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The first stage of the 2024 election takes place amid wind chills of -40F on what is expected to be coldest caucus night everA cold coming we had of it. Icy winds blow across the plains, numbing the face and cutting to the bone. Stranded cars and tractor trailers lie abandoned at the side of highways. Snow is piled high on the side of every road in the state capital, where giant icicles hang off buildings. Candidates' yard signs and children's playgrounds have been enveloped by a white blanket.Welcome to Iowa, often described as the centre of the political universe at this stage of the US electoral cycle, but currently feeling more like the outer reaches of our solar system. Continue reading...

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A passing weather system brought snowfall and temperatures dropped to about -20C (-4F) as voters prepared for the Republican party of Iowa's presidential caucuses on Monday. Candidates who would normally be crisscrossing Iowa in the final days before its first-in-the-nation caucus cancelled many of their events, as winter weather created unsafe travel conditions Continue reading...

Politicians and celebrities routinely twist the message of the civil rights icon, turning a radical legacy into revisionist historySixty years on, Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech remains a rhetorical paragon, pushing the civil rights movement into the law books while transforming the rabble-rousing preacher into a global icon for freedom and equality. The speech did such a good job of capturing lofty American ideals that King's name is regularly taken in vain.Vivek Ramaswamy harks back to King while making the case for dismantling critical race theory and DEI initiatives. (What bothers the heck out of me is right when we're close to that promised land ... [we] then obsess about systemic racism and white guilt," he told NBC earlier this month.) Ron DeSantis claims King would have been for book bans. (He said he didn't want people judged on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character," the Florida governor said while stumping for his Stop Woke Act in 2021, stressing a responsibility to protect our people and our kids from some very pernicious ideologies".) Nikki Haley, slow to concede the civil war's origins in slavery, says she was inspired by the civil rights icon. Continue reading...

Mike Lindell, undeterred by $1bn defamation lawsuit, calls on Bannon and Roger Stone to boost rightwing Lindell TV networkThe MyPillow chief, Mike Lindell, a close ally and cheerleader for Donald Trump and his bogus stolen election claims, is expanding his own conspiratorial TV network, while aggressively stumping for Trump again and fighting defamation lawsuits from two electronic voting firms, one of which wants over $1bn in damages.The moves by Lindell show the continuing presence of powerful parts of the pro-Trump movement, undeterred by the extensive legal peril their false claims of election fraud due to electronic voting machines have caused them. His expansion of his television network also shows the growing power of rightwing media as the 2024 race for the White House gets under way, and its ability to elevate conspiracy theories. Continue reading...

The court has undone rulings to try to unravel Black political power and reverse the progress of the modern USThere is little doubt 2024 will be a consequential year as we enter a presidential election that will decide the future of American democracy. But while the race for the presidency will capture most of the headlines, a darker and more subtle governmental force continues to churn out devastating decisions that chip away at our fundamental freedoms.We're talking, of course, about the US supreme court. Continue reading...

US Central Command says missile from Houthi-controlled area of Yemen was launched towards USS Laboon before being shot down by fighter jets. Plus, is booing at the theatre actually a good thing?Good morning.US fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen at one of its warships in the Red Sea, the US military said on Sunday night.What else is happening in the Middle East? The White House has said it's the right time" for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli leaders again vowed to press ahead with their offensive against Hamas. The comments exposed the growing differences between the close allies on the 100th day of the war on Sunday.Does Haley have a good chance of being nominated? Not while Trump is still in the running. The poll underscored the profound challenges that Haley - and any other Republican not named Donald Trump - faces in the quest for the nomination. Trump easily beat all of his opponents in the Iowa poll, capturing the support of 48% of likely caucus-goers. Continue reading...

After the civil war, Klansmen were prosecuted - and Confederate traitors forced from office - by the same laws Trump has now run afoul ofOn Tuesday, in response to the federal case brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith over Trump's alleged role in the January 6 insurrection, Trump threatened a new round of violence - or bedlam" - if he loses the election. In early February, the US supreme court will also rule on the Colorado supreme court's decision to disqualify Trump from the state's ballot for his part in the insurrection.The two cases might appear to be disconnected, but they are inseparable in law and history. They are united by Congress's Reconstruction-era action to enforce the 14th amendment's extension of constitutional rights against the former Confederates' campaign of racial and political violence - the Ku Klux Klan Acts of 1870 and 1871. Continue reading...

Dallas' postseason ineptitude has become as predictable as a running gag in a sitcom. The punchline was the same against the PackersThe Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs are always a must-watch, usually for all the wrong reasons. With their 1990s run of dominance firmly in time's rearview mirror, the Cowboys' 21st-century legacy mostly consists of postseason disappointment. After grabbing the NFC's second seed in the regular season, it felt like these Cowboys should have easily handled a visiting Green Bay Packers team that many thought were just happy to be here.Except, these are the Cowboys, a team who haven't made it to the NFC Championship Game since 1995. At this point, their fans have come to expect embarrassment no matter how heavily the odds seem stacked in their favor. Continue reading...

When an occasional treat turned into a habit and broken promises to my child, I knew it was time to quitThe damaging impact of a parent's drug or alcohol use on their children has been well-documented in studies and memoirs. I know how harmful substances can be to family life, but to take the edge off the hard tasks of mothering, I've often used caffeine, alcohol and, more recently, weed. The legalisation of marijuana and the normalisation of its use where I live in Washington, in the US, lulled me into thinking it was OK, that it would enable me to relax, focus and playfully connect to my imaginative child.Right next to the supermarket, a cannabis dispensary, Higher Leaf, announced its grand opening last year. Rows of sparkling display cabinets offered cannabis in all its forms, bringing back memories of a childfree, transcendent lifestyle. The salesperson recommended a sativa pre-roll, for continuously unfolding realisations" with the ability to get stuff done. Weed combines spirituality and practicality, I thought, the same way motherhood is both a calling and a service job. So I bought it, presenting my ID and cash: no prescription or medical card required.Saira Khan is a writer based near Seattle, WashingtonDo 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...

I helped expose the grotesque hypocrisy of the Catholic church. But I owe so much to the nuns who formed meThe 1990s witnessed the collision of three tectonic plates that are still shaping the course of Irish history: the Celtic Tiger, the peace process and the decline of the Catholic church.Legacy is all around us: the legacy of boom and bust, the legacy of the Troubles and, almost 30 years after the catastrophic eruption of the clerical and institutional abuse scandals, Ireland is still coming to terms with the legacy of an unholy communion between church and state. Anger over the institutional response of the Catholic church to the abuse scandals, and its continued failure to take responsibility for the systemic cover-up of those abuses, is still visceral and ever-present.Dearbhail McDonald is an Irish journalist and author. The Last Priests in Ireland airs on 15 January at 9.35pm on RTE One. The Last Nuns in Ireland airs on 16 January at 10.15pm

Hunter Walker and Luppe B Luppen, authors of The Truce, quote former staffers to vice-president in scathing assessmentConsidering Kamala Harris's fitness to take over from Joe Biden should the need arise, a top aide to the former California senator's 2020 campaign said: This person should not be president of the United States."The withering assessment, given after Harris was picked for vice-president in 2020, is reported in The Truce: Progressives, Centrists and the Future of the Democratic Party, by the reporters Hunter Walker and Luppe B Luppen. The book will be published in the US on 24 January 2024. The Guardian obtained a copy. Continue reading...

Supporters of Palestine have long been told their position is fringe. But this case gives them legitimacy - and tests the limits of human rightsIt was only a little over six hours of legal argument, but the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel at the international court of justice had decades of history bearing down on it. The specifics dealt with Israel's assault on Gaza, but at its heart, the case was about something wider: closing the gap between Palestinian reality and how the dominant political forces describe it.For weeks now, anger at events in Gaza has spilled out on to the streets across Europe. Yet this anger has been resolutely ignored, dismissed, banned, or vilified by political leaders. Public support for a ceasefire, now at more than 70% in the UK, is not reflected in the positions of either the government or the opposition. Globally, condemnation of the violence from human rights organisations, the United Nations and even the pope has yet to translate into meaningful action from political leaders. Continue reading...

There's a reason we keep returning to stories where insecurity abounds, the anger is bitter, the shame an enveloping stormPrince William and Prince Harry. Kim and Kourtney Kardashian. Liam and Noel Gallagher. Cain and Abel. Same womb, lifelong rivals. When siblings clash, worlds hang in the balance. Who is in the right and who is in the wrong? (A very elder sibling question to pose, it turns out). More importantly, who is the favourite?Both questions miss the point, I've learned, and from a surprising source: the Bible. Continue reading...

Event, briefly interrupted by young climate protesters, overshadows those of former president's Republican rivalsIt was a melancholy farewell. Three years ago this week, Donald Trump departed on Air Force One for the last time as Frank Sinatra's My Way blared from loudspeakers. The outgoing US president was defeated, disgraced and seemingly down and out.Amid the snowy plains of Iowa, however, Trump is set to pull off one of the most improbable of all political comebacks. On Sunday, he held a campaign rally more akin to a victory lap in a state where Republican caucus-goers look certain to back him for a swift return to the White House. Continue reading...

The former South Carolina governor wins over Republicans who see another Donald Trump presidential term as chaos'One day before the Iowa caucuses, Nikki Haley addressed an energized crowd at a barbecue restaurant in Ames, just a few miles from Iowa State University. Despite the freezing temperatures, the room was filled to capacity with campaign volunteers, journalists and a few undecided caucus-goers.This is truly cold," Haley said. But we're going to keep on going anywhere and everywhere. We're going to go all the way until the last hour because we know what situation we're in." Continue reading...

Warnings of subfreezing conditions in Montana and the Dakotas as severe cold could push as far as northern TexasSubfreezing temperatures across much of the US left millions of Americans facing potentially dangerous cold on Sunday as Arctic storms threatened near-blizzard conditions in the north-east and several inches of snow in portions of the south.The National Weather Service warned that windy, subfreezing conditions in Montana and the Dakotas could push wind chills as low as -70F (-56C). Continue reading...

As the Florida governor tries to get Trump votes, Republicans worry he doesn't have what it takes to beat Joe Biden in NovemberAmid a campaign that has, from its very first minutes, not gone quite as planned, Ron DeSantis took the stage on Saturday before a crowd of supporters in an Iowa office complex to inform them that the latest obstacle - a historically frigid winter storm - would not stop him from winning the first state to vote in the Republican presidential nomination process.Are you ready to make some history on Monday night?" the Florida governor asked during a visit to the West Des Moines offices of Never Back Down, the Super Pac supporting his bid for president. Continue reading...

Dan Marburger was injured in shooting at Perry high school on 4 January, during which an 11-year-old student was killedAn Iowa high school principal who was wounded in a school shooting has died, the state's governor said.Dan Marburger was injured during a mass shooting at Perry high school on 4 January. One person, an 11-year-old student, was killed, and six others injured. The suspect, a 17-year-old pupil at the school, was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Continue reading...

Congressman blames the state after it took control of an area known as Shelby park and refused to let US border patrol enterA Texas congressman said Saturday that three people, including two children, who were seeking asylum in the US drowned while trying to reach the US near the border city of Eagle Pass, where the Biden administration says Texas has begun denying access to border patrol agents.Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, accused the state of failing to act amid escalating tensions between Texas and the US government over immigration enforcement.Associated Press contributed to this report Continue reading...

We need to get serious about transitioning off fossil fuelsAt the close of the hottest year in history, delegates from around the world gathered at climate talks in Dubai in December and agreed, finally, on one thing: that the time had finally come for transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner". It was the first time in three decades of climate negotiations that diplomats had used the F-words, and it seemed like a breakthrough of sorts.Now we're going to find out if they meant it.Svitlana Romanko is the founder of Razom We Stand, working to win the war in Ukraine and rebuild the country with green energyBill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes Americans over 60 for action on climate and democracyLuisa Neubauer is the author of Beginning to End the Climate Crisis: A History of our Future Continue reading...

Former Arkansas governor has embarked on a solemn crusade against Trump in Iowa, where he retains a cult-like followingAsa Hutchinson spent Friday night at a rodeo in Des Moines, watching cowboys ride broncos while holding on for dear life. You have to only hold on to the horse with one hand and so you've always got to be keeping the other hand up, and you've got to do that for eight seconds with that bronco bucking like crazy," Hutchinson explains. One of them decided to preserve themselves and so grabbed hold with two hands. They're disqualified."America in the Donald Trump years can feel like a wild horse trying to throw off its rider but Hutchinson is still clinging on with one hand. He has made around 60 trips to a hundred cities in Iowa over the past year in a long shot bid for the White House. He has embarked on a solemn crusade against Trump in a state where the former president retains a cult-like following. Continue reading...

Bluestockings, on New York's Lower East Side, is at the center of a battle over outreach to local residents dependent on drugsThe New York Post's headline writers didn't hold back: Woke NYC bookstore that lured strung-out junkies with freebies faces possible eviction". The tabloid reported that the landlord of the Bluestockings Cooperative bookstore on New York's Lower East Side was threatening eviction unless the store stopped operating as a medical facility".Bluestockings is a historic trans- and queer-owned bookstore and has been providing, alongside revolutionary and feminist literature, a place for local residents to use a bathroom and pick up hygiene products, snacks, items of clothing and harm -reduction supplies, including the anti-opioid overdose agent Narcan and fentanyl test-strips. Continue reading...

The case for action was strong. But previous interventions have stark warnings for the US and BritainWe all woke on Friday to the news of US/UK airstrikes on Yemen. Our TV screens were filled with images of RAF bombers taking off into a Mediterranean night sky, and seemingly random explosions briefly illuminating nameless, darkened landscapes, as in some slow-motion video game. But real strategic objectives are involved here, and real people: British and American pilots risking their lives, Yemenis on the ground beneath the bombs.It is a disconcertingly familiar set of images, evoking the US/UK/France bombing of Syria in 2018, the British-French bombing of Muammar Gaddafi's forces in Libya in 2011, and the shock and awe" campaign in Iraq in 2003. How did these end? Not so well. But nor did the one that didn't happen: the proposed Obama-led US/UK/France airstrikes on Bashar al-Assad's forces after they used chemical weapons against their own population in 2013. Continue reading...

Opinion polls show Donald Trump's immense lead over Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley in first state to vote on nomineeFew people relish the Iowa caucuses, the first act of the greatest political show on earth, more than Mike Draper. Since 2008 the Iowa native has hosted US presidential candidates at his novelty retail store and made tongue-in-cheek political merchandise. But this time, he feels, something is missing.We've always had a fairly good finger on the pulse and it's normally a circus but this year is just a sad circus," said Draper, owner of Raygun in the state capital, Des Moines. People are still going through the motions but there's no real drama to it." Continue reading...

Don't fret about having a midlife crisis - you probably deserve cheering up by thenThe meaning of life?Famously 42, according to a supercomputer asked the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything" in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But what's the shape of life? A U". It appears our self-reported happiness or wellbeing is highest as children and older adults, with a massive slump in middle age. That slump goes on getting worse from age 30 until our late 50s, so calling it a midlife crisis is way too optimistic.I shared Britain's U-shaped happiness curve on social media last week, prompting a lot of responses - not just from traumatised 35-year-olds realising they've got two decades of this ahead. Many suggestions for what might be driving the U-shaped pattern were country specific - pointing out that older adults are the lucky ones with houses and defined benefit pensions. Continue reading...

The royals were once dab hands at bumping off unwanted relatives, but that's no longer an optionThe royal family is supposed to have divested itself of Prince Andrew. But it hasn't finishedthe job. It's exactly two years since he was stripped, with great ceremony, of his public duties,his two dozen military titles, what charity patronages remained, and - sort of - the abbreviation HRH, which he can apparently still use, just not officially", whatever that means.The prince remains on royal property but in a kind of internal exile, kept away from balconies and windows. He has been partly digested but not fully expelled. Continue reading...

If he wins the election, the Labour leader will find himself a beacon of hope for progressivesIf Keir Starmer's Labour party wins power this year, it will be bucking a trend. In many European countries, it's not the centre left but the right - and all too often the far right - that seems to be on a roll.In France, Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National is leading in the polls. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' equally extreme Freedom party (PVV) scooped nearly aquarter of the vote at last November's general election and has increased its support as coalition negotiations drag on. Continue reading...

A new documentary celebrates the life of the feminist pioneer who shocked the world - and about time tooIn a society in which nine-year-olds watch pornography and song lyrics are more explicit than The Kama Sutra, the revolution that Shere Hite helped to bring about in the 1970s, employing the words vagina, clitoris and masturbation, on primetime television for a start, is easily forgotten - which is exactly what has happened.The Disappearance of Shere Hite, a documentary made by Nicole Newnham and produced by Dakota Johnson, and released in the UK this weekend, charts Hite's rise in the 70s and her decline by the 1990s. It's just as simple as know yourself, not your role," she says as advice to herself. It's hellish hard." Continue reading...

Final poll shows Donald Trump on target for record win over rivals Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek RamaswamyEven though snow blanketed Iowa's roads and temperatures fell into the single digits Saturday afternoon, Dennis and Monica Hinkle made the 20-minute drive from their home in Tiffin outside Iowa City to see Nikki Haley speak at a packed downtown theater.Iowa officials advised staying off the road, but driving in was no big deal. It's Iowa," Dennis Hinkle said, a testament to the conviction that many voters in the state have as they continue the tradition of being the first in the country to hold a primary election. Continue reading...

Republican contest to take place on what is expected to be coldest of any caucus day in historyDonald Trump, the former US president, has admitted to a worry" about severe winter weather hurting his support in Monday's Iowa caucuses, the first contest to decide a Republican nominee for the White House.Trump remains the overwhelming favourite. On Saturday he held a near 30-point lead over Nikki Haley in an NBC News/ Des Moines Register/ Mediacom Iowa poll, seen as the gold standard, with Ron DeSantis trailing in third and Vivek Ramaswamy in fourth. Continue reading...

US media reports congressional leaders have agreed on a continuing resolution', which extends deadlinesUS congressional leaders have agreed on a two-tranche stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government funded into March and avert a partial government shutdown starting late next week, US media reported on Saturday.Politico, CNN and Punchbowl reported that congressional leaders have agreed on what is called a continuing resolution" or CR", that would fund the government - extending two deadlines through 1 March and 8 March. The media outlets reported that House of Representatives Republicans will unveil the plan Sunday night. Continue reading...

From New Mexico to Portland, Maine, temperatures dropped and snow fell, closing campaigns, football games and roadsIcy winter weather blanketed the US on Saturday as a wave of Arctic storms threatened to break low-temperature records in the heartland, spread cold and snow from coast to coast and cast a chill over everything from football playoffs to presidential campaigns.As the three-day Martin Luther King Jr Day holiday weekend began, the weather forecast was a quilt of color-coded advisories, from an ice storm warning in Oregon to a blizzard warning in the northern plains to high wind warnings in New Mexico. Continue reading...

Kerry's office announced the news on Saturday after he had informed his staff and spoken with Biden earlier in the weekJohn Kerry, the United States' special climate envoy and former secretary of state and presidential contender, plans to leave the Biden administration later this winter and switch to helping Joe Biden campaign to be re-elected to the White House, Kerry's office said.Kerry informed his staff earlier on Saturday after speaking with Biden this week, a spokesperson for Kerry told Reuters. Continue reading...

When I had a baby I planned for my new offline, mother-self to merge with my old selves: writer and reader. How far off reality wasIn late 2021, two apparently unconnected but nonetheless major - to me - events occurred.One, a now infamous New Yorker profile of the actor Jeremy Strong was published. Two, I gave birth. Continue reading...

After second night of US-UK strikes in Yemen against Iran-backed Houthis, fears of wider regional conflict growJoe Biden said on Saturday that the United States has sent a private message to Tehran that we're confident we're well-prepared", following a second night of US and British strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on Saturday morning, on his way from Washington to Camp David in Maryland, the US president declined to go into further detail and switched to answering questions about the Taiwan election. Continue reading...

In the Hague trial, both sides have largely avoided evidence contradicting their case. Yet South Africa's arguments are strongWatching lawyers for South Africa and Israel debate whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza was like observing two versions of reality that barely intersect.Each set of counsel, appearing before the international court of justice at The Hague, largely avoided the most powerful evidence contradicting their case, and the absence of a factual hearing or any questioning left it unclear how the judges will resolve the dispute. Yet I would wager that South Africa's case was strong enough that the court will impose some provisional measures on Israel in the hope of mitigating the enormous civilian harm caused by Israel's approach to fighting Hamas.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton's School for Public and International Affairs Continue reading...

At a forest facility in Oregon, the first US state to allow supervised use of the drug, students work toward becoming licensed trip facilitatorsInside a spacious and light-filled retreat in the forest outside Portland, 30 students sat gazing into each other's eyes.A heavy silence filled the room, save for the occasional creaking chair. A soft voice urged the group to envision the pain and joy their fellow students had experienced during their lives, to view them as a friend, a child, a teacher. Some broke into grins, others teared up. Continue reading...

Attempt by far right, led by ex-president and Elise Stefanik, to whitewash political violence troubles onlookers in election yearSupporters of Donald Trump have long been forced to suspend their belief in reality: expected to believe, against all evidence to the contrary, that the one-term president won the 2020 election, hasn't committed any crimes and is a successful businessman.But as another tight presidential election looms, the recent efforts by Donald Trump to reimagine the people imprisoned for their role in the January 6 insurrection as hostages", and to downplay the horrors of that day as a peaceful protest, could have serious ramifications for democracy and his own party, onlookers have warned. Continue reading...

Candidates were forced to cancel campaign events as snow closed rural highways and temperatures are expected to plummetWild and dangerous winter storm weather continued to wreak havoc on Saturday in Iowa just two days before the Republican caucuses kick off the official nominating process for the 2024 presidential election.The National Weather Service (NWS) in the state capital of Des Moines said on Saturday morning that more snow was expected, in combination with lingering gusty winds causing blowing snow and whiteout conditions at times" and warned that travel is expected to remain treacherous, so consider altering plans". Continue reading...

Fire and ash from burning cane fields has worsened health near Lake Okeechobee, US's largest sugar-growing regionPastor Steve Messam was driving to a service on Christmas morning when he looked to the sky and watched the first flakes starting to fall. Lighter at first, then thicker and more frequent, not quite a blizzard, but enough to leave a coating on the porch and parking lot of his First Church of God in South Bay, Florida.This was, however, no picturesque winter holiday scene - just a regular day during harvesting season in the nation's largest sugar-growing region. The black snow", as locals call it, is ash from burning sugarcane fields. Studies have blamed the smoke generated by the fires, sometimes dozens a day, for respiratory problems and increased mortality among the poor, mostly immigrant population of the rural area south of Lake Okeechobee known as the Glades. Continue reading...