terror threat in Australia.Middle-aged, middle-class Christian Australians, two of them teachers, ambushed and killed two police officers and a neighbour. This should and must and trigger debate about new directions in extremism in Australia and equally, should stimulate a wider introspection about the increase in polarisation and extremism in Australia. Continue reading...
President lost weight since last year, but still suffers from arthritis and had small lesion removed from chest during annual check-upDoctors declared Joe Biden, 80, healthy and “fit for duty” on Thursday after a physical examination that included removing a lesion from his chest and declaring him free of symptoms of long Covid after his bout last year with the virus.“The president remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor said in a summary of the health exam. Continue reading...
‘Private companies’ conclusion set to fuel criticism that downings were overreaction amid pressure over initial balloon discoveryJoe Biden has broken his silence on unknown aerial objects shot down over North America during the past week, assessing that they were “most likely” operated by private companies or research institutions rather than China.The US president’s tentative conclusion is likely to fuel criticism that his orders to take down the objects were an overreaction amid political pressure over the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that transited much of the country. Continue reading...
The partial release of the grand jury report signals the investigation already contains legitimate evidence of perjuryThe release of a portion of the Fulton county special purpose grand jury’s report marks a new step toward potential criminal charges holding Donald Trump and his allies accountable for election interference.Georgia was crucial in the 2020 presidential election, providing a key victory for Joe Biden and drawing the intense focus of Trump and his backers. Continue reading...
Pennsylvania senator suffered a stroke while campaigning last year and has experienced depression ‘off and on’ throughout lifeJohn Fetterman, the US senator from Pennsylvania, checked into hospital on Wednesday to receive treatment for clinical depression, his chief of staff said.The news came a week after the Democrat, who suffered a stroke while campaigning last year, was hospitalised after feeling light-headed. Fetterman is a rising star among Democrats. Continue reading...
Hundreds packed into a high school gym on Wednesday to demand answers in a town hall almost two weeks after a train derailment released toxic chemicals into their town, East Palestine, Ohio. Locals expressed concern about the environment and their health despite the fact that authorities said the chemical spill had been contained and posed little threat to the town's residents. Resident Kathy Dyke said: 'I honestly feel that the … police department, the fire department, all the first responders, they don't have the answers to give us because I don't think they know.'Norfolk Southern, the rail company responsible for the crash, did not attend the meeting citing safety concerns, but has offered $1.5m in aid for the area. The company faces multiple lawsuits from residents.
Sections of report looking into whether Trump committed crime in attempt to overturn election released on ThursdayMultiple witnesses who testified before a special purpose grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election may have lied and committed perjury, according to a section of the grand jury’s report released on Thursday.The report offers the first insight into the work of the special purpose grand jury, which was convened in May last year. The 23 jurors and three alternates heard from 75 witnesses during the course of its investigation. Continue reading...
Palin, who quit as Alaska governor in 2009 amid talk of a run for president, envisions DeSantis running one day ‘but not now’Ron DeSantis of Florida should stay as governor “a bit longer” and not run for president in 2024, said Sarah Palin – the former Alaska governor who was John McCain’s running mate in 2008 but resigned rather than complete her term after Republican defeat.DeSantis, 44, has not declared a run but is widely expected to do so as the only strong challenger to Donald Trump in polling regarding the forming field. Continue reading...
Washington court sees string of messages from Shane Lamond to Proud Boys’ Enrique Tarrio in weeks before deadly 2021 riotA police officer frequently provided Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio with internal information about law enforcement operations in the weeks before other members of the far-right group stormed the US Capitol, according to messages shown at the trial of Tarrio and four associates.In court in Washington DC on Wednesday, a federal prosecutor showed jurors a string of messages that Shane Lamond, a Metropolitan police lieutenant, exchanged with Tarrio in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021. Lamond, an intelligence officer, was responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys. Continue reading...
Partial release gives insight into investigation examining if Trump and allies acted criminally in efforts to overturn electionThe partial release of a special grand jury report’s on Thursday could give some of the most significant insight to date into a long-running Georgia investigation examining whether Donald Trump and allies committed a crime in their efforts to overturn the presidential election. Here’s all you need to know about that hearing and what to expect next.What exactly is happening on Thursday? Continue reading...
US lawsuit claims Jes Staley received pictures of young women in seductive poses from the sex offenderJes Staley, the former boss of Barclays, has been accused of holding discussions with the late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about photographs of young women in sexually suggestive poses.Staley, 66, is accused in a US lawsuit of exchanging more than 1,200 emails with Epstein, including messages about “women who they referred to by the names of Disney princesses that Epstein [allegedly] procured for Staley”. It is also claimed that Epstein “emailed Staley photos of young women in seductive poses”. Continue reading...
One person killed and three wounded on Wednesday in attack at shopping mall near site of 2019 racist attackOne person was killed and three wounded on Wednesday in a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, close to a Walmart where 23 people were killed in a racist attack targeting Hispanic people in 2019.El Paso police said two people had been taken into custody. Details of what led to the shooting remained unclear. Continue reading...
Man in his 50s with prostate cancer maintained accent until his death despite having never been to IrelandA cancer patient in the US developed what researchers say was an “uncontrollable Irish accent” during treatment, despite never having been to Ireland nor having immediate relatives from the country.While still rare, cases of foreign accent syndrome (FAS) are more common in patients following strokes or head trauma, or who have psychiatric disorders, according to the experts from North Carolina’s Duke University and the Carolina Urologic Research Center of South Carolina. Continue reading...
Two deputies each violated multiple policies after they reported to the location of Nichols’ violent arrest, says sheriffTwo sheriff’s deputies suspended for five days for their role in the arrest of Tyre Nichols failed to keep their body cameras activated after they went to the location where Nichols had been beaten by five Memphis police officers, officials said.Shelby county sheriff’s office deputies Jeremy Watkins and Johntavious Bowers each violated multiple policies after they reported to the location of Nichols’ violent arrest on 7 January, said the sheriff, Floyd Bonner, in a statement. Continue reading...
The latest standoff has sparked international hysteria. But the more countries know about friends and enemies, the betterLong ago, in May 1960, an American U-2 spy plane took off from Pakistan to fly at high altitude across the Soviet Union as part of a mission to photograph key facilities and military sites on behalf of the CIA. The Russians saw it and shot it down. The pilot, Gary Powers, managed to descend by parachute and was arrested. In Washington, the Eisenhower administration lied about his mission, claiming the U-2 was a “weather plane” that had strayed off course after its pilot had “difficulties with his oxygen equipment” (sound familiar?).The incident caused a temporary poisoning of US-Soviet relations as the Kremlin turned it into political theatre. Moscow subjected Powers to a highly publicised criminal trial and gave him a 10-year sentence.Jonathan Steele is a former Guardian correspondent in Moscow Continue reading...
The CDC has found that youth of all genders are suffering at worrying levels, but girls are experiencing far greater levels of distressTeen girls are in a state of despair, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A new report from the agency, based on data collected by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted in 2021, finds that teenagers overall are in a state of desperation, with increases in debilitating sadness, violence, and suicidal ideation.The survey, which the CDC conducts once every two years, questioned 17,000 high school students from across the country, asking them to report on their own mental health and behavior. In a few respects, the news is good, pointing to the success of some public health interventions aimed at teens: kids are less likely to take drugs than they have been in previous decades, for example, and fewer of them are having unprotected sex. Continue reading...
Wage theft, security issues and health problems on the rise after AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile outsource retail stores, report findsLabor conditions and collective bargaining rights have worsened in the large US wireless carrier industry now that big telecommunications firms are increasingly outsourcing their retail sales and customer service operations from company-owned stores.The sector, dominated by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which together reported $337.1bn in revenue in 2022, is now plagued by wage theft, security issues, overworked staff and health and safety problems, according to a new report. Continue reading...
Post-pandemic, companies that boomed by helping us stay at home are struggling to stay afloat. Their loss is my gainThere’s a pathetic but satisfying thing that occurs when you stop using an online service you’re used to frequenting. This was Facebook a few years ago, when plummeting engagement whipped the social media platform into a frenzy of desperate invitations and prompts. It’s Fresh Direct when you fill your basket with groceries and – I can’t recommend this enough, if you’re looking for the tiny high that comes from withholding – don’t check out, triggering a bunch of wheedling automated messages, begging you to come back.This week, in my life, it’s Uber Eats. For the past couple of years I’ve ordered from them once a week and now I’ve stopped, causing the food delivery service to issue a flurry of semi-hysterical special offers. Each spam text, each begging notification, reminds me of the money I’m saving. If you like rejecting things (I like rejecting things) then this exercise will thrill you: rejection without the human cost of hurting someone’s feelings.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
As an Asian American on the new House panel on China, the California Democrat says he’s in ‘a unique position’ to offer a message of economic strengthFor Congressman Ro Khanna, the best part of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last Tuesday came within the first 10 minutes. Touting the creation of 800,000 manufacturing jobs since he took office, the president boasted that the revitalization of America’s middle class is already under way.“For decades, the middle class has been hollowed out … Too many good-paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas. Factories closed down,” Biden said. “Now, thanks to what you’ve all done, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs.” Continue reading...
Democratic governor Phil Murphy says his state ‘will stand on the side of teaching our full history’New Jersey has announced the expansion of Advanced Placement African American studies across its schools.In a move counter to Florida Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s decision last month to ban African American studies from the state’s high schools, New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, announced the expansion of the class subject yesterday while visiting a Newark high school. Continue reading...
When any leader says ‘it’s my way or the highway’ – as he effectively has – they sign their project’s death warrantAll political projects carry within them the seeds of their own destruction. Contradictions, paradoxes and limitations are hardwired through the context and conditions of their creation. An endpoint is built in at birth. After Keir Starmer’s announcement that Jeremy Corbyn will not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate at the next election – the leader’s latest shut-up-or-ship-out message to the party’s left – the lifeline of any incoming Labour or Labour-led government has been shortened, perhaps dramatically.This is not about support for Corbynism or leftwing ideas per se. Instead, it is to argue that in an age of increasing complexity, chaos and confusion any political project must have an agility, nimbleness and fluidity that allows it to forge ever-changing intellectual and movement alliances. Pragmatic politics is now defined by openness – not the closure of debate he has called for with a legitimate, though some would say misguided, wing of his party.Neal Lawson is director of the cross-party campaign organisation Compass Continue reading...
More than two decades after the XFL’s first incarnation imploded, the latest attempt at a spring football league kicks off this weekend. Will it manage to pull in fans?He’s starred in updates of Baywatch and Get Smart, so the Rock has some experience of questionable reboots. Now we’re about to discover whether he can score a box-office hit with the third version of the XFL.The actor, aka Dwayne Johnson, is a co-owner of the spring American football league, which kicks off on Saturday when the Dallas-area Arlington Renegades host the Vegas Vipers in Choctaw Stadium, the former home of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Continue reading...
Utah chief executive bullish about prospects despite men’s Eagles’ World Cup failure and an ever-shifting landscapeIn January, the Utah Warriors of Major League Rugby announced an alliance with Stade Toulousain of France.Toulouse play at Stade Ernest Wallon, a temple of the world game which holds around 20,000 fans. Champions of Europe five times and France 21 times, they field stars – including Antoine Dupont and Romaine Ntamack – who are set to shine at a home World Cup this year. Continue reading...
If a four-time major winner like Brooks Koepka is not pondering what on earth he is doing on the LIV Tour, he should beEstablishing the precise thoughts of Brooks Koepka is a knotty business. This is the individual who, prior to last year’s US Open, barked at a line of questioning relating to his potential involvement in the breakaway LIV Tour. No sooner had dust settled on Matt Fitzpatrick’s famous Brookline success than Koepka was unveiled as a LIV recruit. Koepka’s earlier podium protesting identified him as little more than a phony.Oh to be inside the mind of Koepka now. As Scottie Scheffler returned to No 1 in the world courtesy of a dominant victory at a packed Phoenix Open, focus immediately turned towards Tiger Woods’s appearance at this week’s Genesis Invitational. Koepka had followed up a share of 46th at the Saudi International with a missed cut on the Asian Tour in Oman. He was only spared broad ridicule on the basis that nobody aside from dedicated fans and cheerleaders for Saudi’s dubious stampede into golf actually knew these events were taking place. Continue reading...
Glenn Youngkin blocks bill passed in Democratic-led state senate to ban search warrants for menstrual data on tracking appsThe Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, appears to have thwarted an attempt to stop law enforcement obtaining menstrual histories of women in the state.A bill passed in the Democratic-led state senate, and supported by half the chamber’s Republicans, would have banned search warrants for menstrual data stored in tracking apps on mobile phones or other electronic devices. Continue reading...
The justice department is looking into how classified documents came to be found in Joe Biden’s home and former officeThe FBI searched the University of Delaware in recent weeks for classified documents as part of its investigation into the potential mishandling of sensitive government records by Joe Biden.The search, first reported by CNN, was confirmed to the Associated Press by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person would not say whether anything was found. Continue reading...
The frightening prospect of greener, people-friendly streets and convenient amenities has sent the online right – and Tory MPs – into a tailspinThere’s an international socialist conspiracy afoot, and it wants to make it easier to walk to the shops. Fringe forces of the far left are plotting to take away our freedom to be stuck in traffic jams, to crawl along clogged ring roads and trawl the streets in search of a parking spot. The liberty of the rush-hour commute, the sanctity of the out-of-town shopping centre and the righteousness of the suburban food desert is under threat as never before. The name of this chilling global movement? The “15-minute city”.Westminster can often seem like a badly scripted spoof of itself, but rarely has parliament descended into parody as far as it did last week, when the Conservative MP for the South Yorkshire constituency of Don Valley, Nick Fletcher, launched a plucky tirade against the concept of convenient, walkable neighbourhoods. “Will the leader of the house please set aside time for a debate on the international socialist concept of so-called 15-minute cities and 20-minute neighbourhoods?” he asked, in an ominous tone. “Sheffield is already on this journey, and I do not want Doncaster, which also has a Labour-run socialist council, to do the same.” Continue reading...
Trump’s secretary of state makes comments on podcast to defend former administration siding more openly with IsraelMike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel. Continue reading...
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