US news | The Guardian

New letter sent to Congress attempts to paint Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents at Florida home as inadvertentDonald Trump’s lawyers in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation found the 15 boxes the former president returned to the National Archives a year after the end of his presidency mostly contained briefings for calls with foreign leaders, according to a new letter they sent to Congress.The majority of the letter – seen by the Guardian and earlier reported by CNN – served to characterize Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents as inadvertent, and due to White House staffers sweeping all documents into boxes during a chaotic departure at the end of the administration. Continue reading...

Only Republican governor Kevin Stitt stands between Richard Glossip and the death chamber, with lethal injection set for 18 MayRichard Glossip, a death row prisoner in Oklahoma who has insisted he is innocent since he was convicted of murder 25 years ago, has been denied clemency even though the state’s Republican attorney general made an unprecedented appeal to spare his life.The pardon and parole board voted by 2-2 on Wednesday to deny Glossip, 60, clemency in the face of exceptional resistance from Republican politicians in Oklahoma who have joined forces to try and stop his execution going ahead. As things now stand, only the Republican governor Kevin Stitt stands between Glossip and the death chamber, with lethal injection set for 18 May. Continue reading...

Oldest president to seek re-election tackles issue a day after officially kicking off his 2024 bidSenate Democrats have demanded answers from the supreme court after a series of reports indicating at least two justices have relationships with parties interested in the court’s decisions that they did not disclose.But the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said on the floor today that the court continues to have his confidence: Continue reading...

The US president has dismissed concerns about his age after a recent poll by NBC News which found that 70% of adults said he should not run again. Addressing a press conference with the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, Joe Biden, 80, said: ‘With regard to age … I can’t even say the number. It doesn’t register with me.’Biden recently announced his intention to run again for the presidency with a campaign video asking Americans to give him another four years to ‘finish what he started’

Entertainment giant wants court to overturn governor’s efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World theme parks in OrlandoDisney sued Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and presumed challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday, saying he had subjected it to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation”.The entertainment giant wants a court to overturn state efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World in Orlando. The lawsuit was filed within minutes of a DeSantis-appointed oversight board voting to override agreements made in February that allowed the company to expand the theme park and maintain control over neighboring land. Continue reading...

US air force veteran Brian Kolfage admitted to conspiring to defraud donors to campaign to build wall along US-Mexico borderBrian Kolfage, a US air force veteran and former associate of the Trump ally and adviser Steve Bannon, was sentenced on Wednesday to more than four years in prison after admitting to conspiring to defraud donors to a campaign to build a wall along the US-Mexican border, as promised by the former president.Bannon, 69 and a former campaign chair and White House strategist for Trump, was also charged in the case but received a presidential pardon in the final hours of Trump’s term. Continue reading...

Host called senior colleague a C-word in text message obtained by lawyers as part of Dominion lawsuitTucker Carlson’s firing from Fox News came after he used vulgar language to describe a network executive, the Wall Street Journal reported.Carlson described a senior Fox News executive as a C-word in a text message obtained by lawyers as part of a defamation lawsuit between the network and Dominion Voting Systems, according to the Journal, which like Fox is part of the Murdoch media empire. Continue reading...

Lewis Kaplan condemns ex-president for calling civil rape trial ‘a made-up scam’ and Carroll’s lawyer a ‘political operative’E Jean Carroll, the advice columnist suing Donald Trump for rape, testified on Wednesday in the civil trial of the former president for alleged battery and defamation.“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,” she said. Continue reading...

Don’t get me wrong: when it’s bad, it’s bad. But Sad Rhiannon still wanted to joke, and forcing her to frown wasn’t helpingI knew two things from a very early age: I liked making people laugh, and I was destined to visit space.My dreams of a moon walk were cruelly dashed when, at 10, I had a panic attack on a 40-minute flight to Inverness. Also I wasn’t 10, I was 26. Making people laugh was much more within reach – but at times, it felt like the depression that would periodically overwhelm me stood at odds with it.Rhiannon Neads is a writer and actor. Her play Supernova runs from the 25 April to 13 May at the Omnibus theatre in Clapham, south LondonDo 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...

After the death of my good friend Paul, I was struck by how frightened it had made his son. Then a priest taught me that fear, not hate, is the opposite of lovePeople often ask how you get to be a television presenter. I always say that you only need one thing, and that is someone daft enough to give you a television programme to present. If you don’t chance upon that person, you might be the greatest television presenter in the world, but no one is going to know it.In my case, the person was a brilliant man called Paul Gibbs. I loved him, even if, years later, he told me: “You know, sometimes I watch you on the telly and still wonder if I did the right thing.” Fair enough; he wasn’t the only one.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Fox News, CNN and NBC Universal all let go of male anchors and bosses accused of sexism – for self-interestIt’s been a wild week for network news. Tucker Carlson, who hosted one of the most popular news shows on television, was suddenly ousted from Fox News, on the heels of both a hostile workplace complaint against him and the network’s settlement in a high-profile lawsuit that began to expose just how brazenly and knowingly Fox News anchors lied on the air. At CNN, longtime anchor Don Lemon was also let go in a move that he said left him “stunned”, and came after public blowback over Lemon’s on-air comments about women. NBC Universal fired CEO Jeff Shell after corroborating a sexual harassment complaint against him.Much remains unknown about all three terminations, particularly those of Carlson and Lemon. But the ouster of all three does suggest something may have shifted in television newsrooms. The question is whether it’s an elevated commitment to gender equality, or simply more self-interested decisions taking on the veil of morality.This article was amended on 26 April 2023 to clarify the nature of the allegations made and add further context.Jill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness Continue reading...

The sacked Fox News host was one figurehead of a misinformation industry that has reshaped rightwing politics across the worldIt is difficult to begrudge anyone for celebrating the downfall of far-right provocateur Tucker Carlson, ignominiously ejected from Fox News. Slack-jawed, spitting rage, his tirades were calculated at stirring the resentment of angry white America: from declaring that immigrants made the US dirtier and poorer to embracing the “great replacement theory”, which spreads the noxious lie that the authorities were deliberately “undermining democracy” by replacing US-born Americans with immigrants.Fox staff were reportedly jubilant at his departure. Perhaps this quote from a Fox reporter, in which they celebrate seeing the back of the network’s premier conspiracy theorist, will give you pause: “It’s a great day for America, and for the real journalists who work hard every day to deliver the news at Fox.”Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Chief justice declined to face Senate judiciary committee after reports of Clarence Thomas’s ties with Republican megadonorDemocrats and progressives reacted angrily after John Roberts, the chief justice of the supreme court, declined an invitation to testify before the Senate judiciary committee about corruption allegations against members of his court.Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut senator, said: “The marble pillars of the supreme court and platitudes about its independence no longer provide refuge. He must face the nation.” Continue reading...

The drama is really not a love story; at best it shows an entitled man who won’t take no for an answer. From Love Actually to 10 Things I Hate About You this is sadly nothing newRomantic comedies are littered with male heroes who deploy problematic, sometimes psychotic, behaviours in order to win over their heroine. After all, love conquers all, right? Even the reddest of flags.The latest victim to this misguided trope is the Apple TV+ Chris Evans and Ana de Armas action-romance, Ghosted. Continue reading...

This move by Missouri’s attorney general is the first attack on gender-affirming care for transgender adults – and it won’t be the lastOn Thursday 13 April, Missouri’s attorney general issued an emergency ruling that restricts access to gender-affirming care for both minors and adults, under the guise that hormone therapy is an “experimental use” rather than an FDA-approved treatment. For the past year, transgender youth have been a football for conservative politicians, with their access to gender-affirming care restricted or outlawed in 14 states. But this move by Missouri’s attorney general is the first attack on gender-affirming care for transgender adults; assuredly, it won’t be the last.The first time I tried to get access to gender-affirming care was in 2003. I was 24 years old and lived in Rhode Island. I’d been out as transgender for eight years by then, eight years spent looking (on a good day) like a 14-year-old boy, until finally the me I saw in the mirror and the me I saw in my head didn’t match any more. Only testosterone would make me feel like myself. Continue reading...

Long lines are forming at the borders as people fleeing fighting around the capital face daylong waits and demands for visas in order to cross to safetyGood morning.The UN’s refugee agency said it was expecting 270,000 refugees to cross into Chad and South Sudan as airstrikes and reports of renewed fighting around the capital have threatened a delicate three-day truce.The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned that the fighting is not only putting Sudan’s future at risk, “it is lighting a fuse that could detonate across borders, causing immense suffering for years, and setting development back by decades”.Those who have escaped the violence in Khartoum are sharing harrowing tales of being forced to hole up in homes for days, bullets flying through kitchen windows and threats from soldiers with guns. Continue reading...

More than 146,000 landlords have filed for eviction since early last year. Here’s what it’s like for a housing lawyerLast fall I began representing a woman who came to court to try to get her apartment back after she had been evicted just a few days prior. She was elderly, disabled and living alone on a fixed income after the death of her husband. Our only option to restore her tenancy was to find a way to pay her ever-growing and insurmountable rental debt of over $40,000.When we accepted this case, her prospects were bleak and no one believed that my office could get a positive result. The situation was difficult because once someone has been evicted, no defenses can be raised, and the money owed must be paid in full to retain the apartment – before the landlord rents it to someone else. Continue reading...

Opponents say move is yet another example of crackdown by officials seeking to disrupt protests against $90m training centerChildren and parents from a couple of Atlanta private schools recently showed up at City Hall during a school day to urge city council members not to go ahead with “Cop City,” a $90m police and fire department training base planned in a forest that has become a center of controversy in the US and overseas.On Monday college students at Emory University, Georgia Tech and other Atlanta schools protested the gigantic project, holding up signs, handing out leaflets and giving speeches. They tried to camp overnight at Emory, but were forced off by Atlanta police early Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Menacing messages and intimidating posts about court rulings, vote counting and even printer problems target Maricopa county employeesOn a typical day during the 2022 elections in Arizona, threatening emails and social media posts flowed into Maricopa county’s inboxes.Emailers, social media posters and callers were mad about everything from printer problems on election day to vote counting to court rulings, documents obtained by the Guardian show. Continue reading...

It’s past time to listen to athletes, and others, and put guardrails in place for a safer sport environment. We can’t, however, keep waiting for changeIn October 2017, the #MeToo movement made headlines around the world. Three months later, in January 2018, USA gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was given an effective life sentence after being found guilty of abusing more than 150 gymnasts over two decades.When I was appointed Canada’s Minister of Sport a month after Nassar’s sentencing, my No 1 priority was ending abuse in sport – whether it was emotional, physical, psychological, sexual or verbal – and making conditions safer for everyone.Kirsty Duncan is a member of Canadian Parliament and served as the federal minister of sport. Continue reading...

The former Bulls coach didn’t like how NBA players dressed 20 years ago. And now he objects to them making basic requests for humanityI remember the NBA labor negotiations of 2005, during which I was on the players’ union executive committee. The talks took place in the aftermath of the Malice at the Palace, and commissioner David Stern and the league were in full crisis mode. They wanted to introduce a dress code, a much-maligned policy whose tacit aim was to make Black players less threatening to the white season-ticket holders and TV viewers who drove much of the league’s revenue.I had worn my clothes baggy since high school. That was just my style. Phil Jackson, who had won six titles with Michael Jordan as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and three more with the Los Angeles Lakers, had a different opinion though.Etan Thomas played in the NBA from 2000 through 2011. He is a published poet, activist and motivational speaker Continue reading...

Weeds protect the soil and nurture insects and birds – now they are finally having their time in the sun at the Chelsea flower showThe Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has declared that this year’s Chelsea flower show is all about weeds, but not as we know them. Four of its 12 show gardens will feature plants traditionally regarded as weeds, which are now being rebranded as “resilient” and “heroes”. Weeds are no longer flowers in the wrong place, according to this year’s organisers, but exactly where they should be, softening the designer’s edge and adding a wild note to far corners. I do love an about-change from the marching band. It’s so full of fanfare and drama.Except it’s not really new, wild things have been creeping into Chelsea for many years now. Just ask Mary Reynolds, the Irish environmentalist and author of We are the Ark whose gold-winning show garden in 2002 was noted for its “subversive use of weeds”, plants that she is still very much using today in her design work.Alys Fowler is a gardener and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The artist formerly known as Chandler Bing threw serious shade at ‘the internet’s boyfriend’ in his memoir. Now he’s removing the mentions from future editionsFor someone who is famous for being in Friends, Matthew Perry sure seems to have a knack for making enemies. In November, the actor who played Chandler Bing released an addiction memoir called Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, which generated a lot of headlines for all the wrong reasons. Namely, Perry was rude about Keanu Reeves, who is frequently described as the “nicest guy in Hollywood” and “the internet’s boyfriend” because of his reputation for quietly doing good deeds, dating an age-appropriate woman, and generally giving the impression that he is a thoroughly decent man.What is Perry’s problem with Reeves? The fact he is still alive when other stars have died, basically. “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” Perry asks in his memoir. Later in the book, he recounts hearing about the 1997 death of his friend Chris Farley: “I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall,” he recalls, adding: “Keanu Reeves walks among us.” (Yes, he is very fond of that phrase.) Continue reading...

BuzzFeed changed the way news was reported for the digital age. But it became a casualty of its lopsided relationship with FacebookThe announcement of the demise of BuzzFeed News last week felt unlike the cavalcade of media closures and layoffs of the past decade. In a sense, it represented the death of an entire era.BuzzFeed News, launched in 2011, imagined a format which would marry the intense virality and relentless social media focus of digital native publications with the serious reporting of major mastheads. The bet was that the site’s endless fountain of Harry Potter quizzes, viral news stories, celebrity gossip and pop culture gifs could subsidise a serious news operation, which would in turn lend real credibility to BuzzFeed as a whole. Continue reading...

Democrats and activists applaud state for new legislation, which includes a ban on the sale of certain semi-automatic riflesWashington’s Governor Jay Inslee signed a trio of bills meant to prevent gun violence on Tuesday – one banning the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles, one imposing a 10-day waiting period on firearms purchases, and one clearing the way for lawsuits against gun makers or sellers in certain cases.A crowd of gun-control activists and Democratic lawmakers broke into cheers as he signed the measures, which he said would not solve all gun violence but would save lives. Continue reading...

Chart-topping calypso singer who supported US civil rights movement and African initiatives dies of congestive heart failureHarry Belafonte, the singer, actor and civil rights activist who broke down racial barriers, has died aged 96.As well as performing global hits such as Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), winning a Tony award for acting and appearing in numerous feature films, Belafonte spent his life fighting for a variety of causes. He bankrolled numerous 1960s initiatives to bring civil rights to Black Americans; campaigned against poverty, apartheid and Aids in Africa; and supported leftwing political figures such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Continue reading...

Justice did not report identity of buyer in latest ethics question involving supreme courtThe US supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch made as much as $500,000 from a 2017 real estate sale, according to a new report, but did not disclose the identity of the buyer: the chief executive of a law firm with extensive business before the high court.The news represents a new headache for the chief justice, John Roberts, who Democrats want to testify over extensive media reporting about the relationship between Clarence Thomas, another conservative, and a Republican mega-donor, Harlan Crow. Roberts has declined to appear before the Senate judiciary committee next week, according to Senator Dick Durbin. Continue reading...

Bank now faces tough options to turn around its business with the creation of a ‘bad bank’ or asset sales possibilitiesFirst Republic Bank’s shares closed down 50% on Tuesday, a day after the mid-sized US bank announced a dramatic slump in deposits.On Monday the San Francisco-headquartered reported a more than $100bn plunge in deposits in the quarter in the aftermath, sparking fears that it could be the third bank to fail after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.Reuters contributed to this story Continue reading...

Sheila Keen-Warren pleads guilty to second-degree murder while claiming innocence in doorstep murder of husband’s former wifeOne morning in May 1990, a clown came to Marlene Warren’s door, handed her carnations and balloons, then shot her dead in front of her son.In West Palm Beach on Tuesday, in a secretive lunch-break deal, her husband’s alleged mistress and future wife finally pleaded guilty to being the killer, even though she still insists she is innocent. The surprise move closed a case strange even by Florida standards. Continue reading...

Julie Su has led profound immigration and labor reforms as California’s labor secretary, but faces uphill battle to confirmation as Republicans criticize her recordJulie Su, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Labor, was just 26 and two years out of Harvard Law School when she took on the defining case of her career that led to profound immigration and labor reforms.In 1995, as a staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Su led a team of lawyers to secure legal immigration status and $4m in stolen wages for 72 enslaved Thai nationals in a garment sweatshop in El Monte, California. The case eventually led to federal protections for victims of human trafficking. Su, a Wisconsin-born daughter of Chinese immigrants, later earned a MacArthur genius award for her representation of the garment workers. Continue reading...

Cochise county appoints Bob Bartelsmeyer, elections director who has shared social media posts with election fraud claimsA rural Arizona county whose local officials have embraced election denialism appointed a new director Tuesday to lead the county’s elections who has previously cast doubt on election results.Cochise county, a border county where two Republican supervisors have pushed for a hand count of ballots and previously refused to certify the 2022 election results, chose to hire Bob Bartelsmeyer, an elections director who has shared social media posts with debunked election fraud claims. The county supervisors approved him in a 2-1 vote with the two Republican supervisors voting in favor, while the Democratic supervisor voted against him. Continue reading...

Girona’s Taty Castellanos became the first player to score four in a La Liga game against Real Madrid this century as they secured a stunning 4-2 win over Carlo Ancelotti’s side, whose faint title hopes were dealt another blow on Tuesday.With seven games to play, second-placed Real Madrid are now 11 behind Barcelona, who will face 10th-placed Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Neo-fascist group’s leader Enrique Tarrio is charged along with four others with seditious conspiracyA defense attorney argued on Tuesday at the close of a landmark trial over the January 6 insurrection that the US justice department is making the Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio a scapegoat for Donald Trump, whose supporters stormed the US Capitol.Tarrio and four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a plot to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election. Continue reading...

In what is seen as a veiled attack at transgender employees, the agriculture department laid out the policy in a 13 April memoA Texas state agency told its employees this month that they must dress in a manner that is “consistent with their biological gender”, a directive that seemed to be a thinly veiled attack on transgender employees.The state’s department of agriculture laid out the dress policy in a 13 April memo, which was first reported by the Texas Observer. Continue reading...

President, who could face Donald Trump in 2020 rerun, urges voters to give him four further years to finish what he startedJoe Biden has formally announced his campaign for re-election in 2024, asking Americans for four years to “finish this job”, possibly setting up an extraordinary rematch with Donald Trump.In a three-minute video opening with pulsing images of the US Capitol attack, Biden warned that the US remains under threat from the anti-democratic forces unleashed by his predecessor, who he beat in 2020. Continue reading...

Singer, actor and activist who matched his genial persona with political commitmentBy the mid-1950s, the singer Harry Belafonte had taken the lead role in an Oscar-nominated film, Carmen Jones; reached No 1 with his album Calypso, which helped find a mainstream audience for that musical style and became the first album ever to sell more than 1m copies; and headlined major venues around the US.However, Belafonte found himself unable to use the main entrance to the Las Vegas hotels where he regularly performed – nor could he eat, stay or gamble in them. On tour in the south, he faced an evening curfew because of his skin colour. When he starred with Joan Fontaine in the then controversial film about an interracial relationship, Island in the Sun (1957), he was advised not to mention Fontaine in press interviews for fear of suggesting a romance between them. He learned that the power and respect that usually accompany fame and fortune could be largely illusory as far as black entertainers were concerned. Continue reading...

The British director recalls how the great US singer, actor and activist became a mentor to him – after giving a speech about Tarzan to celebrate 12 Years a Slave winning an awardHarry Belafonte was a hero of mine. He meant everything to me. I met him around the release of 12 Years a Slave, and he became a mentor. I received a best director award at the New York Film Critics Circle awards and Harry gave an amazing speech: he talked about seeing Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan at the cinema as a child and how the depiction of people of African descent made him feel being ashamed to be Black.Look what he did – his first album sold more than 1m records. He was Martin Luther King’s closest confidant and he supported his family. He was the main organiser to get Hollywood people involved in the civil rights movement, bringing people like Sidney Poitier. He was close to Bobby Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt. And he was an artist, and he was an actor; he studied with Brando, Brando was one of his best friends. He really was a renaissance man if there ever was one, and extraordinarily good looking. He had everything, but his service was always to his people. He told me that the civil rights days were scary – what he sacrificed and what he did for the good of people was incredible. Continue reading...

The star with the gorgeous calypso voice was also a naturally passionate actor who appeared in heists, colonial confrontations – and even the last love triangle on EarthIn the middle of the 20th century, Harry Belafonte was at the dizzying high point of his stunning multi-hyphenate celebrity: this handsome, athletic, Caribbean-American star with a gorgeous calypso singing voice was at the top of his game in music, movies and politics. He was the million-selling artist whose easy and sensuous musical stylings and lighter-skinned image made him acceptable to white audiences. But this didn’t stop him having a fierce screen presence and an even fiercer commitment to civil rights. He was the friend and comrade of Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King Jr – and his crossover success, incidentally, never stopped him being subject to the ugliest kind of bigotry from racists who saw his fame as a kind of infiltration. His legendary Banana Boat Song with its keening and much-spoofed call-and-response chorus “Day – O!” is actually about the brutal night shift loading bananas on to ships, part of an exploitative trade with its roots in empire.

The singer, actor and activist, who has died aged 96, became the first artist to have a million-selling album – and said his desire for social change kept him awake at night Continue reading...

Autopsy whose results were announced Monday made clear for first time that the boy died before the alligator encountered himA Florida toddler who was found dead in the jaws of an alligator last month was drowned by his father before falling into the animal’s grasp, according to police.The cause of death for two-year-old Taylen Mosley was confirmed by the local coroner’s office, said a statement on Monday from police in St Petersburg. Continue reading...

The Democrats don’t need to be especially good – because the Republicans are cruelly and chaotically worseIt’s not surprising, but now it’s official: Joe Biden is running for re-election. In a video on Tuesday launching his bid for a second term, Biden cast his administration as standing for personal freedom, democracy and pluralism in contrast to what he called “Maga extremists”. The video emphasized abortion rights and contrasted Biden and the Democrats with unsettling images of the Capitol insurrectionists. Echoing a repeated line from his most recent State of the Union address, the president implored Americans: “Let’s finish the job.”There will be no primary. True, Biden has disaffected some members of the Democratic party’s precariously large coalition, and he has failed to capture the hearts and imaginations of Americans the way that, say, Barack Obama did. In 2020, a basketball team’s worth of Democrats entered the presidential primary – partly out of perceptions of then president Trump’s weakness, but also partly because Biden seemed like such a poor fit to be the party’s standard-bearer. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has confirmed he will campaign for a second term as president. Guardian US contributors weigh inAfter surviving the Trump debacle, it was important that we had an administration that could re-establish some level of credibility in the political arena. Given the volatility of the current political environment and the depth of political division in America, Biden has demonstrated he is able to hold together a big tent of diverse groups and push an agenda.LaTosha Brown is the co-founder of Black Voters MatterJill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of HappinessOsita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnistBhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation, the founding editor of Jacobin, and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequalities Continue reading...

Recent stay on the abortion pill ban is a contest between conservative institutionalists and ideologues on the courtIn a way, Matthew Kacsmaryk – the Trump-appointed federal district court judge in Amarillo, Texas, who issued a sprawling and aggressive injunction on 7 April that would have removed the abortion drug mifepristone from the market – did the supreme court’s conservative majority a big favor: he made them look reasonable by comparison.On Friday, after days of anxious waiting for abortion providers, the pharmaceutical industry and American women, the supreme court declined to allow Kacsmaryk’s stay – and another, also dramatic ruling from the fifth circuit court of appeals – to go into effect. The court that destroyed the abortion right last year thereby preserved the availability of the most common abortion method – at least in the dwindling number of states where abortion remains legal at all. Continue reading...

Fani Willis, investigating whether Trump illegally meddled in 2020 election, urges ‘heightened security’ for when decision is madeThe prosecutor in Atlanta investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia said Monday she expects to announce charging decisions in the case this summer and urged “heightened security”.Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis wrote in a letter to local sheriff Pat Labat that she expects to announce the decisions some time between 11 July and 1 September. She said she wanted to give Labat time to coordinate with local, state and federal agencies “to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public”. Continue reading...