by Judith Butler, Masha Gessen, Rachel Kushner, Ben L on (#6FQ3T)
We are a group of Jewish American writers, artists and academics. We oppose what the Israeli government is doing with US assistancePresident Joe Biden:We are a group of Jewish American writers, artists and academics. Being Jewish means different things to all of us, but we all have at least one Jewish parent, which means we could move to Israel and qualify for Israeli citizenship. Continue reading...
by Bryan Armen Graham at Barclays Center on (#6FPWK)
The first repeat WNBA champions in two decades are one of the best teams ever seen in basketball - and a proof of concept for investment in women's sportsThe Las Vegas Aces made it look so easy for so long during their record-setting romp to a second straight championship that it was only fitting they were made to finish it the hard way. Down two starters and trailing the New York Liberty by double digits in the third quarter of Wednesday night's Game 4 of the WNBA finals, the Aces appeared on course for a second straight defeat and a winner-take-all fifth game on Friday back in Las Vegas. They were on wobbly legs, their ball movement sloppy and error-strewn, given no quarter by a deafening crowd of 16,851 hostile spectators in a building where they'd lost each of three previous visits this year by an average margin of 20 points.Then it came, more of a trickle than a deluge, but steady just the same. A running jumper by offensive dynamo Jackie Young. Back-to-back three-pointers by Cayla George, the former MVP of Australia's WNBL making her first career playoff start. Nine straight points from A'ja Wilson, the world's best player today no doubt inspired by her MVP slight. Two quick baskets from veteran wing Alysha Clark in the closing minute. All of a sudden the undermanned Aces led by two entering the fourth and would never trail again, finally celebrating their 70-69 victory in a mob at center court before a silenced arena after a last-gasp shot by New York's Courtney Vandersloot missed the target. Continue reading...
The Biden administration also bears a wider responsibility for the deterioration in Gaza and the extinguishing of Palestinian political aspirationsJoe Biden flew to Israel on Wednesday to prove how deeply he and the US political establishment support Israel, even as it intensifies its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, demands the forced displacement of more than 1 million Palestinians, and prepares for a ground invasion of the territory. Biden could have paired his expressions of grief over the brutal attacks by Hamas on 7 October, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, with pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza and an effort to prevent the fighting from spreading to other parts of the Middle East.Instead, Biden ended up doubling down on his administration's unwavering support for Israel and its leaders. As Biden met with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and survivors of the Hamas attacks, the US ambassador to the United Nations vetoed a security council resolution calling on Israel to pause the fighting and allow humanitarian corridors into the besieged Gaza Strip. The resolution criticized the heinous terrorist crimes by Hamas" but that wasn't enough for US officials who insisted that the text was unacceptable because it failed to mention Israel's right to self-defense. Continue reading...
I, for one, spent a significant chunk of my late teens with long, lank unbrushed tresses dyed an unforgivable shade of burgundyA week ago, at the train station, four boys aged about 15, in matching uniforms, buffeted past me. Childless, I have minimal contact with rambunctious teens; small and easily knocked over, I've learned to cower in their presence when I do. Not this time! Oh my god!" I blurted, staring in shock at their bobbing heads as they departed: They've all got mullets!"Yes, I know that modern history's most infamous hairstyle has made its comeback; hair historians believe the hairdresserlessness of pandemic lockdowns liberated many a household barber from both scrutiny and shame. Last year its post-pandemic popularity was reported in the media as an amusing fad. Twelve more months have passed and it's still here... and it's completely freaking me out. Continue reading...
We are absolutely devastated,' says zoo director after fatal collapse of Rani, 27, last weekA female Asian elephant at the St Louis Zoo died shortly after her herd became agitated from a small dog running loose, zoo officials said.Rani died on Friday at age 27. The zoo announced her death on Tuesday. Continue reading...
The new series was billed as a documentary event'. The reality is something more tedious that points to sport's transformation into a media assetWell, this wasn't quite how things were supposed to go.Lionel Messi arrived in America three months ago preceded by a freight train of expectations. His impact was immediate. A perfect free kick to win the game in the final seconds of his first match. A blitz of goals in the weeks that followed, including a strike in the Leagues Cup final that had all the skipping, curling, edge-of-the-box razzle-dazzle of the master in his Barcelona pomp. Inter Miami's first-ever trophy. A charge up the league table as he led his club, languishing at the foot of the MLS Eastern Conference when he got to Miami, in the race to secure a playoff berth. For those few, spacey weeks in late summer, as celebrities gawped and seal clapped from the stands while Messi merrily shredded the best defenses in America, it really did feel like soccer in this country would forever be divided, as Sergio Aguero suggested, into two eras: Before Messi and After Messi. Continue reading...
Outpouring of extreme statements from Republican politicians threatens safety of Arab Americans, groups warnSenator Lindsey Graham wants to see Gaza flattened. Congressman Max Miller said the laws of war should be swept aside. A former US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, suggested that Palestinians as a whole were responsible for Hamas's crimes.American politicians have rushed to plant their flags firmly with Israel after Hamas killed more than 1,400 people, and abducted about 200 others, in its unprecedented attack from the Gaza Strip. Some have echoed the demand by the Israel Defence Forces - You either stand with Israel or you stand with terrorism" - reminiscent of the heated rhetoric in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the US. Continue reading...
Cash-strapped NGOs and legal aid groups are jumping in to help migrants figure out next steps as California cut fundingAbout 150 people, most of them men, were milling around on the corner of the Iris Avenue transit center parking lot in southern San Diego last Wednesday.It's one of several locations in the southern California city where Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the US border agency, since mid-September has been releasing asylum seekers who have crossed the US-Mexico border. Continue reading...
Any prospect of Polexit is now off the cards - the election results put us (unlike the poor Brits) back inside the EU tentTen days ago, my friends and I watched the performance of a strange play on Polish public television. Billed as a pre-election debate (indeed, the only pre-election TV debate), it featured people dressed up like journalists, acting the parts of journalists who asked the candidates such Orwellian questions as - I am paraphrasing - Do you want Poland to be rich and secure, like it is now, or would you rather that it was poor?"It was at this moment that we realised just how far Poland had strayed from even a semblance of democratic standards. Eight years ago, when PiS - the Law and Justice party - came to power for the first of two terms in government, nobody would have thought of hijacking public television for the propaganda aims of one party. This time, nobody was remotely surprised. The national broadcaster TVP was fully captured by PiS.Witold Szabowski is the author of How to Feed a Dictator. His book What's Cooking in the Kremlin: A Modern History of Russia Through the Kitchen Door, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, is published on 7 November Continue reading...
Twenty trucks are preparing to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but US president says aid will halt if it is seized by Hamas. Plus, Naomi Klein on populists, conspiracists and real-world activismGood morning.Trucks carrying humanitarian aid will enter Gaza from Egypt's Sinai peninsula in the coming days, according to the White House, after Joe Biden's whirlwind visit to Israel that followed a deadly blast at a hospital in the besieged territory.Why did the US veto the UN's call for humanitarian pause' and corridors into Gaza? The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the resolution, carefully crafted by Brazilian diplomats, was unacceptable because it made no mention of Israel's right to self-defence. The UK abstained, saying the resolution lacked mention of the way Hamas was using ordinary Palestinians as human shields.What happened at Al-Ahli Arab hospital? Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli airstrike for the explosion that Gaza's health ministry said on Wednesday had killed 471 Palestinians and wounded 314 others. Israel has said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which has denied blame. Forensic reviewing of open source videos and news broadcasts have given a clearer picture of what happened on Tuesday night.How did the vote go yesterday? Twenty-two Republicans and all Democrats opposed Jordan, leaving him far short of the 217 votes needed to ascend to the speakership. Four Republicans who had supported him on the first ballot flipped against him yesterday. Only two Republicans who initially voted against Jordan, Doug LaMalfa of California and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, dropped their opposition. Continue reading...
Librarians now can hit the bigot button' for their school book fairs. But the publisher's ham-fisted move is sure to increase salesThe largest US publisher of books for children has a new collection that sounds wonderful. It's called Share every story, celebrate every voice".But the backstory isn't so wonderful.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
A telecommunications breakdown has made talking to family members trapped under Israeli bombardment in Gaza difficultSince coming to the US, Loay Elbasyouni has built a remote-controlled helicopter he can fly on Mars, but he can't contact his elderly parents in northern Gaza.I'm in a big state of frustration," said the Nasa engineer, who lives in the Los Angeles area. I heard from them on the first day of the war and they were close to the bombing. Then nothing for seven days." Continue reading...
Pharmacists say increased workloads and cut hours are the perfect recipe for medication errors, which can be fatalPharmacists and support staff at some of the US's biggest drugstore chains say they are at a breaking point: as the companies take on more healthcare services, both staffing levels and hours have declined, and the pressure is too much, some say.Angered by increasing workloads and cuts to their hours, workers have walked off the job. Continue reading...
In Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins, the Utah senator recounts his brief flirtation with controlling US foreign affairsMitt Romney entertained the idea of serving Donald Trump as secretary of state - a flirtation that ended in humiliation on the world stage - out of a mix of noble motivations and self-centered ones", the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, now a Utah senator, reflects in a new biography.Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins, the product of close cooperation between biographer and subject, will be published in the US on Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy. Continue reading...
The US has blocked a resolution calling for Israel to allow humanitarian corridors into the Gaza Strip, a pause in the fighting and the lifting of an order for civilians to leave the north of the besieged territory, by using its veto at the UN security council.The text - supported by 12 of the 15 members of the security council on Wednesday - contained criticism of 'heinous terrorist crimes by Hamas' and made no direct reference of Israel. In an attempt to win US support, the draft resolution did not explicitly call for a ceasefire, instead referencing a 'humanitarian pause'.But the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the resolution, carefully crafted by Brazilian diplomats, was unacceptable because it made no mention of Israel's right to self-defence. The UK and Russia abstained
Teams have shown an increased willingness to make swings at the deadline in recent seasons. Here are a few possible deals worth looking out forWelcome to trade season!Unlike the NBA and MLB, where franchises shift into buyer' or seller' mode as they head toward trade deadline, NFL teams have always struggled with the same sense of self-awareness. Continue reading...
People from both sides of the border have reasons to hate one another, but the only way to end this war is to treat each other humanelyI grew up in the south of Israel with my parents and four siblings in a small village called Netiv Haasara, which is one of the closest Israeli villages to the Gaza Strip. What I remember most vividly about my childhood is the scenery - beautiful sand dunes overlooking the Mediterranean. As a teenager, I would run for an hour to the beach, and my father would come and pick me up afterwards in his truck.Every summer, including the last, my family and I travelled from London to spend time with my parents in the village. They enjoyed entire happy days with my three small children, getting to know our little 10-month-old boy, the youngest of their 11 grandchildren. We were so happy together - playing card games, swimming in the sea, doing artwork, working in the garden. It is hard to think of this place as a war zone, as the tragedy of the Hamas attack unfolds daily. Both my parents - my beloved wonderful parents, Yakov and Bilha Inon - are now dead.Magen Inon is a London-based father of three from Israel who is a teacher and holds a PhD in philosophy of educationAs told to Kirsty MajorDo 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...
Protesters rallied in Washington DC, calling on the Biden administration and Congress to press for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. About 200 demonstrators, many from the group Jewish Voice for Peace, filled the rotunda of the Cannon House office building on Capitol Hill and staged a sit-in, calling for an end to the bombing and to 'let Gaza live'. A number of arrests were made by US Capitol police, who handcuffed protesters and escorted them out of the building
As Jews, we condemn what Israel is doing in Gaza. Any mass slaughter will not just be on Israel's hands, but on the hands of AmericaIt is now impossible for US politicians to ignore the slaughter in Gaza: more than 3,500 Palestinians have been killed in the 12-day barrage, including the 500 reportedly killed Tuesday at Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital. Some 50 entire families have been wiped out - every living relative, including children and babies, gone. And Israel has issued a directive to those remaining that amounts to an ultimatum: leave northern Gaza, all 1.1 million of you, for your own safety" - in other words, evacuate or risk death in the impending blitz and ground invasion.The United Nations says such a mass evacuation is impossible" and has potentially devastating humanitarian consequences," pleading with Israel to rescind the order. A UN special rapporteur was clear, calling the order a crime against humanity and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law."Ellen Brotsky is a longtime Jewish activist and volunteer with Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, a chapter of the world's largest anti-Zionist Jewish organization in solidarity with Palestinian freedom.Ariel Koren is an anti-Zionist Jew who quit Google in protest of the company's military contract with Israel; she is the founder of Respond Crisis Translation, a rapid-response language justice collective Continue reading...
Tally showed 22 members of his own party opposing him, including four Republicans who supported Jordan a day earlierThe House of Representatives again failed to elect a new speaker on Wednesday, after the hard-right congressman Jim Jordan failed to win the gavel in the second round of voting.The second vote tally showed 199 Republicans supporting Jordan and all 212 Democrats supporting their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Twenty-two Republicans opposed Jordan on Wednesday, leaving him far short of the 217 votes needed to ascend to the speakership. Because of Republicans' razor-thin majority in the House, Jordan can only afford four defections within his party and still become speaker. Continue reading...
Fundraising email from Florida congressman said Rinos are working with radical Democrats ... to block Jim Jordan'The Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz has issued an apology over a fundraising email sent out allegedly without his team's approval.On Wednesday, Gaetz apologized for an email sent by a vendor without my team's approval" and said that it should have never been sent". Continue reading...
North Carolina congressman has been leading House since Kevin McCarthy's ousting, and some want him to stay in roleThe speaker pro tempore, Patrick McHenry, who has been presiding over the US House of Representatives for the past two weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted, could become the next actual speaker, at least temporarily.Efforts by Republicans to elect a new speaker have stalled after a top contender, the congressman Jim Jordan, repeatedly failed to get enough votes, leaving the chamber without a leader and sitting largely idle on congressional work for two weeks. Continue reading...
by Lauren Aratani and the Associated Press on (#6FP6P)
Arthur Engoron gives warning after ex-president conferred aloud in court and threw hands up in frustration as witness testifiedA judge warned Donald Trump and others at his New York civil fraud trial to keep their voices down on Wednesday after the former president threw up his hands in frustration and spoke aloud to his lawyers while a witness was testifying against him.Judge Arthur Engoron gave the admonition after Trump conferred animatedly with his lawyers at the defense table during real-estate appraiser Doug Larson's second day of testimony at the Manhattan trial. Continue reading...
The US president is betting that public solidarity with Israel will give him credibility to influence the country's leaders in privateJoe Biden's trip to Israel this week is without precedent in US history. Never before has a US president rushed to a conflict zone so quickly after the outbreak of a war, much less one in which no US troops are directly engaged. The unprecedented nature of the visit is a testament to the stakes. Israel is at war after suffering the worst violence in its history, and a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the threat of wider regional war remains ever-present. Into the maelstrom comes Biden, hoping to shape what comes next - and making decisions which will reverberate for decades to come.It's clear that Biden's first priority is to signal his unwavering support for Israel. From the opening moments of the crisis, Biden has made it clear that he will provide Tel Aviv with both moral and material support in its battle against Hamas. A presidential visit is intended as another signal that Biden stands with Israel, but sending that signal also carries risks. At a time when anger is boiling over and casualties are mounting in Gaza, Biden is essentially giving the US seal of approval to what Israel is doing - and to whatever it will do next. Continue reading...
Joran van der Sloot is not charged over Holloway's death in Aruba, but pleaded guilty to trying to extort money from her motherThe chief suspect in Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance in Aruba has admitted that he killed the 18-year-old and disposed of her remains, as part of a plea deal where he admitted attempting to extort money from Holloway's mother, a US judge said Wednesday.Joran van der Sloot, 36, confessed to murdering Holloway and pleaded guilty to extortion and fraud, Judge Anna Manasco said. Van der Sloot had been extradited to Alabama for the hearing from Peru, where he is serving a 28-year sentence for murdering Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old Peruvian business student, in May 2010 in Lima. Continue reading...
Maintaining international backing is becoming harder. The Israel-Hamas war is further complicating mattersAs temperatures fall and a second winter of war approaches, Ukraine fears that the international enthusiasm for its cause that followed Russia's invasion is cooling too. Slovakia halted military aid after pro-Russian Robert Fico's party took power. Poland, one of Ukraine's staunchest allies, had already suspended weapons transfers following a dispute over Kyiv's grain exports - though things may well improve after the opposition unexpectedly claimed victory in last week's elections. Now US attention is consumed by the Middle East, and Russia will be keen to keep it there.Volodymyr Zelenskiy was quick to voice his support for Israel last week following the atrocities by Hamas. But the Ukrainian president also warned that there is only a certain amount of military support to share". There may be direct competition for some weaponry. Mr Zelenskiy also acknowledged that next year's US presidential election brings uncertainty. Last month, aid for Ukraine was stripped from a government funding package to ensure its passage through Congress. Hardline Republicans are increasingly vociferous in their opposition to supplying further aid, and are gaining traction, not least due to the battle to become House speaker. Some are exploiting the Israel-Hamas war to cynically argue that the US can't afford to back Ukraine too, although Kyiv's supporters hope it may be possible to push through a joint Israel-Ukraine package. While US deliveries will continue for now, Kyiv could start rationing its use of arms if it cannot count on timely resupplies. Continue reading...
The stakes couldn't be higher. A wider war in the Middle East could embolden Russia in Ukraine and encourage China over TaiwanThe White House's collective stress level must have gone up several notches as Joe Biden and his entourage sat on the runway waiting to leave for the Middle East on Tuesday night. After the violence and emotions of the past two weeks, the president's visit was already a political gamble. But, as news came from Gaza of the bombing of the al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, anxiety about what the visit would be able to achieve surely reached new levels.If so, those doubts were soon confirmed. With the Gaza hospital death toll soaring, and with popular outrage coursing through the region, Arab leaders pulled out of their scheduled meeting with Biden in Amman. By doing so, the Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian leaders made at least one of Biden's key objectives - using face-to-face US presidential influence to discourage escalation - instantly more difficult. Continue reading...
Construction crews dig up wooden remains of ship probably used to extract fish and shellfish in downtown St AugustineConstruction crews in Florida found the remains of a 19th-century shipwreck while working on an infrastructure project in a north-eastern city.Workers with the Florida department of transportation (FDOT) were digging throughout downtown St Augustine as part of a project to improve drainage in the city, WFLA reported. Continue reading...
Biography says Romney considered 2016 pairing with senator - who he saw as a demagogue' - to block Trump nominationMitt Romney considered a desperate, third presidential bid in 2016, aiming to stop Donald Trump as part of an unlikely unity ticket with Ted Cruz - a hard-right Texas senator who Romney privately considered scary" and a demagogue", a new book reports.Romney was willing to wage a quixotic and humiliating presidential bid if that's what it took," McKay Coppins writes in Romney: A Reckoning, a biography of the 2012 Republican nominee written in close cooperation with its subject. Continue reading...
Friends and family hold vigil for Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American boy killed in a hate crime in IllinoisCarrying signs including the words I am not a threat", classmates and friends of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume stood on an Illinois basketball court on Tuesday night at an emotional vigil for the Muslim boy stabbed to death in a weekend hate crime.Hundreds of adults, including Dilawar Syed, the highest-ranked Muslim official in the Biden administration, joined the children in Plainfield to pay tribute to the child. The Palestinian American boy died after he and his mother were stabbed by their landlord, whom authorities say was fueled by rage over the Israel-Hamas war. Continue reading...
Davis Polk won't hire Harvard and Columbia students because they allegedly supported letters blaming Israel for violenceA leading American law firm said it rescinded job offers to three law students who were involved in groups which signed statements criticizing Israel's role in the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a report.Davis Polk, one of the world's largest law firms, said in an internal email that it had revoked offers to the Harvard and Columbia university students because they allegedly supported letters blaming Israel for the violence. Continue reading...
The tennis champion has signed a two-book deal with Penguin Random House, saying it will be the first time she has paused and reflected on her remarkable careerSerena Williams is set to publish two books, the first of which, a memoir, will take an intimate" look at her childhood and remarkable tennis career.The 42-year-old, regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, announced her retirement from the sport last year. For so long, all I was focused on was winning, and I never sat down to look back and reflect on my life and career," she said. Continue reading...
Plan includes $500,000 to organizations offering Texans care but it unclear if it will go to groups that help people get abortionsSeveral anti-abortion groups on Tuesday sued the city of San Antonio over the city's plan to create a reproductive justice fund and provide $500,000 to organizations that offer Texans reproductive care.The lawsuit seeks to put a halt to the reproductive justice fund, which, it alleges, would give taxpayers' dollars to criminal organizations that violate the state's abortion laws" by helping people get abortions out of state. Because Texas law bans anybody from helping procure" an abortion, the lawsuit argues, if any part of the procurement' activity occurs within Texas, then the act is criminal even if the abortion that has been procured' takes place outside the state." Continue reading...
My love for this show and its crotchety, snobbish but warm characters is boundless. Would a new series break the spell?I love Frasier. I have a T-shirt that says Frasier" on it in the Seinfeld font, a stupid internet mashup joke I nonetheless find charming and wear sincerely, and which multiple people in my life have told me they find actively irritating. I once seriously argued with myself about buying a shirtdress printed with a still from the show, priced at more than 160. I would be interested and probably appalled to know how many hours I have clocked up rewatching episodes when I'm in a funk.Why? I don't remember seeing any episodes of Frasier when it was originally airing. What was there to delight an eight-year-old in a show about a divorced radio psychiatrist and his newly disabled father? My mum is a fan, but I don't remember watching it with her, either. Yet Frasier feels like a language I have always spoken. Continue reading...
Joe Biden on Wednesday said the explosion at a Gaza hospital appeared not to have been caused by Israel. During a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, the US president said: 'I'm deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday. Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.' He said the US would give Israel what it needed to defend itself and added: 'We have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them only suffering'
Arthur Brooks spent years advocating cuts to the social safety net. Now, with the help of Oprah, NPR and the Atlantic, he's teaching Americans to be happyAs economic misery in the US persists, the country's self-help industry has become a multibillion-dollar bonanza. If one reads enough of that industry's happiness catechism - including its latest bestseller, Build the Life You Want - one realizes that all of the advice revolves around a core set of directives: focus on the self rather than the collective, redeploy hours to different priorities, spend less time at work, build deeper personal relationships - and, by implication, buy more self-help books.But if time is money", then in America's survival-of-the-richest form of capitalism, time-intensive remedies are mostly for the affluent - that is, those with a big enough savings account to de-risk career changes; those with enough income to afford gym memberships, hobbies and excursions; those with enough paid leave and cash to enjoy the best vacations; those with enough resources to employ personal aides to do paperwork, chores and cleaning; those with enough workplace leverage to secure more hours off for introspection, friend time and outdoor adventures. Continue reading...
The USMNT lost to Germany 3-1 and beat Ghana 4-0 during the international break. Here's what we learnedThis is why it's worth Gregg Berhalter and Gio Reyna resolving - or at least suppressing - their well publicized differences. The 20-year-old with the dazzling blond hair scored twice in a scintillating first half in Tuesday's friendly with Ghana, his first goals for the USMNT since June 2021. Continue reading...
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