US news | The Guardian

Instead of fighting for the centre ground, Keir Starmer should look to the radical changes pushed through under Harold WilsonThe pitch is being rolled for Keir Starmer’s entry to No 10. Titles on the prospect of a Labour Britain already line the bookshop shelves, from Oliver Eagleton’s The Starmer Project to Lisa Nandy’s All In. Who is he really? Is he a socialist in sheep’s clothing, or just another moderate, pragmatic, oh-so-hesitant Labour leader trapped in an ideological no-man’s-land between left and “left-of-centre”?The one label that no one could pin on Starmer is “radical”. After the trauma of Liz Truss, economic policy has sunk into a grim torpor. Starmer has eschewed alternative economic models, terrified of the reaction of markets and thus, possibly, of voters. He is so fearful of the issue of Brexit – which many Britons who voted for it now regret – that he has become its most effective supporter. On social policy, Labour is all platitude and nothing structural. Britain is drifting down Europe’s league table on health outcomes, drug abuse, prison population and reception of migrants. Yet Labour only promises to do broadly more of the same. A Starmer government would be a more generous sort of Tory one.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Democrats agree to Republican demands to scrap vaccination requirement for service members to win support for $858bn defense bill. Plus, Trump’s superhero card collection

Critics of Covid migration restriction, ending next week, say it illegally prevents asylum claims and places migrants in dangerMore than 1,500 undocumented people hurried across the US-Mexico border into west Texas all at once last weekend, surprising the city of El Paso, which is no stranger to dealing with migration.The group included many Nicaraguans, who said they were freed by Mexican authorities after being kidnapped last week. Continue reading...

While other federations put their prize money back into developing the next generation, US Soccer’s prize money is paying the current players and their lawyersPerhaps it’s not fair to call the US women’s soccer team’s $24m “equal pay” settlement a Pyrrhic victory.Let’s instead call it a pyromaniac’s victory. A lot of money was piled up and set on fire. Continue reading...

From Vermont to Montana, efforts are underway to protect residents in flood-vulnerable locationsThis article originally appeared in Nexus Media News.Charlotte Bishop was standing at her kitchen window in January 2019 when she saw water streaming into her yard. A block of ice had clogged the brook that snakes around the mobile home park where she and her husband Rollin live in Brattleboro, Vermont. Bishop grabbed her keys and rushed outside to move their cars to higher ground. Within minutes, she was wading through knee-high water. Continue reading...

Workers and labor activists criticize Congress after it blocked a strike by voting to impose a contract agreementRailroad workers and unions are ramping up pressure on the US Congress and Joe Biden to address poor working conditions in the wake of the recent move to block a strike when Congress voted to impose a contract agreement.Workers and labor activists in America have criticized that action for undermining the collective bargaining process in the US and workers’ right to strike. Continue reading...

Democrats agreed to Republican demands to scrap vaccination requirement for service members to win support for the billA bill to rescind the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for members of the US military and provide nearly $858bn for national defense passed the Senate on Thursday and now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.The bill provides for about $45bn more for defense programs than Biden requested and roughly 10% more than last year’s bill as lawmakers look to account for inflation and boost the nation’s military competitiveness with China and Russia. It includes a 4.6% pay raise for servicemembers and the defense department’s civilian workforce. Continue reading...

Documents disclosed after Joe Biden issued an executive order authorizing them to be made available to the publicThe US National Archives on Thursday released thousands of documents related to the 1963 assassination of then President John F Kennedy shortly after Joe Biden issued an executive order authorizing the release that also kept hundreds of other sensitive records secret.The release of 12,879 documents was not expected to include any new bombshells or change the conclusion reached by the commission led by chief justice Earl Warren that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine and communist activist who had lived in the Soviet Union, acted alone. However, the latest cache will be useful for historians focusing on the events around the assassination. Continue reading...

In a rare verdict, jurors found Aaron Dean guilty of shooting the 28-year-old through the rear window of her homeA former Texas police officer was convicted of manslaughter Thursday for fatally shooting a Black woman through a rear window of her home in 2019, a rare conviction of an officer for killing someone also armed with a gun.Jurors were also considering a murder charge against Aaron Dean but instead convicted him of manslaughter in the death of Atatiana Jefferson. The conviction comes more than three years after the white Fort Worth officer shot the 28-year-old woman while responding to a call about an open front door. Continue reading...

Sister of victim and pediatrician testify during congressional hearing on the mass school shooting at Robb elementaryThe sister of one of the young victims killed in the Uvalde school shooting earlier this year, as well as the city’s only pediatrician, pleaded for stricter gun laws during a congressional hearing on gun violence on Thursday.The hearing, titled “Examining Uvalde: The Search for Bipartisan Solutions to Gun Violence”, was hosted by the House of Representatives committee on the judiciary in Washington. Continue reading...

'When is enough enough?' asked Faith Mata, whose sister Tess was murdered at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on 24 May along with 18 other students. Addressing a House judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security in Washington, Mata gave moving testimony on the impact her sister's death had on her family, calling on Congress to change gun laws to prevent an incident like the Uvalde shooting happening again Continue reading...

'This may be the last time I speak to you this way,' said Nancy Pelosi in what she suggested could be her final press conference. The former Democrat house speaker defended her record in office, noting the passing of the Affordable Care Act as one of her greatest achievements. 'Nothing in any of the years that I was there compares to the Affordable Care Act,' Pelosi told reporters, adding: 'It is a values issues for our country, so that for me was the highlight.'Pelosi announced in November that she would be stepping down as house speaker, ending a historic run as the first woman in the position. The California Democrat held the post for nearly two decades

Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were members of paramilitary group that trained with leader of conspiracyA judge on Thursday handed down the longest prison terms so far in the plot to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan, sentencing three men who forged an early alliance with a leader of the scheme before the FBI broke it up in 2020.Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were not charged with direct roles in the conspiracy but were members of a paramilitary group that trained with Adam Fox, who separately faces a possible life sentence on 27 December. Continue reading...

Cards cost ‘only $99 each’ and ‘would make a great Christmas gift’, says former president in ‘major announcement’ videoDonald Trump walked into a comic-book universe of internet mockery on Thursday, when in a carefully trailed announcement he introduced his “official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card” collection with a picture of himself in superhero costume, cape and “Trump Champion” belt.“Just when you thought this grifter couldn’t humiliate himself any more than he already has,” wrote John Kiriakou, a CIA whistleblower turned author, “there’s this. THIS is what the big announcement was.” Continue reading...

Taskforce to consider suggestions, including $350,000 proposal for descendants of enslaved Black people, and eligibility requirementAfter more than a year delving into history and studies to make its case for reparations to California descendants of enslaved Black people, a first-in-the-nation taskforce began deliberations on Wednesday to quantify how financial compensation might be calculated and what might be required to prove eligibility.Conversations for how to determine payments are in the early stages, with taskforce members acknowledging they have more questions than answers. Economists hired by the taskforce are seeking guidance in five harms experienced by Black people: government taking of property, devaluation of Black-owned businesses, housing discrimination and homelessness, mass incarceration and over-policing, and health. Continue reading...

Christian missionaries who ran a faith-based organization allegedly used federal funds to buy a multimillion-dollar homeA Florida pastor and his son have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently obtaining more than $8m in federal Covid relief funds.Evan and Joshua Edwards of Orlando were arrested on Wednesday, alleged to have used such funds for luxury expenses including a multimillion-dollar house near Walt Disney World. Continue reading...

Monarchists already know of their woes while republicans will merely have their views confirmed. And the soap opera will go onSo this is what snowbound, strike-hit Britain needed on a Thursday morning: a rich and entitled couple living in agreeable circumstances in California bemoaning their treatment by the media, the royal family, courtiers, a woman in the crowd in Liverpool, Meghan’s father and even the Queen by implication. Assailed by “them” and “they”.Yes, it’s the Harry’n’Meghan show on Netflix again, another two and a half hours in which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex back resentfully into the limelight to reveal once more their truth, complete with home movies of their son Archie and copious intimate photographs showing them intruding on their own privacy.Stephen Bates is the Guardian’s former royal correspondent. His latest book is The Shortest History of The Crown (the institution rather than the series)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...

Col Lou Caputo says he portrays character to call attention to the need to obey speed limits in school zonesSeveral motorists caught speeding through an elementary school zone on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway received an onion as a reminder to slow down – from a sheriff’s deputy dressed as the Grinch.Col Lou Caputo, a 37-year veteran of the Monroe county sheriff’s office, came up with the concept more than 20 years ago. He was back on the streets this Tuesday. Continue reading...

Ryan Salame told the Bahamian securities commission that funds were being used improperlyOne of the closest lieutenants of FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, warned Bahamian regulators about improper trades at the cryptocurrency exchange in the days running up to its collapse, according to court filings.The revelation came in papers published as part of the bail hearing for Bankman-Fried, FTX’s former chief executive, who was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday and charged in the US on Tuesday over alleged fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Continue reading...

Tornadoes batter Louisiana while huge storm system hurls blizzard-like conditions at Great PlainsA vast and volatile storm system ripping across the US killed at least three people in Louisiana, spinning up tornadoes that battered the state from north to south, including the New Orleans area. Elsewhere, the huge system hurled blizzard-like conditions at the Great Plains.Several injuries were reported around Louisiana and there were more than 40,000 power outages statewide as of Wednesday night. Continue reading...

Supreme court justice Roger Taney wrote 1857 decision justifying slavery, widely regarded as one of worst rulings in historyThe US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to remove from the Capitol a bust of Roger Taney, the supreme court justice who in 1857 wrote the Dred Scott decision, justifying slavery and denying that Black people had rights any “white man was bound to respect”.If the new measure is signed into law by Joe Biden, the bust will be removed from outside the old supreme court chamber and replaced by a bust of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black justice. Continue reading...

Why are these extreme confidentiality clauses still used in the UK to protect the perpetrators of abuse?More than two decades ago, I walked into the offices of a law firm in Soho, my 24-year-old self confident that it would help me to expose and address the appalling behaviour of my then boss, the film producer Harvey Weinstein. His attempted rape of a new assistant while we were at the Venice film festival – on her first occasion alone with him – put me on the path I knew was right. The frightening but clear and proper course to justice.But nothing could have prepared me for the ways in which the legal system would fail my colleague and me so thoroughly, or for the irreversible impact of entering – on our law firm’s advice – into a damages contract containing extreme confidentiality clauses, otherwise known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. Continue reading...

A young boy and his mother were found dead in Louisiana, where their home was destroyed after a tornado hit, according to police. Plus, how the Buy Black movement could benefit the countryGood morning.A destructive storm marched across the US yesterday, spawning tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, where the deaths of a young boy and his mother were reported, delivering blizzard-like conditions to the Great Plains and threatening more severe weather in the south.When will the weather improve? The NWS issued a winter storm watch from last night through Friday afternoon, depending on the timing of the storm. Residents from West Virginia to Vermont were told to watch for a possible significant mix of snow, ice and sleet.Many federal agencies including the defense, homeland security and state departments already ban TikTok from government-owned devices. “TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and it has no place on government devices,” The bill’s sponsor, the Republican senator Josh Hawley said previously. Continue reading...

Estimated number of US gun owners has grown by 20 million in recent years, which experts say may lead to more firearm deathsAmericans bought an estimated 150m guns in the past decade, as a drumbeat of mass shootings and other violence has convinced more people that owning a gun for self-defense will make them safer.In a country where the leading cause of gun death is gun suicide, public health experts say a growth in gun ownership is likely to lead to more deaths. Continue reading...

The feminists who demanded equal rights 50 years ago are revelling in another liberation, from the tired ‘old woman’ tropeMove over, femmes fatales, heartbreakers, wonder women and teenage rebels. There’s a new screen heroine jostling for a place: the bad grandmother. A growing resistance to the tired grandma trope in popular culture as frail, lonely and hobbling is popping up in surprising places. And it’s about time.This week, the second film in David Walliams’s Gangsta Granny franchise will come to the BBC, to the delight of thousands of children enthralled by the transformation of a Scrabble-playing, fussy old lady who smells of cabbage into an international jewel thief known as the Black Cat. Continue reading...

As much as NBA owners and general managers like to believe otherwise, successful teams aren’t math: they’re science. Just look at the state of the once-promising TimberwolvesIt’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. While this is admittedly a bit of an oversimplification, if we’re going on definitions alone, a healthy portion of NBA franchises are, then, insane. The theory that teams are just a sum of their parts – and thus the higher profile and more talented the parts, the better the team – has been disproved time and time again. Sure, having a superstar or two is incredibly helpful (and maybe even necessary) for summiting the highest heights of NBA success, but it’s not a the-more-All-Stars-the-merrier proposition. One needs look no further than the smoldering pile of rubble that was the hopes for a championship of the Big Three in Brooklyn, or last year’s disastrous Los Angeles Lakers, for evidence that more isn’t always more when it comes to superstar talent. And yet, despite its definitively unsatisfactory track record, teams seem to try this method time and time again.The most recent example of this insanity-borne-out can be found in the frozen tundra of Minneapolis. The Minnesota Timberwolves have been, to put it mildly, a historically underwhelming franchise. Entering the 2021-22 season, in fact, the Wolves held the discomfiting crown of being the all-time losingest franchise in North American sports, nudging out the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the dubious distinction. The expectations for the team, at the time, were about as low as possible, which made for an all the more feel-good story as the suddenly gelling Timberwolves stacked improbable wins – and, markedly, enjoyed the hell out of themselves – leading to one of only two playoff appearances for the team since the halcyon days of Kevin Garnett in 2004. The Wolves’ No 1 overall draft pick in 2021, Anthony Edwards, seemed to be especially thriving, with a new coach in Chris Finch and a roster that, while lacking in defense, facilitated his growth and gave him the space to do what he does best, most notably dunking on people within an inch of their lives. Continue reading...

For many women, the pandemic deepened the gendered division of labour and they simply had enough. For those who could afford it, they found a room of their ownThe model coupling – the dream, if you will – was always Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton, or Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag: maintaining a marriage, de facto or real, across two separate households, so that you got all the benefits with none of the gross bits. You could keep the magic alive, extend the honeymoon period indefinitely and, by protecting your space and rationing your time together, create a scenario in which you were actually happy to see each other. Trends originating with celebrities tend to be fake, meaningless or massaged, but the appeal of this model has lingered on. Overlooking the small matter of money, what, exactly, is there not to like?Or rather, what is there not to like for the women in any given couple? In the New York Times this week – sound the klaxon – a new trends piece drops on the growing numbers of women in the US who, post-pandemic, are opting to sustain the separate household model of marriage, established during lockdown by some families to reduce Covid transmissions, and proving so preferable to the norm, apparently, that they’re in no hurry to reunite with their husbands.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

You solve one problem, only for a worse one to pop up. Shall I tell you all about my flesh-coloured papule?Unaccountably, I woke up early the other morning with the song China in Your Hand by T’Pau ringing in my ears. Odd that. Not heard or thought about it for years. I put it on.“Don’t push too far, your dreams are china in your hand,” Carol Decker advises, adding, “Don’t wish too hard because they may come true.” She sings the truth.Adrian Chiles is a writer, broadcaster and a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

As I drove away from Winchester service station, I realised a long-planned campaign was being put into action

What to buy for the Maga person in your life – whether it’s a Trumpy Lego knockoff or conspiracy-themed whiskey’Tis the season of the gift guide. They’re everywhere you look: 10 holiday presents for the dog enthusiast in your life! Fifteen great holiday ideas for the grumpy atheist in your life! Twelve cigar-themed knick-knacks you can buy your cigar-loving partner! And, of course, there are all the usual Him and Her gift guides. As one viral tweet put it: “There’s no funnier caricature of masculinity than the Him from ‘holiday gifts for him’. he doesn’t drink any liquid but whiskey. he’s got 20 watches on each wrist. if he saw a single texture other than leather he would throw one of his pocket knives at it.”Now, I don’t normally do gift guides because I am a Serious Journalist who writes hard-hitting stories about pepper-spraying myself and cloning my dog. However, I’ll make an exception this year because, truly, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to completely bonkers conservative merchandise. Continue reading...

Bill comes after several states barred employees from downloading the app on state-owned gadgets over data concernsThe US Senate late on Wednesday passed by voice vote a bill to bar federal employees from using Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok on government-owned devices.The bill must still be approved by the US House of Representatives before going to President Joe Biden for approval. The House of Representatives would need to pass the Senate bill before the current congressional session ends, which is expected next week. Continue reading...

Ken Paxton requested the public safety department for the numbers, but it was never given due to accuracy problemsThe office of Republican Texas attorney general Ken Paxton this summer sought data on how many people had changed the gender information on their driver’s licenses, according to a newspaper report published on Wednesday that civil rights attorneys described as worrying.The Washington Post reported that public records obtained by the newspaper do not indicate why Paxton’s office made the request to the Texas department of public safety (DPS). The head of the driver’s license division told colleagues in June to compile the “total number of changes from male to female and female to male for the last 24 months”. Continue reading...

The complaint claims that the state of Arizona is trespassing on federal lands and says the US is entitled to compensationThe US government sued Arizona governor Doug Ducey and the state on Wednesday over the placement of shipping containers as a barrier on the border with Mexico, saying it is trespassing on federal lands.The complaint filed in the US district court comes three weeks before the Republican governor steps aside for Democratic governor-elect Katie Hobbs, who has said she opposes the construction. Continue reading...

Officer who interviewed David DePape after the attack testified he also wanted to target Hunter Biden, Tom Hanks and Gavin NewsomThe man accused of attacking the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there was “evil in Washington” and he was looking to harm Pelosi because she is second in line for the presidency, a San Francisco police investigator testified on Wednesday.The suspect, David DePape, broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home on 28 October, seeking to kidnap the speaker – who was out of town – and instead beat her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, authorities said. The violence sent shock waves through the political world. Continue reading...

President commits to strengthening Africa’s food supplies, tackling climate and partnering to take on rising global power

Text from Ralph Norman to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, urged president to declare martial lawA Republican who urged the Trump White House to declare martial law to stop Joe Biden taking office has only one regret: that he misspelled “martial”.The text from Ralph Norman of South Carolina to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, was given to the January 6 committee by Meadows and revealed by Talking Points Memo. Continue reading...

Florida governor takes enormous lead over embattled ex-president for 2024 race as Mike Pence nears a run of his ownIn a poll regarding potential Republican nominees for president in 2024, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, led Donald Trump by a whopping 23 points.Republican and Republican-leaning voters dealt the significant blow to the former president’s ego in a survey carried out by USA Today and Suffolk University and released on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Police say a young boy and his mother were found dead in Louisiana, where their home was destroyed after a tornado hitA destructive storm marched across the US on Wednesday, spawning tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, where the deaths of a young boy and his mother were reported, delivering blizzard-like conditions to the Great Plains and threatening more severe weather in the south.The huge storm system was also expected to push more snow and ice into Appalachia and New England. The wintery blast dumped more than 2ft of snow in parts of South Dakota. Continue reading...

President makes remark on anniversary of shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed in Newtown, ConnecticutJoe Biden said on Wednesday the US should have “societal guilt” over taking too long to address gun violence and the curse of school shootings.The president made the remark in a statement 10 years after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, in which 20 young children and six adults were killed in Newtown, Connecticut, on 14 December 2012. Continue reading...

Those of us with ties to the country know football is embedded in its DNA. Whatever happens, tonight’s semi-final with France will be a proud momentThis isn’t the first time Morocco has made history. Forty-two years ago, Morocco also captured the attention of the world when it became the first Arab and African country to compete in the Eurovision song contest. In the end, it came second to last, and decided never to compete again.Since then, many more Moroccan hearts and egos have been bruised and broken by international football tournaments. The national team have qualified for only five World Cups out of 11 after that Eurovision adventure – and, at their best, has only ever managed to reach the round of 16. Morocco bid to host the World Cup in 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2026, and never won. Still, it never gave up hope; football is in the country’s DNA.Marie Le Conte is a French journalist living in London Continue reading...

With less than a month remaining in office, Kate Brown, said she was using her clemency powers to change the term to life in prisonWith a flourish of her pen, Governor Kate Brown of Oregon on Tuesday reduced to zero the number of prisoners awaiting execution in the state, commuting the death sentences of all 17 condemned inmates to life without parole.Brown’s action, made in the final days of her governorship, amounted to a powerful stand against capital punishment which will reverberate across the US. It brings to a head the state’s gradual shift towards an abolitionist position. Continue reading...

Move co-sponsored by Republican Roger Marshall aims to crack down on money laundering after arrest of Sam Bankman-FriedElizabeth Warren is pressing Congress to adopt new bipartisan legislation which would force crypto firms to abide by the same regulations as banks and corporations in an attempt to crack down on money laundering through digital assets.The Democratic US senator from Massachusetts is pushing for the new controls on the crypto industry in the wake of the spectacular collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. On Tuesday its founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with eight criminal counts including conspiracy to commit money laundering. Continue reading...

There is one for reflux, one for anxiety, one for vitamin D – and new ones keep on coming. Welcome to middle ageAbout seven years ago, when I was still in my 40s, my GP saw fit to prescribe me another pill to take every day. I believe it was for reflux. While I was grateful for anything to address the geysers of what felt like battery acid erupting in my belly, I was dismayed. I already took something for anxiety and two for hypertension, so this would be my fourth pill. “Four a day!” I groaned. “What’s happening to me?”“Welcome to middle age,” the GP said, drily. Continue reading...

Driver pulled over in Arizona after state trooper saw ‘suspicious’ passenger in high-occupancy vehicle lane – an inflatable GrinchAn Arizona driver received a traffic citation after being pulled over for driving in a high-occupancy vehicle lane with an inflatable Grinch in the passenger seat.HOV lanes require at least two people to be in the vehicle. Continue reading...