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US news organizations have turned Biden's age into a scandal and continue to cover Trump as an entertaining side showChristiane Amanpour has reported all over the world, so she recognizes a democracy on the brink when she sees one.Last week, as she celebrated her 40 years at CNN, she issued a challenge to her fellow journalists in the US by describing how she would cover US politics as a foreign correspondent.News organizations have turned Biden's age (granted, a legitimate concern) into the equivalent of a scandal. In story after story, headline after headline, they emphasize not his administration's accomplishments, but the fact that he's 80. A New York Times headline during his recent diplomatic mission to Asia epitomized this, turning the president's joke about jet lag into an impression of a doddering fool: It is evening, isn't it?' An 80-Year-Old President's Whirlwind Trip." Ian Millhiser of Vox nailed the problem: I worry the Biden is old' coverage is starting to take on the same character as the 2016 But Her Emails coverage - find something that is genuinely suboptimal about the Democratic candidate and dwell on it endlessly to balance' coverage of the criminal in charge of the GOP."The evidence-free Biden impeachment efforts in the House of Representatives are presented to news consumers without sufficient context. In the first round of headlines last week, most news outlets simply reported what speaker Kevin McCarthy was doing as if it were completely legitimate - the result of his likely high crimes and misdemeanors. The Washington Post presented it seriously: Kevin McCarthy directs House committees to open formal Biden impeachment inquiries," adding in a credulous line: The inquiry will center on whether President Biden benefited from his son's business dealings ... " No hint of what is really happening here. In this case, the New York Times was a welcome exception: McCarthy, Facing an Ouster and a Shutdown, Orders an Impeachment Inquiry." That's more like it.Trump continues to be covered mostly as an entertaining side show - his mug shot! His latest insults! - not a perilous threat to democracy, despite four indictments and 91 charges against him, and despite his own clear statements that his re-election would bring extreme anti-democratic results; he would replace public servants with the cronies who'll do his bidding. We will look back on this and wish more people had understood that Biden is our bulwark of democratic freedoms and the alternative is worse than most Americans can imagine," commented Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen, and an expert in authoritarian regimes. Continue reading...

Mount Dora decided to affiliate to popular national initiative but group of state representatives branded it deceptive and coercive'A central Florida city is moving forward with plans to join the popular national Safe Place initiative protecting LGBTQ+ people and others, despite opposition from Republicans who consider it a deceptive and coercive" political mandate.Councilors in Mount Dora, a historic and eclectic small city famous for its antiques stores, art galleries and festivals, voted last month to affiliate with Safe Place, which seeks to give victims of hate crimes or bias a temporary shelter if they feel threatened. Continue reading...

Frustrated residents of rural county seek answers over officials' involvement in alleged election conspiracyThe Coffee county, Georgia, board of elections held its first meeting Tuesday after being mentioned more than 50 times in Fulton county's indictment of Donald Trump and 18 others for allegedly participating in a criminal conspiracy to change the outcome of the 2020 election. Local residents, still frustrated over a lack of accountability for officials who may have known about the conspiracy, pressured the reluctant board for an independent investigation.The small, rural county 200 miles south-east of Atlanta made its way into the indictment - and global headlines - because Trump allegedly sent associates there to copy software and other digital information from the state's elections system in early 2021. Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, called it the largest voting systems breach in US history". Continue reading...

Deadline expires with sides still far apart on union's contract priorities. Plus, Hunter Biden indicted on federal charges Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Auto workers have launched a series of strikes after their union failed to reach agreement with the US's three largest manufacturers over a new contract, kicking off the most ambitious industrial labor action in decades.How many workers are employed at the first plants on strike? Strikes kicked off at midnight at three plants of a combined 12,700 workers (a General Motors plant in Wentzville, Missouri, a Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio, and a Ford assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan).What do workers demand? Among the demands are a 40% pay increase, an end to tiers - where some workers are paid at lower wage scales than others - and the restoration of concessions from previous contracts such as medical benefits for retirees, more paid time off and rights for workers affected by plant closures.How much is the strike fund? The UAW has a $825m strike fund that is set to compensate workers $500 a week while out on strike, and could support all of its members for about three months.How long could he face in prison if convicted? Up to 25 years. Biden faces up to 10 years in prison on each of two counts of making false statements to a Delaware gun dealer who sold him the gun, and five for possessing it as someone with drug addiction. Continue reading...

Bad mother' behaviour seems to include anything that even hints at maternal ambivalence or a desire for more freedomIt's hard enough being a working mother of young children, especially one in the process of getting divorced, without being smeared in the press as a bad mum. That's what's been happening to the actor Sophie Turner since her split from her pop singer husband, Joe Jonas, with various reports appearing on celebrity gossip websites casting aspersions on her parenting. Apparently she likes to party, he likes to stay at home", he's been in dad mode" caring for his own children pretty much all of the time" (Turner has been filming in the UK), and, in deciding to divorce, is taking the best course of action for his girls".The misogynistic undercurrents of these reports are clear: Turner is an irresponsible, absent mother who has had the audacity to make childcare arrangements with her partner in order to work, and worse, attend a wrap party where cocktails - cocktails! - were freely available. Meanwhile, Jonas is a present, loving father who is going above and beyond for his children, and is choosing to divorce their mother, it is implied, for their own welfare. Continue reading...

Celia Nabor oversaw early voting in Maricopa county in 2022 - then an online horde of election deniers decided to hunt her downThis article was published in partnership with Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the US.They started searching for her in late January. Continue reading...

The American official has been chased by angry fans during her career but she has no regrets over a career that has taken her across the globeAs a teenage referee, Tori Penso knew her job would involve running. Yet taking charge of a heated game played between 16-year-old boys, she never thought running would actually mean sprinting to her car to escape three men enraged by her performance. Penso, though, can run fast. She made it to her car, locked the doors, fled from her pursuers, and then burst into tears.I said that I don't want to do this," Penso, now 37, says. I don't need people chasing me. I can do something else." Continue reading...

The Jets' championship window is narrow. They need to make an aggressive move after Aaron Rodgers's season ended with an achilles injuryHow do you put the pieces back together on a season that disintegrated in four plays?The New York Jets are still coming to terms with Aaron Rodgers's achilles tear and its short- and long-term impact. The solution for now: They'll turn to Zach Wilson. I want to make it very clear, Zach's our quarterback," Jets head coach Robert Saleh said after it was confirmed Rodgers will miss the rest of the season.Jacoby Brissett, Washington CommandersJameis Winston, New Orleans SaintsSam Darnold, San Francisco 49ersCase Keenum, Houston TexansAndy Dalton, Carolina Panthers Continue reading...

In a rare moment of insight, the broadcaster articulated an undeniable truth: in the UK, the vastly wealthy hold the powerIt was one of the abiding mysteries of public life. How did Piers Morgan rise so far? I see him as a buffoon, a bully, a windbag. Yet, despite scandals that would have killed most people's careers, he rose like a methane bubble in a slurry lagoon, occupying some of the most prestigious and lucrative positions in the media. This week, reflecting on the life and abuses of the plutocrat Mohamed Al Fayed, Private Eye magazine produced an explanation. It came from Morgan himself, writing about Fayed in 1999. I've always made it a strict rule in life to ingratiate myself with three categories of people: newspaper owners, potential newspaper owners and billionaires. And since Mohamed Al Fayed is a billionaire and would love to own a newspaper, sucking up to him seems an extremely sensible move."The strategy is not unusual. But voicing it is. Morgan expressed the unspoken rule of public life out loud. If you want to get ahead, grovel to billionaires, especially those who own the media. The obvious coda to the rule is: because they are the people with real power". Continue reading...

The Ukrainian president is expected to visit the White House and Capitol Hill during the UN general assembly meetingThe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US during the United Nations general assembly.Zelenskiy's trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden's request to provide as much as $24bn in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion. Continue reading...

Jason Brown, 48, linked to neo-Nazi group, charged with criminal mischief after police said hate banners were hung in OrlandoFlorida authorities have arrested a man after he allegedly hung extremist hate symbols including swastikas over a bridge.On Wednesday, the Florida department of law enforcement (FDLE) announced that 48-year-old Jason Brown of Cape Canaveral was arrested for allegedly hanging swastikas and other antisemitic banners along the Daryl Carter Parkway overpass in Orlando and charged him with criminal mischief. Continue reading...

State senate moves to oust nonpartisan elections administrator Meagan Wolfe, who became lightning rod for conspiracy theoriesWisconsin's top elections official suffered another blow on Thursday when the Republican-controlled state senate voted to fire her by a party line vote of 22 to 11. Meagan Wolfe's status as elections administrator will now likely be determined in court.Legal experts and the Wisconsin attorney general have disputed the move by Republican senators to remove Wolfe, a respected and accomplished non-partisan leader. Her removal would affect the administration of elections in 2024 and illustrates the increasingly wide reach of election deniers and rightwing conspiracy theorists in Wisconsin politics. Continue reading...

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Former House speaker says people shouldn't underestimate vice-president and that she will work to get Biden and Harris re-electedNancy Pelosi seemed to offer a less-than-ringing endorsement when asked if Kamala Harris was the best running mate for Joe Biden next year, saying: He thinks so, and that's what matters."But the former US House speaker also had praise for the vice-president, telling CNN: And, by the way, she's very politically astute. I don't think people give her enough credit. She's ... consistent with the president's values and the rest." Continue reading...

US president says he is not focused on impeachment' but believes inquiry is linked to Republican desire to achieve federal shutdownJoe Biden said Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry against him because they want to shut down the government".Biden was speaking at a campaign event in McLean, Virginia, on Wednesday, a day after the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, conceded to pressure from the right of his party and announced the inquiry. Continue reading...

Police say woman, 40, arrested and charged with felony child neglect as sheriff's office says charges could be upgradedA 11-month-old baby and a dog died after being left in a car for over six hours in Virginia, authorities announced on Wednesday.Police responded to a call at a hospital in Newport News at about 4pm on Tuesday after a man in his 80s entered the emergency room and said he had a deceased child" in the back of his car, the York-Poquoson sheriff's office said in a press briefing. Continue reading...

Investor appetite for shares in SoftBank-owned tech firm pushes shares up close to 25% in much-hyped initial public offeringShares in the British chip designer Arm soared on Thursday, valuing the company at over $65bn as it debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the biggest US share listing of the year.Arm set a price of $51 a share, valuing the company at $54.5bn on Wednesday. But as trading began on Thursday morning, investor appetite for the company's initial public offering (IPO) pushed its share price up 10% to $56.10, valuing the company at just below $60bn.Reuters contributed to this story Continue reading...

Highway patrol shares social media post after officer detains rider impaired by alcohol'A California man was arrested this week after he was discovered to be driving under the influence - except the man was not behind the wheel of a car and instead, riding his horse with an open container of alcohol, according to police.In a post shared on social media earlier this week, the California highway patrol (CHP) in Merced, California, revealed that Officer Kody Brackett discovered a a horseback rider carrying an open container of alcohol". Continue reading...

The president isn't exactly popular right now. But this attempt to humiliate him will scar everyone - including RepublicansAlready in a footrace for re-election, Joe Biden now faces an unwelcome impeachment inquiry. Against the backdrop of a likely government shutdown, the US again stands to be buffeted by our deep and wide partisan divide. Practically speaking, however, he will survive. Conviction by the Senate is a mathematical impossibility.Democrats are in control and Senate Republicans are nowhere near being onboard. It's a waste of time," as one anonymous Republican senator told the Hill. It's a fool's errand." Said differently, impeachment will scar all concerned - Republicans included. Continue reading...

Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, who requested speedy trial in election interference case, to be tried next monthA Georgia judge has ruled that Donald Trump and 16 others will be tried separately from two defendants who are set to go to trial next month in the case accusing them of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro had filed demands for a speedy trial, and the Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee had set their trial to begin on 23 October. Trump and other defendants had asked to be tried separately from Powell and Chesebro, with some saying they could not be ready by the late October trial date. Continue reading...

Announcement comes after July ruling that 1849 abortion law does not apply in significant victory for abortion rights in midwestPlanned Parenthoods in Wisconsin will resume abortions on Monday 18 September, the organization announced on Thursday, after a prolonged legal battle over a Wisconsin 19th-century abortion law that has blocked abortions across the state.The announcement that abortions will resume at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin clinics in Milwaukee and Madison comes months after a judge ruled that a 1849 law does not apply to what she called consensual abortions". Instead, the law bans people from committing feticide, or killing a fetus, usually by assaulting and battering the mother", the Dane county judge Diane Schlipper wrote in her July ruling. Continue reading...

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis's support lies on a spectrum of rape apologism and intimidation that shields predatorsIn the video they are wearing T-shirts, looking unkempt. Maybe a consultant from a crisis PR firm told them that it would be a bad look to appear on camera in the expensive getups they usually don for public appearances; maybe they just didn't think that the task warranted a shower. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, married actors, sit before a wood-paneled background that might be a backyard fence, or the outer wall of a pool house. They are there to address the letters they recently wrote to a Los Angeles court, attesting to the good character of their friend Danny Masterson.Kutcher and Kunis were posting the video - well, not to apologize, exactly, since they didn't. But perhaps to clean up the mess of bad publicity that had resulted from the letters. Masterson, Kutcher and Kunis's costar from That '70s Show, is now a convicted serial rapist; the letters were meant to convince the judge that he was somehow also a good person, one who did not deserve severe punishment. The clip, which appeared on Instagram, featured the couple speaking from a script. Their faces were fixed in uncannily still emotionlessness. We support victims," Kunis said to the camera, her eyes steely and her voice containing no conviction. Continue reading...

Florida governor says Washington Post report about undisclosed trips on donors' planes a case of Trump-legacy media collusion'A spokesperson for Ron DeSantis has responded to a Washington Post report about undisclosed trips on donors' private jets and said the report is an example of Trump-legacy media collusion".The DeSantis spokesperson, Andrew Romeo, directed the paper to a former aide to the Florida governor now a top adviser to Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Jury awards damages to David Ermold and David Moore, who sued former Kentucky county clerk over 2015 incidentA former Kentucky county clerk is being ordered to pay $100,000 to a local couple who sued the clerk after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan county in eastern Kentucky, rose to national prominence for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2015, arguing that such actions violated her religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman. Continue reading...

Number of book challenges nationwide doubled from 2021 as book ban movement gathers speed in Republican-led statesTexas made the most attempts to ban or restrict books in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association (ALA).Last year, there were 1,269 documented censorship attempts to restrict 2,571 unique titles - the highest number ever recorded by ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom and double the 729 book challenges made in 2021. Continue reading...

When the Phillies' $300m shortstop flopped at the start of the season, the club's notoriously hostile fans decided to shower him with loveThe Philly Shrug is a term that was invented by Daily News columnist Helen Ubinas to describe the average Philadelphian's whaddya-gonna-do" attitude toward so many of the city's endemic problems - the notion that this is just how it is. Although it was coined to describe and explain the public's desensitization to things like crime, litter and political corruption, this blase attitude has largely extended to the city's famously intense support of its sports teams, which has at times boiled over into the boorish, outrageous and ugly.Yes, some of the incidents have been overblown in the American sporting lore. Most locals bristle at a national broadcaster's umpteenth mention of Eagles fans throwing snowballs at Santa Claus during the half-time Christmas parade at a 1968 game. But, uh, we did throw batteries at JD Drew on his first trip to Philadelphia after his refusal to sign with the Phillies. We did cheer Michael Irvin's temporary paralysis as he was carted off with a career-ending spinal cord injury. Yes, there was a courtroom built into the bowels of Veterans Stadium to more efficiently process rowdy fans at Eagles games. One of us did, in fact, stick his finger down his own throat to intentionally vomit on an opposing fan and his 11-year-old daughter. Continue reading...

Germany is ready for a new, dynamic US star after Gio Reyna and Christian Pulisic. The only question is which of the Aaronson siblings will get there firstThat cliche about a year being a long time in football? You don't need to tell that to the Aaronson brothers. This time last year the younger of the two, Paxten, told NBC that it was a surreal experience" watching his big brother, Brenden, starring for Leeds United in the Premier League matches he'd been watching on TV for years. You could sense not just the pride in his voice and demeanour, but genuine awe.It had all been about Brenden, the elder by almost three years. Since building his reputation in MLS with Philadelphia Union, his ascent had been dizzying. His transfer to Red Bull Salzburg, signed off in October 2020 for a fee with the potential to rise to $9m, was a record for a homegrown Union player. Paxten made his professional debut, also for the Union, around six months later. By then, Aaronson senior was in another constellation. Continue reading...

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis push for resolution with UAW union to prevent industry's biggest strike in generationsUS autoworkers and the big three US vehicle makers were in a race against time on Thursday to stop the industry's biggest strike in generations.With the White House pushing for a resolution, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the car companies still appeared far apart as a midnight deadline to agree to a new union contract approached. Continue reading...

A spate of violence spurred the New Mexico leader, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, to take drastic and controversial actionLast week, 11-year old Froylan Villegas was fatally shot outside a minor-league baseball stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A month earlier, five-year-old Galilea Samaniego died after she was struck by a bullet while lying in bed in an Albuquerque trailer park. Two weeks before Samaniego's death, 13-year-old Amber Archuleta was shot and killed in Questa, a small town about 150 miles north of Albuquerque.The spate of violence spurred the Democratic governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, to take drastic and controversial action. On Friday, the governor announced the immediate implementation of a 30-day ban on carrying firearms in public spaces or on state property in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo county, declaring gun violence to be a public health emergency. Continue reading...

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis made billions of dollars over the past decade. Workers made those profits possibleThe climate crisis and income inequality are the two greatest challenges facing our generation. Both are being determined in the union contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers Union and Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, known as the big three, which are all set to expire this Thursday night at midnight.Shawn's grandparents migrated from the south during the Great Depression and landed jobs at Chrysler and General Motors in Indiana, altering the trajectory of his family, from destitute poverty to solidly middle class, in just one generation. Ro's parents immigrated from India to Pennsylvania seeking a better life where Ro grew up surrounded by families and factories employing once-high-income-workers to now sit in one of America's most powerful institutions. Both family stories reveal a common thread, binding together the promise of an American Dream.Ro Khanna is a congressman from CaliforniaShawn Fain is the president of the United Auto Workers Continue reading...

Sherrod Brown is a true-blue, pro-union progressive beloved by many Ohioans. But Republicans are preparing for a dogfight'Breathless coverage of the presidential horserace has begun, and it seems all but inevitable: we're heading towards a Trump-Biden rematch. Democrats need to maintain their razor-thin Senate majority if they hope to enact President Biden's second-term agenda - or, God forbid, fend off Trump's.That prospect hinges on a few incumbents facing tough re-election fights. The most critical, must-win seat belongs to Sherrod Brown, a senator from Ohio. Continue reading...

Republicans and even some Democrats were gracious to the senator, while Trump was not ready to forgive himMitt Romney's long career in politics has taken him from the governor's office in Massachusetts to presidential ballots nationwide in 2012 and finally to the Senate, where he became known as the Republican who stood up to Donald Trump.On Wednesday, Romney, 76, announced he would not stand for another six-year term as Utah's senator next year, and made no secret that Trump's presence at the heart of Republican politics was a factor in his decision. Continue reading...

Multiple assaults, coercion' and visa denial for Andres Domingo raises concerns of systemic mistreatment in Ice detention centersWhile detained at Miami's Krome detention center, Andres Domingo was sexually assaulted multiple times.An investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) corroborated Domingo's claims and his legal team said this automatically made the 25-year-old Guatemalan native eligible for a U-visa, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services regulation. Given to victims of sex crimes or any crime that leads to mental and psychological suffering or abuse, the U non-immigrant status allows victims to remain in the US. Yet, Domingo's last request for the visa was denied on 25 August. Continue reading...

Up to 20,000 people feared dead after devastating floods. Plus, Mitt Romney attacks Trump in resignation announcement Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Rescue workers in the devastated Libyan city of Derna have appealed for more body bags after a catastrophic flood killed thousands of people and swept many out to sea.What are the current death toll estimates? The number of dead was feared to be between 18,000 and 20,000, Ghaithi said.Who is helping with aid efforts? Rescue teams had arrived from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar, the mayor said. The UK announced an initial $1.25m aid package.What is happening to injured people? Derna residents have been pleading for a new field hospital as the two existing hospitals have become makeshift morgues.How old is Romney? He is 76. That's one year younger than Trump (77), four years younger than President Joe Biden (80) and five years younger than the Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell (81). Continue reading...

A savage attack on an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham highlights a potential for wildness that dog owners are often keen to denyI happen to be reading Evil Angels at the moment, John Bryson's brilliant account of the case of Lindy Chamberlain and the death, in 1980, of her infant daughter, Azaria. It is a story, largely, about a miscarriage of justice, but it is also, of course, a story about a dog. A few days before Azaria Chamberlain was snatched by a dingo from the family's tent near Uluru, a 12-year-old girl was attacked in similar fashion at the same campsite, and survived. It had her about the elbow," writes Bryson. The grip was commanding, painful, and she couldn't shake it off. The vapour of arrogance in its eyes was unmistakable and terrifying. She screamed for her mother."Dingos aren't domestic dogs, but at the time of Azaria's death and her mother's subsequent arrest for her murder, they weren't imagined to pose much risk to humans. I thought of this scene, and about the decades-long power of the Chamberlain story more generally, while reading this week about the attack by an American bully XL crossbreed dog on an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham. The child survived, with lacerations to her arms and injuries to the several people who intervened to help her. Two years ago, an American bully XL mauled and killed a 10-year-old boy in Wales, and earlier this year, a woman was killed by her own bully XL in Surrey. While campaigners called for the breed to be banned and the home secretary described it as a clear and lethal danger", the Royal Kennel Club doesn't even recognise the bully XL - a combination of an American pitbull terrier, and American and English bulldogs - as a distinct breed.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

District judge Andrew Hanen's ruling expected to be appealed, leaving supreme court to rule on program's fate for the third timeA federal judge on Wednesday declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children.US district judge Andrew Hanen agreed with Texas and eight other states suing to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program. The judge's ruling was ultimately expected to be appealed to the US supreme court, sending the program's fate before the high court for a third time. Continue reading...

Setback for Governor Lujan Grisham as judge sides with advocates for gun rights even after recent shootings took lives of childrenA federal judge has blocked part of a public health order that suspended the right to carry guns in public across Albuquerque, New Mexico, the state's largest metro area, as criticism mounted over the actions taken by the governor and political divides widened.The ruling Wednesday by US district judge David Urias marks a setback for Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Democratic governor, as she responds to several recent shootings that took the lives of children, including an 11-year-old boy as he left a minor league baseball game in Albuquerque. Continue reading...

Three-judge panel ruled some communications of the House Freedom Caucus leader were protected from legal proceedingsA federal appeals court has ruled that top House Republican Scott Perry's text messages about efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election were constitutionally protected and off-limits to prosecutors, according to the opinion in the case that was newly unsealed on Wednesday.The three-judge panel at the US court of appeals for the DC circuit found that Perry's communications with congressmen and staff were protected under the so-called speech or debate clause, which shields members of Congress from legal proceedings connected to their official duties. Continue reading...

Republican congresswoman was escorted out of show of Beetlejuice in Denver after audience accused her of vaping, singing and using phoneThe US congresswoman Lauren Boebert was kicked out of a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in Denver on Sunday, according to security footage.The theater didn't name Boebert, but a spokesperson said on Wednesday that the video - which showed Boebert and a guest being escorted out of the venue - was of guests who were kicked out after audience members accused them of vaping, singing, using phones and causing a disturbance. Continue reading...

Lawrence Hecker, 92, earlier admitted to having sex with three underage boys in 1960s and 70s, but denied using violenceThe retired Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker pleaded not guilty in a New Orleans courtroom on Wednesday, five days after he turned himself in to jail on aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft charges.He's accused in a grand jury indictment of raping a teenage boy in 1975 or 1976 after the unnamed victim resisted to the utmost but ... was overcome by force".In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...

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Daniel Auderer denies wrongdoing, claiming he intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers'A Seattle police union leader was caught on camera joking about a woman who was killed by a police cruiser, saying her life had limited value" and the city should just write a check".Daniel Auderer, vice-president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, responded to the scene of a 23 January crash where another Seattle police officer, Kevin Dave, had struck and killed Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old graduate student, on a crosswalk. Dave was driving 74mph (119km/h) on the way to an overdose call in an area where the speed limit was 25mph. Kandula was thrown more than 100ft and died that night. Continue reading...

Utah senator, 76, who lost 2012 election to Obama, to step down next year, depriving Republican party of key critic of TrumpismSenator Mitt Romney of Utah, a former presidential nominee and a rare relative moderate in the Republican party of Donald Trump, has said he will not run for a second term next year, depriving the party of one of its fiercest critics in Congress of the former US president and his political movement.It's pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message," he said in an interview with the Washington Post in which he announced his retirement. Continue reading...

This is a cudgel to try to create the false impression that Biden's misdeeds, if any, are equal to Donald Trump'sWhen the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, announced an impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday, he subverted the normal procedures for doing so. Typically, the House would have to vote on whether to open an informal impeachment investigation: McCarthy just announced it, unilaterally, calling a press conference to say he was instructing" the House to open such an inquiry.Maybe the procedures don't matter, as the optics, more than the substance, seem to be the point of the impeachment. Faced with electoral prospects that have been deeply compromised by the massive political backlash following the reversal of Roe v Wade and the almost comically superlative corruption of the likely Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump - who has now been criminally indicted four times - Republicans need to create a stench around Biden comparable to the one that follows Trump, and increasingly all the other candidates who appear with an R next to their names on the ballot. The impeachment inquiry, then, can be understood as congressional Republicans' effort, ahead of the 2024 election, to throw a stink bomb.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Much of the eastern city of Derna has disappeared. The lethal failures of the country's authorities must bear much of the blameThe devastation wreaked by floods in eastern Libya is nothing less than apocalyptic. In Derna, where two dams burst after torrential rains, a wall of water deluged the city and sliced out the land from beneath its inhabitants. Entire neighbourhoods were swept into the sea, which is now dumping bodies along the shore. More than 6,000 have died there, and 10,000 people are said to be missing, but because entire families were washed away, there may be no survivors to report some losses. With other towns and settlements inundated, too, tens of thousands are displaced.The horror and despair of Libyans is matched by their fury at the rival governments that have split the country and pursued power and profit while ignoring the people's needs. Storm Daniel is a natural disaster, wrote Elham Saudi, the director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, but the ensuing catastrophe is manmade: corruption; lack of infrastructure; impunity; shutting down frontliners in civil society ... Be angry at a system that has enabled this tragedy." Continue reading...

House speaker made the announcement on Tuesday despite resistance from within the party and almost certain failureKevin McCarthy, the speaker of the US House, announced on Tuesday he is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into president Joe Biden - despite resistance from Republicans in the House and Senate, where an impeachment vote would almost certainly fail.The order comes as McCarthy faces mounting pressure from some far-right members of his chamber, who have threatened to tank his deal to avert a government shutdown by the end of the month if he does not meet their list of demands. Continue reading...

Eugene Peltola Jr, who was married to Democratic representative elected last year, was pilot of plane that crashed west of AnchorageEugene Peltola Jr, the husband of the Democratic Alaska congresswoman Mary Peltola, has died in a plane accident in his home state, a spokesperson said.We are devastated to share that Mary's husband, Eugene Peltola Jr - Buzzy' to all of us who knew and loved him - passed away earlier this morning following a plane accident in Alaska," Anton McParland, the congresswoman's chief of staff, said in a statement to media. Continue reading...