Grand jury’s 25-count indictment includes attempted murder as a hate crime and weapons possessionA grand jury on Wednesday charged the white 18-year-old accused of fatally shooting 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket with domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder.The suspect, who has been in custody since the 14 May shooting, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Erie county court. Continue reading...
Rodríguez Orejuela, 83, was a rival of Pablo Escobar and controlled 80% of the global cocaine marketGilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, an elderly leader of the Cali cartel – and bitter rival of Pablo Escobar – has died in a US prison, his lawyer said on Wednesday.Sometimes known by his alias ‘The Chessplayer,’ Rodríguez Orejuela, 83, helped lead the Cali cartel, which once controlled 80% of the global cocaine market, according to a report from the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Continue reading...
Garcia had been a teacher at Robb elementary for 23 years; her husband, Joe, died two days after the shooting from a heart attackMourners gathered on Wednesday at a Catholic church to say goodbye to Robb elementary school teacher Irma Garcia – who died in the shooting at the Uvalde, Texas, school – and her husband, Joe – who died two days later from a heart attack.Nineteen children and two teachers – Garcia and her co-teacher, 44-year-old Eva Mireles – were killed on 24 May when an 18-year-old gunman burst into their classroom. The litany of visitations, funerals and burials began on Monday and will continue into mid-June. Continue reading...
As NBA coverage moves to ESPN for the finals starting Thursday night, it means the end of another season for TNT’s beloved and uproarious studio showFor supporters of the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, this is a joyous time indeed; their teams are in the NBA finals. But for me, it’s bittersweet because, well, the only TV show in the game worth watching has ‘Gone Fishin’’.I’m referring of course to TNT’s Inside the NBA program and its uproarious tradition of sending off ousted playoff contenders with one last team photo – with the heads of their marquee players and celebrity fans photoshopped onto the bodies of random anglers. It’s just one in a slew of running gags that will have viewers missing Inside that much more as NBA coverage moves to ESPN for the finals. Continue reading...
Lee Zion seeks owner with ‘knowledge, experience and drive’ to take on Lafayette Nicollet Ledger, which reaches 100% of residentsFor most newspapers, a subscription rate of 100% of the residents in their distribution area would be a success so huge as to be unimaginable. But Lee Zion, whose tiny Lafayette Nicollet Ledger reaches all 500 people in the tiny Minnesota town of Lafayette, says he is throwing in the towel – because he wants to fight for Ukraine.Zion is offering to give away the weekly publication, which is profitable and free of debt, before he goes off to fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Zion, 54, bought the Ledger four years ago for $35,000, after working in journalism for decades. Continue reading...
If he wants to be true to the values of the music he most cherishes, Australia’s new PM needs to seize the sea of possibilities created by a more diverse parliamentOn Tuesday, Australia’s freshly minted prime minister, Anthony Albanese, drew on the words of a songwriter – and committed socialist – in announcing his first ministry. “Just because you’re going forwards doesn’t mean I’m going backwards,” Albanese said. He was citing one of Billy Bragg’s early songs, To Have and To Have Not, a bitter attack on inequality and privilege. Bragg said he was thrilled for his “old mate”, whom he has known since the 1990s.Albanese has made a habit of casually dropping song lyrics into his public appearances. At the beginning of the election campaign, he quoted the Ramones’ rallying cry “Hey ho let’s go” (from arguably that band’s best-known song, Blitzkrieg Bop). In 2013, he enjoyed the rare distinction of programming the Australian music television staple Rage, alongside former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop and Greens leader Adam Bandt. Continue reading...
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said Ukraine has given 'assurances' that it will not use advanced missile systems provided by Washington against targets on Russian territory. The new weapons package heading to Ukraine is 'precisely what they need' and will strengthen their hand in any negotiations in the future, he said.Blinken said Joe Biden,had been 'very clear' with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that this could be a consequence of his invasionRussia-Ukraine war: latest updates Continue reading...
Judge rules former Alaska governor failed to provide ‘even a speck’ of evidence that the newspaper acted maliciouslySarah Palin’s request for a new trial in her libel case against the New York Times has been scuppered, with the judge ruling the former governor of Alaska failed to provide “even a speck” of evidence that the newspaper acted maliciously.On Tuesday, US district judge Jed S Rakoff ruled that Palin had failed to prove the newspaper had malicious intent when it published an erroneous 2017 op-ed that linked Palin’s rhetoric to the shooting of former US representative Gabrielle Giffords. Continue reading...
Covered in goo, jumping desperately between rotating rollers, the prime minister refuses to gather his dignity and leaveHow long will Boris Johnson last? In moments such as these it is common to look at precedents, but that is difficult: no past prime minister has played the game of survival quite like him.The best comparison point for Johnson’s survival tactics comes not from politics but from the cult 1980s Japanese gameshow Takeshi’s Castle. There he is, covered in goo, jumping desperately between rotating rollers, repeatedly hit in the face with large plastic balls. While his predecessors might at this point gather their dignity and retire, Johnson merely leaps to the next soaped-up surface: always weakened but never quite finished. Meanwhile, some of his audience – particularly those whose careers depend on his – perhaps start to think of him not as weakened at all but as a survivor.Martha Gill is a political journalist and former lobby correspondent Continue reading...
Alleged scheme include installing volunteers as poll workers and getting attorneys who could intervene to block votes, Politico saysThe Republican party is building a grassroots “army” to target and potentially overturn election results in Democratic precincts, the Politico website reported on Wednesday, citing video evidence.The alleged scheme includes installing party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, creating a website to put these workers in touch with local lawyers and establishing a network of district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts. Continue reading...
Lawsuit says Glock should be held liable because it ‘endangered the public health and safety’ with marketing and sales of its gunsA woman wounded in last month’s mass shooting on a New York City subway car filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Glock, the maker of the handgun allegedly used in the attack.Ilene Steur, 49, was one of 10 people hurt by direct gunfire when she was hit by a bullet in her buttocks during her commute to work on 12 April. Continue reading...
Door did not automatically lock, contradicting investigators’ earlier account in which they said teacher had propped open doorA teacher did not, as previously stated, leave a door propped open with a rock during the massacre at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week, but closed it before the attacks began – only for the door to not automatically lock, Texas state investigators said.The gunman used the door to get inside, where he killed 19 students and two teachers. Continue reading...
It’s been a decade since I got on a plane, but global warming and chaotic airports mean it has been easy to stay on the groundI haven’t been on a plane for a decade – since 2012, which would be nice to look back on as a halcyon time, if only to run screaming from the blazing fuselage of the present for a second. But the truth is, Boris Johnson was already mayor of London, and it was one of the 10 warmest years on record. That September, the Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest extent recorded. The climate emergency was happening. It just hadn’t been declared yet.That summer of 2012, also on record as the last time I felt strange stirrings known as national pride, I watched the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in the basement of a Krakow bar. Four months later, days after discovering I was pregnant with my first child, I took two long-haul flights and a sea plane to a new luxury resort in the most undiscovered part of the Maldives. For four nights. On a press trip. Continue reading...
First-in-the-nation body will detail harms to African Americans and recommend steps to address those wrongsCalifornia’s first-in-the-nation taskforce on reparations for African Americans will release a report on Wednesday documenting in detail the harms perpetrated by the state and recommending steps to address those wrongs, including expanded voter registration, making it easier to hold violent police accountable and improving Black neighborhoods.It also recommends the creation of a special office that would, in part, help African Americans descended from free or enslaved Black people in the country at the end of the 19th century document their eligibility for financial restitution. Continue reading...
Pedro ‘Pete’ Arredondo, who ordered officers to wait outside classroom where gunman killed 21, was elected before massacreThe Uvalde school district police chief, Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, who authorities say erroneously ordered officers to wait outside the Robb elementary classroom where a gunman killed 21 last week, has been sworn into the Texas community’s city council.Arredondo, 61, won a seat on Uvalde’s city council on 7 May, 17 days before 19 students and two teachers were shot dead at Robb’s campus. A swearing-in ceremony for him and other elected members of the council had been set for Tuesday – the public event was cancelled “out of respect” for families burying slain loved ones, though Arredondo and the others privately took their oaths of office, Uvalde’s mayor, Don McLaughlin, said in a statement. Continue reading...
This postseason is already more fun than it has been in a few years because the Rangers, one of the Original Six, are sticking aroundThe New York Rangers won’t be given much of a chance to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to make the Stanley Cup final. That is no big surprise. The Lightning have won twice as many Stanley Cups in the last two years as the Rangers have won in the last, um, 82.But the Rangers have made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2015 – when they lost at home to the Lightning in the seventh game – and New York seems to be getting excited, which is good for the NHL, or any other professional league, for that matter. Continue reading...
A mobilisation such as America has rarely seen could propel Democrats to larger majorities this NovemberTwo of the most basic human aspirations are making one’s own decisions about whether or when to have a child, free from government interference, and keeping any child one does have out of harm’s way, secure against random violence.Yet both aspirations have been fiercely resisted in the United States – the first by many evangelical Christians, the second by the gun lobby.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...
America’s obsessions with guns and violence terrifies its citizens, but it also reflects its own genocidal and racist pastAfter an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 schoolchildren and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, President Biden took to the airwaves to address the nation in a speech full of sorrow and anger. “I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this [massacre] while I was on the aircraft,” he said. “And what struck me on that 17-hour flight – what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.”He’s right, of course. In 2018, CNN investigated school shootings worldwide between 2009 and 2018. The US, as it turns out, has “57 times as many shootings as the other six G7 countries combined”. What an appalling statistic.Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. He is Professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York Continue reading...
Moscow says US decision to supply rocket systems ‘increases risk’ of confrontation. Plus, Maverick sparks joy in TaiwanGood morning.Joe Biden has confirmed he will send medium-range advanced rocket systems to Kyiv, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been asking for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.How has Russia reacted? Russia has said that the US decision is extremely negative and will increase the risk of a direct confrontation. “Attempts to present the decision as containing an element of ‘self-restraint’ are useless,” said the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov.What are the advanced rockets US is sending Ukraine? The new weapon is the Himars multiple-launch rocket system, or MLRS: a mobile unit that can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided missiles.What’s happening with the push for better gun laws? Texas leaders are under growing pressure to increase gun control measures in the face of data indicating the state leads the US in mass shooting deaths, while Republicans have steadily eased restrictions on weapons and cut mental health spending. Continue reading...
by Neelam Tailor, Nikhita Chulani and Katie Lamborn on (#5ZW3V)
Known as 'that sand girl' on TikTok, 24-year-old Franziska Trautmann is trying to help restore Louisiana's eroding coastline ... with glass sand.The state loses about an American football field's worth of land every 100 minutes because of coastal erosion, so Trautmann and her co-founder, Max Steitz, decided to take action and launch Glass Half Full, the only glass recycling facility in New Orleans.So far the venture has diverted more than 2.2m lbs of glass from landfills, and the charity is working with scientists to expand its work to other parts of the world experiencing coastal erosion.
Once it was a sideshow – but this year, Ukranian soldiers competed with LGBTQ+ pioneers in a sport that’s being taken seriouslyOleksii Novikov doesn’t walk into the room. He turns sideways, and shuffles through the doorway like someone navigating a particularly busy bar.At 6ft 1in and 300lb of solid muscle, Novikov’s shoulders are three and a half feet wide. His hands, permanently curled from years of lifting really heavy stuff, are like bear paws, his wrists as thick as some people’s biceps. He’s wearing an XXXXL T-shirt. Continue reading...
‘President Trump never asked me … So, I’m mad at him,’ Georgia primary winner tells rapper and Revolt TV host Killer MikeThe Georgia US Senate candidate Herschel Walker has said he is “mad” at Donald Trump because the former president has claimed credit for asking the former NFL star to enter national politics.Walker told the rapper and Revolt TV host Killer Mike: “President Trump never asked me … So, I’m mad at him.” Continue reading...
Police say ‘a gator was involved’ in death of man at lake next to disc golf course in John S Taylor Park, LargoPolice in Florida said a man died while searching for Frisbees in a lake at a disc golf course where people are warned by signs to beware of alligators.The unidentified man was looking for Frisbees and other discs in the water and “a gator was involved”, the Largo police department said in an email on Tuesday. Continue reading...
by Martin Pengelly in New York, Erum Salam in San Ant on (#5ZV5R)
Services for Amerie Jo Garza and Maite Rodriguez held on Tuesday, with 19 more planned for coming weeksFunerals for the victims of the Uvalde elementary school shooting began in the small Texas town on Tuesday.In the afternoon, hundreds of mourners turned out for the funeral mass for Amerie Jo Garza, a smiling fourth-grader who was killed a week ago after an 18-year-old gunman who was eventually killed by law enforcement murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb elementary school. Continue reading...
Justice department seeks former aide’s communications with ex-president and his attorneysPeter Navarro, a top White House adviser to Donald Trump, is being commanded by a federal grand jury subpoena to turn over to the justice department his communications with the former president, the former president’s attorneys and the former president’s representatives.The exact nature of the subpoena – served on 26 May 2022 and first obtained by the Guardian – and whether it means Trump himself is under criminal investigation for January 6 could not be established given the unusually sparse details included on the order. Continue reading...
Child in Washington state praised for bravery after suffering serious wounds to head and upper bodyA mountain lion attacked a nine-year-old girl who was playing hide-and-seek at a church camp in Washington state, seriously wounding her and sending her friends running in fear.Lily A Kryzhanivskyy and two other children were playing in the woods on Saturday at the camp near the small town of Fruitland, north-west of Spokane. Lily jumped out to surprise her friends when the lion attacked, the Washington department of fish and wildlife said. Continue reading...
Officials say ‘gator was involved’ in death of man at disc golf course where people often seek Frisbees to sellA man died searching for Frisbees in a lake at a disc golf course where people are warned by signs to beware of alligators, police in Florida have said.The unidentified man was looking for flying discs in the water and “a gator was involved”, the Largo police department said in an email on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Young fans peer through the gates while K-pop sensations meet the president and address the pressThey braved sweltering heat, they pressed their faces to the fence, they clutched cameraphones in the hope of glimpsing their idols.The dozens of young fans at the White House gates resembled a pop concert on Tuesday – but the adulation was not for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, whose approval ratings are on the slide. The Korean pop sensations BTS were here to give sleepy Washington a shot of adrenaline, discuss Asian inclusion and representation and address hate crimes against Asian people. Continue reading...
Jury’s verdict is setback for special counsel John Durham’s search for alleged misconduct in investigation of Trump’s 2016 campaign• Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer acquitted of lying to the FBIUS supreme court clerks may be required to hand over phone records – report• ‘We have to do something’: calls mount for Texas gun control laws after latest deadly attack• Trump aide Peter Navarro ordered to testify before grand jury over January 6
Former White House adviser reveals federal subpoena, which also calls for documents to be handed over, in court filingPeter Navarro, a top White House adviser to Donald Trump, revealed in a court filing on Monday that he had been ordered to testify before a federal grand jury and produce to prosecutors any records concerning January 6, including communications with the former president.The grand jury subpoena to Navarro, which he said was served by two FBI agents last week, compels him to produce documents to the US attorney for the District of Columbia and could indicate widening justice department action ensnaring senior Trump administration officials. Continue reading...
At least nine people died and more than 60 injured in incidents in which four or more people were shot or killedDays after a massacre at an elementary school in Texas in which 21 people died, the Memorial Day weekend in the US was marked by yet more mass shootings, at least 14 incidents total.According to the Gun Violence Archive – which defines a mass shooting incident as one in which “four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter” – at least nine people were killed in the shootings and more than 60 injured. Overall, gun violence over the weekend from 5am on Friday to early Tuesday saw 156 people dead and 412 injured. Continue reading...
Jason Selvig addresses Houston convention to sarcastically praise gun group CEO’s response to a litany of mass shootingsAn undercover comedian crashed the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Houston, Texas, and sarcastically thanked the organization’s president for his repeated “thoughts and prayers” following deadly mass shootings across the US over the years, including one just three days previously where 21 people were killed at a school across the state.Jason Selvig of the Good Liars, which pranks public figures, stood up to speak when NRA members were allowed to address the group’s chief executive since 1991, Wayne LaPierre, according to a social media video posted by the comedy group. Continue reading...
First lady tells Harper’s Bazaar she settles disagreements with president by text and stresses need for independence to daughtersWhen Joe Biden and Jill Biden disagree, they don’t hash it out in front of other people. Instead, she says, they argue by text – “fexting” as they call it.The first lady also told Harper’s Bazaar magazine in an interview that her divorce from her first husband taught her to be independent and that she has drilled that lesson into her daughter and granddaughters. Continue reading...
As data indicates state leads the US in mass shooting deaths, Democrats – and some Republicans – demand legislative actionTexas leaders are under growing pressure to increase gun control measures in the face of data indicating the state leads the US in mass shooting deaths, while Republicans have steadily eased restrictions on weapons and cut mental health spending.As the funerals of the 19 children and two teachers begin on Tuesday in the tiny, devastated southern Texas city of Uvalde, a week after a shooting at the elementary school, state Democrats – and some Republicans – are demanding a special legislative action. Continue reading...
Baby boomers were complicit in the decay of our civic life and cultural fabric – and we must play a serious role in fixing itI had the chance this month to spend a couple of weeks on an utterly wild and remote Alaskan shore – there was plenty of company, but all of it had fur, feathers or fins. And there was no way to hear from the outside world, which now may be the true mark of wilderness. So, bliss. But also, on returning, shock. If you’re not immersed in it daily, the tide of mass shootings, record heatwaves and corroded politicians spouting ugly conspiracies seems even more truly and impossibly crazy.Camping deep in the wild is not for everyone, but there’s another way to back up and look at our chaos with some perspective – and that’s to separate yourself in time instead of space.Bill McKibben is Schumann Distinguished Scholar in environmental studies at Middlebury College and the author most recently of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened Continue reading...
First memorial services for victims begin as president says he will continue to push for gun control. Plus 20 years of Avril LavigneGood morning.The first memorial services for the 19 children and two teachers killed in a mass shooting at their elementary school in Uvalde began on Monday, a day after Joe Biden visited the small south Texas city and was urged by residents to take action on gun safety laws.What’s happening in Canada? The mass shooting in Texas has fed concern about gun violence worldwide and Canada’s government is to legislate for a national freeze on handgun ownership that would prevent people buying and selling them anywhere in the country.Why has Andy Murray spoken up about gun law in the US? Britain’s two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has said the mass shooting in Uvalde made him “angry” and that a survivor’s account of the incident was similar to his own experience in the 1996 Dunblane massacre in Scotland.What else do we know about what happened? Here’s a timeline of how the school shooting unfolded.What has Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said? “On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it,” she said. “Accountability isn’t partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.” Continue reading...
Group of city council members seeks to protect patients from criminal prosecution if supreme court ends abortion rightsA group of Austin, Texas city council members is preparing a resolution to “decriminalize” abortion there in the event the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, a landmark case decided nearly five decades ago that protects the federal right to terminate a pregnancy.An unprecedented leaked supreme court draft decision showed a conservative majority of the nine justices are open to reversing Roe v Wade entirely. If that happened, 26 states would be certain or likely to ban abortion, including in Texas. The state has a “trigger” ban that would almost immediately ban abortion. Continue reading...
Hedge fund boss – whose daughter married Brooklyn Beckham – holds 1.5% stake in UnileverUnilever’s share price has risen after the consumer goods company announced that the billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz is to become a board member.Peltz, the US founder and chief executive of Trian Fund Management, has been building his Unilever stake since January amid growing speculation that he will push the Dove soap and Marmite manufacturer to shake up its sprawling operations, with the company under increasing pressure to sell off brands or consider a break-up. Continue reading...
Tennis star says a survivor’s account was similar to his own experience in the 1996 Dunblane massacreBritain’s two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has said the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, made him “angry” and that a survivor’s account of the incident was similar to his own experience in the 1996 Dunblane massacre in Scotland.An 18-year-old gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle stormed an elementary school in Texas last week, killing 19 children and two teachers. Continue reading...
The National Spelling Bee is back, but with fewer than half the spellers it had three years ago thanks to regional consolidation and a reduction in sponsorships. Here’s what should be doneAfter a disheartening cancellation in 2020 and a largely virtual event last year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee is back in person. To be sure, 2020 and 2021 weren’t lost years: online spelling bees, including my own, blossomed, and 2021 saw the crowning of the first African American champion. But this year’s return to a semblance of normalcy – with LeVar Burton emceeing the event! – will undoubtedly delight logophiles and Trekkies alike.The Bee has become an American cultural institution. Watching elementary and middle-school students wrestle with words under high pressure and strict time limits – a mere 90 seconds to ask questions and an additional 30 seconds to spell – is captivating. The Bee rewards discipline, feats of memory and linguistic mastery: what you see onstage is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work, with spellers’ parents, and tutors like me, playing supporting roles. The approximately 30 words that a champion speller receives onstage are the surface of a deep reservoir of knowledge. That a competition which unapologetically champions learning has thrived for more than 90 years should be cause for celebration. Continue reading...
The Giants manager boycotted the national anthem after recent mass shootings. He is somewhat of a rarity in baseball, a sport not noted for its progressive valuesThey were teammates on the curse-busting 2004 Boston Red Sox: Curt Schilling, the brilliant and brave pitcher, and Gabe Kapler, a journeyman outfielder who boasted the physique of Charles Atlas yet was somehow never a home run threat.Schilling became a far-right pundit-provocateur in retirement, a man as committed to owning the libs as he once was to beating the New York Yankees. The Donald Trump supporter has considered running for Congress and his Twitter feed was a predictable festival of Fox News-grade fatuity following the Uvalde massacre (because it is clear America will slide into autocracy if teenagers can’t buy AR-15s). Continue reading...
Twice a year, the sunset lines up between blocks in New York City, creating a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge that is beloved by locals Continue reading...
Like others ashamed by the invasion of Ukraine, I have left Russia, my home. We feel like leaves, scattered by a hurricane“Ukrainians don’t have to pay!” I am trying to buy three shawarmas in a market in Tbilisi, Georgia, but the street vendor emphatically refuses to take my money. I try to explain, even though I was warned not to say this: “I am sorry, I am not Ukrainian, I am Russian.” The vendor looks at the Ukrainian flag pin on my lapel; he doesn’t believe me.Before 24 February, I never thought about what it means to be Russian. Now it’s all I think about. Continue reading...
I was so excited when eBay started, until I realised no one wanted my stuff – so why do I feel so emotional about this sudden flood of unexpected interest?It was so exciting when eBay first started, a final reckoning with the fact that we all, between us, had enough stuff. We just had to keep it moving around so that it felt new to someone, and life’s defining itch-scratch-itch cycle – earn-spend-earn – would be broken. All that would be left to destroy was private property, and wham, we would reach Arcadia (the state of simple pleasure, not the doomed fashion business).Then, it turned out that no one wanted my stupid stuff. I’d end up with a closing bid of £1.28, having gifted myself administrative posting tasks that would reach into the following month. My reputation was soon scorched as a seller, and I took to using the site only for buying vintage dog cufflinks, which never arrived. At least I wasn’t banned from selling, unlike my Mr, who had his card marked early on as a potential money launderer. I have been round these traps a lot, and scoured Breaking Bad and Ozark many times to find out how money laundering works. I can find no reasonable explanation for the suspicion, except that the quality of his goods was too low for the possibility of honest exchange.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Brooklyn diocese calls it ‘a crime of disrespect and hate’ and says gold relic is irreplaceable because of its historical and artistic valuePolice say someone has broken into the altar at a New York City church, stole a $2m gold relic and removed the head from a statue of an angel.The incident happened between 6.30pm last Thursday and 4pm on Saturday, the police said on Monday, at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic church, known as the “Notre Dame” of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. Continue reading...
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