Hinckley, who shot and wounded the president in 1981 but was acquitted by reason of insanity, had decades of mental health supervisionJohn Hinckley, who shot and wounded US president Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been freed from court oversight, officially concluding decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals.“After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!,” he wrote on Twitter shortly after noon on Wednesday. Continue reading...
If the supreme court reverses the federal right to abortion, some Americans will no longer have access to the procedure. Five women speak of their experience in pre-Roe v Wade era
US president Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at curbing discrimination against transgender youth and drying up federal funding for the controversial practice of 'conversion therapy'. 'My message to all the young people: Just be you. You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You do belong. And I want you to know that, as your president, all of us on the stage have your back. We have your back,' Biden said before he signed the executive order
Ex-president leaned on then vice-president to reject certified electors despite being told scheme was unlawfulThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack intends to outline at its third hearing on Thursday how Donald Trump corruptly pressured then vice-president Mike Pence to reject the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election and directly contributed to the insurrection.The panel will first examine the genesis of Trump’s pressure campaign on Pence to adopt an unconstitutional and unlawful plan to reject certified electors from certain states at the congressional certification in an attempt to give Trump a second presidential term. Continue reading...
The disgraced British socialite’s lawyers argued that she was threatened in jail and cannot be made proxy for Jeffrey EpsteinGhislaine Maxwell’s attorneys argued on Wednesday that the disgraced British socialite should be sentenced to “well below” the 20 years imprisonment that probation authorities have recommended in her New York federal sex-trafficking case.In a pre-sentencing report, Maxwell’s attorneys provided detailed descriptions of her allegedly perilous conditions in jail, and described an emotionally distressing upbringing, as part of their argument for leniency. Continue reading...
The pair’s disappearance, the first believed to have been captured in Ukraine, would add another layer of complexity to US efforts against RussiaTwo American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday.Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts. Relatives have been in contact with Senate and House offices seeking information on the men’s whereabouts. Continue reading...
The move expands gender-affirming care and urges federal departments to counter anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed by statesJoe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at curbing discrimination against transgender youth and drying up federal funding for the controversial practice of “conversion therapy”.Biden’s executive order, which comes during Pride month, asks the federal health and education departments to expand access to gender-affirming medical care and find new ways to counter a flurry of bills passed in US states by conservative lawmakers this year that ban these treatments for transgender youth. Continue reading...
Nicholas John Roske, 26, faces a possible life sentence after federal grand jury indictmentThe man accused of trying to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh at the US supreme court justice’s home in Maryland last week is facing a possible life sentence after a federal grand jury indicted him on Wednesday.Nicholas John Roske, 26, faces one count of attempting to murder an associate justice of the supreme court, federal prosecutors said in a statement. Continue reading...
‘China claims to be neutral, but its behavior makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia,’ state department saysXi Jinping has assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian “sovereignty and security” prompting Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up “on the wrong side of history”.China has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by blasting western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv. Continue reading...
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration releases statistics collected between July 2021 and May this yearUS automakers reported nearly 400 crashes in 10 months involving vehicles with partially automated driver-assist systems, including 273 with Teslas, according to statistics released by federal safety regulators.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) cautioned against using the numbers to compare automakers, saying it did not weight them by the number of vehicles from each manufacturer or how many miles those vehicles traveled. Continue reading...
Christopher Schurr was dismissed on recommendations from the Grand Rapids police chief six days after being charged with murderThe white Michigan police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya – a Black man who was shot in the back of the head while on the ground – was officially fired from his job on Wednesday, six days after being charged with murder.Christopher Schurr’s dismissal from the Grand Rapids police department was announced in a statement provided to media outlets by the city manager, Mark Washington. Continue reading...
Biden’s chief medical adviser received two booster shots and is working from home, says National Institutes of HealthDr Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
Number of abortions performed in 2020 was 8% higher than in 2017, reversing long-term decline, says Guttmacher InstituteWith the US supreme court on the brink of eliminating the right to abortion, the need for such procedures is growing for the first time in three decades, a health research group said.The number of abortions performed across the US in 2020 (930,160) was 8% higher than in 2017 (862,320), reversing a long-term decline that started 30 years earlier, the Guttmacher Institute said on Wednesday, citing data from its latest abortion-provider census. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington on (#60D93)
Government Accountability Office also criticizes Biden’s move to classify Saudi weapons as ‘offensive’ or ‘defensive’ as meaninglessThe US government has not fully investigated its own role in perpetuating human rights abuses in Yemen, according to a congressional watchdog report that offered a damning assessment of both the Trump and Biden administrations’ commitment to tracking violations of humanitarian law.A report by the Government Accountability Office, which examined US weapons sales to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, also raised serious doubts about one of Joe Biden’s first foreign policy as president, when he announced that his administration was ending US support for Saudi offensive operations in Yemen. Continue reading...
Payton Gendron, 18, already faces mandatory life term if convicted on state charges over deaths of 10 Black people in May attackThe suspect in the shooting deaths of 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York last month has been charged with multiple federal hate crimes and firearms offenses, prosecutors said on Wednesday.Payton Gendron faces a maximum of life in prison – or the death penalty – if convicted. Continue reading...
Crucial races from Nevada to South Carolina returned candidates who back ‘big lie’ of stolen election while Democrats lost Hispanic votes in south TexasIn pivotal primary races from Nevada to South Carolina on Tuesday, Republican voters chose candidates who fervently embraced Donald Trump’s lie about a stolen election, prompting warnings from Democrats that US democracy will be at stake in the November elections.Victories of pro-Trump candidates in Nevada set the stage for match-ups between election-deniers and embattled Democrats in a state both parties see as critical in the midterms. Continue reading...
New report by American Civil Liberties Union says incarcerated laborers are either poorly compensated or not at allIncarcerated workers in the US produce at least $11bn in goods and services annually but receive just pennies an hour in wages for their prison jobs, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).Nearly two-thirds of all prisoners in the US, which imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world, have jobs in state and federal prisons. That figure amounts to roughly 800,000 people, researchers estimated in the report, which is based on extensive public records requests, questionnaires and interviews with incarcerated workers. Continue reading...
More than 125 million people under heat alerts as record high temperatures set throughout US, particularly in the south-westMore than 100 million Americans have been advised to stay indoors amid record-breaking heat, with experts warning that such temperatures could become the norm amid the climate crisis.By Wednesday as many as 107.5 million people, more than a third of the US population, had been warned to stay inside, as a potentially lethal combination of extreme heat and humidity settled over much of the country. Continue reading...
Video evidence shows tourists taking photos of security checkpoints and contradicts Barry Loudermilk’s previous denial he led a tourAbout 24 hours before the January 6 Capitol attack, a Republican member of Congress, Barry Loudermilk, led an unofficial tour through the House office buildings, passing by the security checkpoints located at the entrances to the tunnels leading towards the Capitol building.The tour included a man who took photos of the tunnel entrances and the US Capitol police checkpoints, and then joined thousands of Donald Trump supporters the following day to march on the Capitol from the rally on the Ellipse. Continue reading...
The former president’s fundraising efforts after the 2020 election are under scrutiny by the House January 6 committeeDonald Trump Jr has reportedly invited his father’s backers to sign the ex-president’s online birthday card, so long as they donate money to his fundraising group.According to Insider, Trump’s eldest son made this pitch in an email to supporters, writing, “My father has done so much for this great Country, and I know it would mean so much to him to see YOUR NAME on his OFFICIAL Birthday Card.” Trump was born on 14 June 1946. Continue reading...
Trump-backed candidates did well, Latino voters continued to drift to the right and the January 6 hearings had no discernible impactOn Tuesday, Republicans flipped a congressional seat in a heavily Hispanic district in south Texas, sent packing a pro-impeachment Republican congressman from South Carolina and nominated a passel of Trump loyalists in Nevada. It was a good night for the 45th president and an even better one for his party.In Texas’s 34th congressional district, Mayra Flores, a Republican, garnered 51% of the vote in a special election in a district that voted for Joe Biden by double digits. Flores is the first Republican elected from the district, and the first Latina Republican in Texas’s congressional delegation.An attorney in New York, Lloyd Green is a regular contributor and served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...
High drama, betrayal, catharsis: the televised select committee investigation makes for riveting viewingOne of the worst things about the Trump presidency was the frequent sense that the man could do or say anything and, Alice in Wonderland-style, the sheer lunacy of it would never break through. “I could,” said Trump in 2016, “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose voters.”On 6 January 2021, when, egged on by Trump, a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol building, this principle was seemingly put to the test. Impeachment efforts failed. Key members of Trump’s team declined to condemn him. His supporters appeared to remain loyal. Now, as the events of that day come before a House select committee, there’s a new approach in the fight to make some of this stick: less the presentation of evidence by a lawyer to a jury than of a prestige drama by a producer to a TV audience – one with limited time and multiple other viewing options.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The Guardian US is tracking several races throughout US primaries this year – if these candidates win, they could be in a position to overturn electionsA deeply alarming attack on democracy is well under way in America.Latching on to Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, candidates across the country are running for positions in which they would exert enormous influence over the way ballots are cast and counted. Candidates who have embraced election lies are also seeking to be governors in swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, where they would play a critical role in certifying elections. Continue reading...
Liz Shuler, the federation’s president, announces effort to increase membership by 1m but some say they ‘have to aim much higher’In light of the youth-driven surge of union drives at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and elsewhere, the AFL-CIO – the main US’s labor federation – is facing growing pressure to undertake a bolder effort to help today’s burst of unionizing expand far faster.At the AFL-CIO’s convention in Philadelphia, Liz Shuler, the federation’s president, unveiled a new effort, announcing: “In the next 10 years we will organize and grow our movement by more than 1 million working people. How’s that for a goal!” Continue reading...
World’s richest man says in tweet he is leaning towards Florida governor after voting Republican in Texas special electionThe tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he would possibly vote for Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, if he were to run in the 2024 US presidential election.The billionaire tech mogul’s expression of support for DeSantis, albeit vague, was among several tweets in which he discussed some of his political leanings after he recently declared himself a Republican. Continue reading...
Japan’s SoftBank still likely to conduct IPO in New York but could secure secondary listingThe Japanese owner of the British chip designer Arm is reportedly planning to float some of the company’s shares in London, in a sign the government’s efforts to lobby for a UK listing of the Cambridge-based company may have succeeded.SoftBank, which bought the chip company for $32bn in 2016, is said to be reconsidering earlier plans to only list shares on the US market. Continue reading...
President notes that companies’ profits have tripled during time of war and calls for ‘immediate action’Joe Biden on Wednesday called on US oil refiners to produce more gasoline and diesel, saying their profits have tripled during a time of war between Russia and Ukraine as Americans struggle with record high prices at the pump.“The crunch that families are facing deserves immediate action,” the president wrote in a letter to major oil refiners. “Your companies need to work with my Administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions that address the crisis.” Continue reading...
South Texas congressional district goes Republican for first time as party continues to make inroads among Latino votersA south Texas congressional district will be represented by a Republican for the first time following a special election on Tuesday. The election of Mayra Flores, who bested her Democrat competitor in a 51%-43% vote, comes as Republicans continue to make inroads among Latino voters in south Texas.Flores, reportedly the first Latina Republican to serve Texas in Congress, is expected to face a more challenging race in November, however. Her victory was to replace Democrat Filemon Vela, who retired before his term ended – meaning she was elected to serve out the remainder. Continue reading...
Heavy rain and rapid snowmelt caused a dramatic flood that may forever alter the human footprint on the national park’s terrainThe forces of fire and ice shaped Yellowstone national park over thousands of years. It took decades longer for humans to tame it enough for tourists to visit, often from the comfort of their cars.In just days, heavy rain and rapid snowmelt caused a dramatic flood that may forever alter the human footprint on the park’s terrain and the communities that have grown around it. Continue reading...
A mixed bag of June fixtures wrapped up on Tuesday with a testy 1-1 draw away to El Salvador as Gregg Berhalter continued his Qatar preparationsA mixed bag of June fixtures wrapped up on Tuesday with a testy 1-1 draw away to El Salvador as USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter continued his World Cup preparations.The window opened with two useful friendlies against World Cup-bound nations – a morale-boosting 3-0 victory over Morocco and a resilient and sometimes fluent goalless draw with a slightly superior Uruguay team. Continue reading...
The English coach talks about her move to the US, family visa problems and the world she wants her children to grow up inWelcome to Moving the Goalposts, the Guardian’s new (and free) women’s football newsletter. Here’s an extract from this week’s edition. To receive the full version once a week, just pop your email in below:“It’s been a massive challenge, but a great learning curve for me,” Casey Stoney reflects after a whirlwind few months as head coach of one of the NWSL’s newest sides, San Diego Wave. The expansion team are currently riding high at the top of the league, having already won more games than ever before by a club in their debut year. Continue reading...
Will Tampa Bay complete a first three-peat since the 1980s? Or will Colorado’s high-octane offense stop a dynasty in its tracks?Well, here we are, back where we started – and closer to having the answer to a question we asked prior to this postseason. With a 2-1 win in Tampa Bay on Saturday night, the Lightning secured their spot in the Stanley Cup final for the third straight year, with captain Steven Stamkos scoring both goals, and are now flirting with all-time greatness. Continue reading...
Jim Marchant has said that he ran for secretary of state at the urging of Juan O Savin, a prominent QAnon influencerJim Marchant, a QAnon-linked candidate who has unabashedly embraced the idea of overturning future election results, won the Republican nomination to be Nevada’s top election official on Tuesday.Marchant has said that he ran for secretary of state at the urging of Juan O Savin, a prominent QAnon influencer. After losing a congressional bid by more than 16,000 votes in 2020, Marchant claimed he was the victim of fraud, but failed to produce any evidence of it in a lawsuit seeking to overturning the result. Continue reading...
State capture is growing on every continent but only because the west helps to launder and hide money stolen by kleptocratsLast week, John Penrose, Boris Johnson’s anti-corruption tsar, resigned in protest at his leader’s apparent breach of the ministerial code during Partygate. In January, Lord Agnew resigned as a Treasury minister, angered at the government’s negligence in allowing fraud to occur in its Covid contracts and loans.Both were standing up against corruption through bad governance and poor leadership. Continue reading...
Dimes square is being feted as the heartland of cool in the city. Living nearby in a neighbourhood dominated by retirees, I can’t say I noticedUntil recently, I lived in what was probably the least cool area of New York City: a cluster of housing cooperatives in a tucked-away corner of Manhattan’s Lower East Side classed as a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community. This unpretentious spot was full of old New Yorkers who had lived in the complex their entire lives.It was all very charming, apart from the fact that each week there would be a sign in the lobby announcing yet another resident’s demise. When I moved in, about a decade ago, I brought home a fledgling love interest just as a dead person (natural causes) was being wheeled out of the front door. Continue reading...
‘The big lie was also the big rip-off,’ says Democrat Zoe Lofgren after January 6 panel appears to make case for fundraising fraudThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack appeared to make the case at its second hearing that Donald Trump and his campaign engaged in potential fundraising fraud, raising $250m for a Trump “election defense fund” that did not actually exist.The hearing, led by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, also showed that Trump and the campaign raised millions for thefund and then funneled the money to, among other destinations, the Trump business properties as well as Trump’s own Save America political action committee. Continue reading...
CVS and Walgreens confirm some tampons out of stock as non-profits also seeing diminishing suppliesThe US is reeling from a tampon shortage, leaving users with fewer menstrual product options as supplies dwindle nationwide, consumers and advocates say.This shortage is precariously timed, coming as the price of menstrual products has recently surged, advocates also said. Continue reading...
When I learned of the death of Anastasio Hernández-Rojas, I felt I was in some way connected to it – I knew too much about how the system workedAs I listened to María Puga’s words, I closed my eyes and could smell the familiar stench that was a border patrol processing center, where I worked as an agent for six years.The handcuffs, badges, batons, trucks, the creaking of my old leather boots and belt came back to me. Continue reading...
Raging floodwaters have pulled houses into rivers and swept away roads and bridges in and around Yellowstone national park. The flooding across parts of southern Montana and northern Wyoming forced the closure of Yellowstone just as a summer tourist season, which draws millions of visitors annually, was ramping up. Just north of the park, hundreds of people remained isolated after the Yellowstone River and its tributaries washed away the only roadways
Activist group called for Happy’s release from New York zoo, calling her cognitively complex and autonomousNew York’s top court has ruled that Happy, an elephant residing at the Bronx Zoo since the 1970s, cannot legally be considered a person in a closely watched case that tested the boundaries of applying human rights to animals.The case brought by an animal rights group argued Happy should be released from the zoo. The Nonhuman Rights Project argued that Happy is an autonomous, cognitively complex elephant worthy of the right reserved in law for “a person”. Continue reading...
State’s highest court rules against ex-president, clearing way for deposition next month in investigation into his business practicesNew York’s highest court has rejected Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to avoid testifying in the state attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices, clearing the way for his deposition next month.The state’s court of appeals said there was no “substantial constitutional question” that would warrant its intervention in the matter, following an intermediate appellate court’s ruling last month enforcing a subpoena for Trump’s testimony. Continue reading...
The bill comes after an armed man was arrested outside Brett Kavanaugh’s house as the court is due to rule on an abortion caseThe US House of Representatives has given final congressional approval to a bill to bolster supreme court security, ahead of an anticipated ruling curtailing abortion rights and in light of the arrest of a man charged with attempting to murder Brett Kavanaugh, a member of the court’s conservative majority.The legislation, which had already cleared the Senate, passed the House on a 396-27 vote. Joe Biden is prepared to sign it into law. It will expand police protection to families of justices and senior court officials. Continue reading...
Justices reject planned ballot measure, citing proposal limiting companies’ liability for accidentsMassachusetts’ top court on Tuesday blocked an effort to ask voters whether app-based ride-share and delivery drivers should be treated as independent contractors rather than employees, in a setback for companies such as Uber and Lyft.The unanimous decision by the Massachusetts supreme judicial court marked a victory for labor activists who sued and argued the ballot measure proposal contained loopholes that would create a sub-minimum wage for drivers for the companies. Continue reading...
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