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He stumbles from one fine mess to another. It is hard to know when there was worse custodianship of national affairsAnother triumph for Boris Johnson’s Houdini act. Partygate appears over with today’s announcement that the Metropolitan police has closed the file on Downing Street parties, with 126 penalty notices and reportedly no more for the prime minister. Rumours are that Sue Gray’s separate report on the parties will be published next week, but it is hard to see what it is likely to add, or what will come from the continuing inquiry into whether the prime minister “misled parliament”. Johnson’s tactic of devolving judgment to a dilatory police force has worked, albeit at the cost of £460,000. What appeared last December to be a resignation issue has been kicked down the road so many times as to disappear from view.Like all high-profile political sagas, Partygate looks like one of those transient Westminster storms more seismic at the time than in retrospect. It stands with other “affairs”, such as Profumo, Westland, Formula One and Cheriegate in the canon of moments when the strictures of Westminster seemed to usurp those of the electorate. They display De Tocqueville’s truth about British politics, that its ethos is that of a club not of a mob. Leaders are at most short-term risk when they offend the club, not the people.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Despite military successes, Kyiv faces economic devastation, citizens ‘removed’ by Russia and the risk of dwindling supportThere is near euphoria, currently, among supporters of Ukraine at the continued military reverses it is inflicting on Russian forces. But the truth is that Ukraine has a long way to go before it can achieve any kind of acceptable outcome from this war – and the going will get harder the closer it seems to come to victory.It’s not just the large areas of territory under Russian control, where Ukraine still has to fight to relieve the suffering of its citizens under a savage military occupation. It’s also the political and economic aspects of the war, which have been so often overlooked in the day-to-day tactical detail of Russia’s often self-inflicted military disasters.Keir Giles works with the Russia and Eurasia programme of Chatham House. He is the author of Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West Continue reading...

Adam Kinzinger was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the measure that faces an uphill climb to pass the SenateThe US House of Representatives has passed legislation that would bolster federal resources to prevent domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York – but the bill faces the increasingly familiar burden of an uphill climb to pass the Senate.The 222-203, nearly party-line House vote was an answer to the growing pressure Congress faces to address gun violence and white supremacist attacks – a crisis that escalated following two mass shootings over the weekend. Continue reading...

Doug Mastriano may be one of the most radical candidates ever to receive a Republican nod and he has been clear that he will use that powerPennsylvania Republicans have nominated state senator Doug Mastriano to be the next governor. Mastriano is one of the most radical gubernatorial candidates ever to receive a major party nomination.Many Republicans have indulged Trump’s claims that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election. But few have gone as far as Mastriano has to try to justify Trump’s fever dream.I’m Doug Mastriano, and I get to appoint the secretary of state who’s delegated from me the power to make the corrections to elections, the voting logs and everything. I could decertify every machine in the state with the stroke of a pen via the secretary of state. I already had the secretary of state picked out. It’s a world-class person that knows voting integrity better than anyone else in the nation, I think, and I already have a team that’s gonna be built around that individual.Judd Legum is the founder and author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism, where this post originally appeared Continue reading...

Brad Raffensperger resisted Trump’s call to overturn the presidential election result and is now facing his ireBrad Raffensperger was on his way out when the bartender stopped him. He wanted a word.The man had been lingering in the doorway as Raffensperger, a Republican serving as Georgia’s top election official, spoke to a little over a dozen members of the chamber of commerce in Washington, a small town about two hours east of Atlanta. Raffensperger had seen him from the lectern and asked if he wanted to ask a question – he declined. Now the bartender had more courage. He wanted to ask about the phone call. “How did that make you feel?” he said. Continue reading...

US president authorized defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies from overseas

Conservatives are animated by a vision of 1950s-style white Christian patriarchal dominance – it is the only order they will accept for AmericaThe supreme court is set to overturn Roe v Wade, this much has been clear since a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked earlier this month. An attempt to safeguard abortion rights via national legislation was blocked by a united front of Republicans plus Democrat Joe Manchin in the Senate last week. As a result, we must expect abortion to be banned in roughly half the country soon.It is very hard to overstate how significant this moment is. The US is about to join the very short list of countries that have restricted existing abortion rights since the 1990s – the overall trend internationally certainly has been towards a liberalization of abortion laws. And it’s also a basically unique development in US history: while the supreme court has often upheld and codified a discriminatory status quo, it has never actively and officially abolished what had previously been recognized as a constitutionally guaranteed right.Thomas Zimmer is a visiting professor at Georgetown University, focused on the history of democracy and its discontents in the United States, and a Guardian US contributing opinion writer Continue reading...

With the new collective bargaining agreements announced Wednesday by US Soccer and the players’ unions, everyone is finally on the same sideAt long last, peace.Expensive peace, certainly. But a peace without which US Soccer was never going to progress. Continue reading...

They are also two to three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to the CDCThe repeal of federally protected abortion rights would result in an increase in violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and all those who birth, predicted the director of one of the leading research institutes on Indigenous and Alaska Native people across the US.“The only option we have right now if this was to be overturned, is to provide the limited resources and support, but it will be limited, especially initially. As a direct result our people are going to suffer,” Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Women have breastfed for thousands of years and yet there are still those who think we can just ‘switch on’ our milkI had an easy pregnancy, a textbook C-section and the gift of a two-week recovery period alone at home after my twins were sent to the newborn intensive care unit – or, having given birth in the US, “the world’s most expensive babysitting service”, as a nurse described it at the time.One consequence of this was that I was fully healed by the time they came home. Another was that in the first two weeks of my babies’ lives, breastfeeding had to be supplemented with formula. By the time they left hospital, my supply was getting sketchy, which as it turned out was the least of our problems. Trying to get two preemies, not much bigger than guinea pigs, to latch was like asking them to eat peas off a beachball.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, despite the presence of their nine-time All Star. This year could be when things change thoughMike Trout has done so many wondrous things in nearly 11 full big-league seasons – 319 home runs, nine All-Star appearances, three American League Most Valuable Player awards among them – that it is hard to believe that he has but one career postseason hit. One.That lonely hit, a bases-empty home run, came in the top of the first inning of a game on 5 October 2014 that the then-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim would lose to the Kansas City Royals, 8-3, to get swept out of the American League Division Series in three games. Continue reading...

Massive food producers hold too much power – and the regulators scarcely understand what is happening. Sound familiar?For the past few years, scientists have been frantically sounding an alarm that governments refuse to hear: the global food system is beginning to look like the global financial system in the run-up to 2008.While financial collapse would have been devastating to human welfare, food system collapse doesn’t bear thinking about. Yet the evidence that something is going badly wrong has been escalating rapidly. The current surge in food prices looks like the latest sign of systemic instability.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Peter Cook says in the aftermath of the Buffalo racist shooting white Christian denominations have a duty to actIn the aftermath of the racist shooting that killed 10 on Saturday in Buffalo, the director of the New York State Council of Churches, the Rev Peter Cook, has been a constant presence at prayer gatherings and public memorials.The organization he leads represents eight denominations to New York state government; and he has the ear of political leaders, including Governor Kathy Hochul, in shaping the political response to a massacre that targeted the Black community of East Buffalo – one that has been met with expressions of faith alongside anger and distress. Continue reading...

The deal resulted in 6,000 New Yorkers placing an order every minute, overwhelming kitchens and delivery workersWhat were they thinking?That’s what customers, restaurants, and delivery workers want to know after a surprise promotion by food delivery platform Grubhub went badly awry – and proved there’s really no such thing as a free lunch. Continue reading...

Reading Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I found her lines about living in London resonating intensely, so many years laterNovels. Why do I read them? My reading was at its most voracious when I was a kid. I suspect this was because my only purpose was enjoyment and escapism. From all 21 Famous Five stories – in order, naturally – to Anna Karenina, stuffed into a pannier on a cycling holiday, I was transported. Then, for A-levels and a degree, I read to pass exams. Slowly, tellingly, the joy faded. And I was no good at the exams either. When those last exams were done, more than 30 years ago, I was done with novels. I had fallen out of love.Gradually, it has come back, but it’s all different now. I find I’m reading whole novels mainly to unearth little jewels of wisdom to shed light on what I’ve been feeling; feelings that I’ve been unable to articulate myself. For some reason I picked up The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. A bit flabby in the middle, if I may say so, but generally I was transfixed by what started to seem like the greatest love story ever told. The plot soon starts to fade, and all you are left with is how it made you feel. This is nice, but what makes it all worthwhile is those specific insights that I make sure to harvest and go back to. For instance, Helen says of her new life in the big city: “At first, I was delighted with the novelty and excitement of our London life; but soon I began to weary of its mingled turbulence and constraint.”Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The US embassy in Kyiv has reopenedthree months after it closed due toRussia's impending invasion of Ukraine. A small number of diplomats willreturn to staff the embassy but consularoperations will not resume immediately. The embassy closed on14 February as Russian forcesmassed outside Ukraine.

Former US president George W Bush has made a significant slip of the tongue, criticising 'the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq'. Bush was speaking about Vladimir Putin when he appeared to confuse the Russian leader's invasion of Ukraine with the US-led invasion of Iraq during Bush's presidency. The former US leader was speaking at an event at the George W Bush Presidential Center that examined the future of American elections Continue reading...

Man who recently traveled to Canada has first case in US this year, but officials are preparing for moreMassachusetts officials on Wednesday reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada, and health officials are looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe.Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the US and elsewhere are usually linked to travel there. A small number of confirmed or suspected cases have been reported this month in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain. Continue reading...

President also authorizes Pentagon to use commercial aircraft to import supplies amid growing political pressureJoe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant.The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the US, in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula”. Continue reading...

Dow Jones sinks more than 1,100 points as S&P closes down 4%, its largest fall since June 2020, and Nasdaq loses 4.7%The wild ride on the US stock markets continued on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking more than 1,100 points as investors worried about a looming recession.All of the major US markets fell sharply, with the S&P closing down 4%, its largest fall since June 2020, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq losing 4.7%. Continue reading...

Nonhuman Rights Project argues that Happy the elephant’s right to ‘bodily liberty’ is being violated at the Bronx ZooHappy, by species, is an Asian elephant. But can she also be considered a person?That question was before New York’s highest court on Wednesday in a closely watched case over whether a basic human right can be extended to an animal. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul condemns ‘mainstreaming of hate speech’ and easy access to military-style weapons after Buffalo shootingNew York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has unveiled what she called a “comprehensive plan to combat domestic terrorism and prevent gun violence”, days after a white supremacist allegedly killed 10 Black shoppers and staff at a Buffalo grocery store.“We as a country are facing an intersection of two crises: the mainstreaming of hate speech – including white nationalism, racism and white supremacy – and the easy access to military-style weapons and magazines,” Hochul said on Wednesday, announcing measures to create new domestic terrorism and intelligence units to track terrorist threats and increase social media monitoring. Continue reading...

Graphic novel recounts time in high school when ex-quarterback chose football despite pressure to play baseballThe former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who lost his playing career after kneeling during pre-game performances of the national anthem to protest against police killings of Black people, plans to put out a memoir aimed at young adult audiences, the athlete and the book’s publisher announced on Wednesday.The book, Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game, recounts the time in high school when the ex-quarterback chose to focus on football despite pressure from his parents and coaches to play baseball, at which he was also exceedingly talented, the publisher Scholastic said in a news release. Continue reading...

Letitia James said that her office is targeting Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord which were all used to amplify the attackNew York’s attorney general, Letitia James, on Wednesday said her office was investigating social media companies the Buffalo grocery store gunman used to plan, promote and stream the massacre that left 10 dead.James said in a tweet her office will investigate Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord along with other platforms the shooter used to amplify the attack. Continue reading...

Nearly 43,000 people killed last year as Americans returned to the roads after deserting them early in the pandemicNearly 43,000 people were killed on US roads last year, the highest number in 16 years, as Americans returned to the roads after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay at home.The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Continue reading...

After his company acquired Daraprim, it raised price of the life-saving drug by 5,000%, prompting national outcryMartin Shkreli, the “Pharma Bro” entrepreneur who astronomically increased the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000%, and became a symbol of corporate Wall Street greed, has been released from prison.In a statement released on Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said he had been released to a halfway house. Continue reading...

Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf GhaniAfghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani. Continue reading...

The Texan has battled back from being world No 92 and is relishing chance to add the US PGA Championship to his tallySalvation for golf’s purists, irked by the Saudi Arabian themes dominating their sport, may arrive in the form of a 28-year-old from Dallas. Should Jordan Spieth lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening, a career grand slam complete, there will be an appealing narrative to at least momentarily offset incessant chatter about breakaway tours, human rights and golf’s persona non grata, Phil The Shill.Spieth arrived at Southern Hills in the kind of form that suggests this is his finest chance yet to add the US PGA Championship to the Masters, US Open and Open. He would become only the sixth man in history to win each of golf’s big four. It is to Spieth’s credit that he fully embraces another tilt at history-making. Continue reading...

Hard-right candidates who challenged 2020 result win string of primary victories on a good night too for progressive DemocratsRepublican candidates who questioned, denied and challenged the results of the 2020 presidential election won a string of consequential primaries in Pennsylvania and North Carolina this week, a testament to the enduring power of Donald Trump’s voter fraud myth, which continues to animate the hard-right movement he started.In a campaign season dominated by angst over the economy and frustration with leadership in Washington, several hard-right candidates successfully channeled conservative grassroots momentum, and are now in striking distance of positions that will have enormous influence over voting and elections administration in battleground states across the country. Continue reading...

Federal agency reports annual sales rose to 11.5m in 2016, while suspect bought rifle legally despite murder-suicide threatGun sales in the US have soared in recent years as the nation struggles to come to terms with the latest mass shooting, a horrific racist attack in Buffalo.According to new figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the manufacture of firearms has tripled in two decades, and legal sales have risen sharply as well. Continue reading...

New head of Covid response calls on Congress for additional funding to pay for vaccines and treatmentsThe White House resumed its coronavirus briefings on Wednesday after a six-week hiatus as Covid-19 cases rose across the nation, with the new head of Covid response calling on Congress for additional funding to pay for vaccines and treatments.“I want to make sure we have enough resources so that we can buy enough vaccines for every American. I think that is absolutely critical. We do not have the resources to do that right now,” said Ashish Jha, the White House’s new coronavirus response coordinator, who replaced Jeff Zients in March. “So without additional funding from Congress, we will not be able to buy enough vaccines for every American who wants one.” Continue reading...

Thomas Lane agrees to spend three years in prison after accepting guilty plea, a year after Derek Chauvin convicted of murderA former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to manslaughter in the murder of George Floyd and agreed to spend three years in state prison, officials said.Thomas Lane’s plea to a count of aiding and abetting manslaughter came a year after his former colleague Derek Chauvin, who was recorded by a bystander killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck, was convicted of murder and sentenced to more than two decades in prison. Continue reading...

Erin Wilson says Eva jumped to her defense and was badly wounded in protecting her after the cougar attacked during a walkA woman who was attacked by a mountain lion in northern California says her dog jumped to her defense and was badly wounded in protecting her.“I don’t think I will ever be able to live up to how amazing and loyal she is to me,” Erin Wilson told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ is now entrenched as Republican Gospel, and the candidates he endorsed have – mostly - done well in the primariesDonald Trump’s sway over the Republican party continues. On Tuesday, Republicans again paid heed to the ex-president’s endorsements even as they declined to march in lockstep. Flecks of daylight emerged across the primary battlegrounds. Still, Trump has little to worry about. His fantastical claim that the 2020 election was stolen is firmly entrenched as Republican Gospel.In North Carolina, Representative Ted Budd received Trump’s seal of approval, and won the Republican nod for US senator with nearly 60% of the vote. Budd was a Trump loyalist when it counted most. Continue reading...

Many parents are struggling to feed their babies, and the crisis is hitting poorer families disproportionately hardAs the formula shortage continues to grip the US, many parents have been left struggling to access the product they rely on to feed their babies.At the start of May, 43% of baby formula was out of stock at retailers, according to Datasembly, a product data firm. One mother, speaking to the New York Times, described the situation as “a nightmare”.Do not share formula or breastmilk with people online who you don’t know or trust.Only put as much formula in a bottle as you think the baby will take because you can always add more.Do not dilute formula to maintain supply because it could mean babies don’t get the nutrients they need. Continue reading...

Brandi Collins-Dexter of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center spoke to the Guardian about how the massacre is rooted in America’s long history of white supremacist violenceThe attack on Black shoppers at a grocery store in Buffalo was carried out by an 18-year-old white man who authorities say was engaged in “racially motivated violent extremism”.The shooting left 10 people dead and is being investigated by the US justice department as a hate crime. Reports suggest the shooter had legally purchased multiple firearms, detailed his plans for the attack online for months, and claimed he was motivated by the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, a racist and false idea that white Americans are being deliberately replaced by immigrants. He has been arrested and charged in the slayings. Continue reading...

Famous circus ended 146-year-run in January 2017 after customer sales declined in wake of criticism over animal acts“The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback – without animal acts – five years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey announced on Wednesday.The interactive live show will launch in September next year, celebrating performers from around the world “displaying incredible feats that push the limits of human potential”, the Florida-based company said in a news release. Continue reading...

Legacy and social media combined to glamorise ‘Bongbong’ Marcos’ family name – and fuel nostalgia for his father’s regimeLast week, Adarna House – a publisher of children’s books in the Philippines – posted on social media about a discount it was offering: 20% off on a #NeverAgain book bundle. The selection includes Ito Ang Diktadura, the Tagalog translation of Equipo Plantel’s Así es la Dictadura, or This is a Dictatorship. The book was originally published in Spain when the country was transitioning from the Franco regime.What seems like a mundane moment of online marketing was in fact a significant political act. Two days before the sale, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the son and namesake of the late dictator, won the Philippines’ presidential election by a landslide. Marcos Sr was one of the dictators identified in the children’s book, alongside others such as Nicolae Ceaușescu, Idi Amin and Pol Pot. Under Marcos’s two-decade rule, thousands were killed, tortured and “disappeared”. The Philippines became a kleptocracy as the Marcos family and their cronies plundered up to US $10bn.Nicole Curato is a professor of political sociology at the University of Canberra Continue reading...

What are the roots of this violence and how do we fight it?After a century of attempts by Black activists and lawmakers, President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act on the White House lawn, surrounded by Black politicians, clergy, and nonprofit leaders. The new federal law makes lynching a hate crime. Representative Bobby Rush, the bill’s sponsor in the House of Representatives, called the moment “a day of enormous consequence for our nation.” But I had questions. Doubts really. Do white supremacists kill Black people because we did not have a federal anti-lynching law? If not, then does Congress think that such a law will be a deterrent? Will federal prosecutors listen to Black families who say their children were lynched – or to police and coroners who call suspicious deaths “suicides”? Will this law punish civilians for violence but reward them if they join police departments?I sent my editor a draft of an essay questioning the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. I did not have the energy to respond to the potential backlash from readers, so I sat on my criticisms, reflected on my arguments and prayed that I would be wrong. Then last week, an 18 year old white supremacist drove to a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and murdered 10 Black people. He published a manifesto espousing his horrific views and penciled a racial slur on his gun. Maybe he hadn’t heard about the consequences listed in the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. Or, maybe he was willing to accept them in exchange for the lives he took. Cops arrested him like they arrested white supremacist shooter Dylann Roof– alive and with care.Derecka Purnell is a Guardian US columnist. She is also a social movement lawyer and writer based in Washington, DC. She is the author of Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom Continue reading...

One million people should never have to die from another pandemic. Not in America, a country built to do so much betterOne million have died from Covid-19 in the United States, a catastrophic milestone that was reached despite the wonders of modern science and the wealth that courses through this country. More than two years into the pandemic, it is hard to shock people any longer. One hundred thousand deaths, it seemed, attracted far more attention.How did we get it here? How much of this mass death was preventable? These are questions that we will be sorting out for many years to come. There are no simple answers. In order to have a fighting chance in the next pandemic, though, it’s incumbent to consider just what went horrifically wrong.Ross Barkan is a journalist based in New York City. He is the author of Demolition Night, a novel, and The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York Continue reading...

Company has already reportedly pushed back by trying to use union dues as a tactic to deter workers from supporting the unionWorkers at a Target store in Christiansburg, Virginia, have filed for a union election and, if successful, the store would be the first belonging to the retail chain to unionize.Target has long opposed unionization, with anti-union videos to discourage workers from unionizing. Earlier this year, Target training documents for managers to prevent unionization within stores were leaked. Continue reading...

President attacks those who promote racist conspiracy theory ‘for power, political gain and for profit’. Plus, first open briefing on UFOs since 1966

The Pro Bowl guard protected Tom Brady on the way to Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV victory. But he was always different from the typical football playerBack in February, a key member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense sent shockwaves through the NFL when he announced his retirement after a storied career.Unlike Tom Brady, guard Ali Marpet would not unretire 40 days later. And unlike Brady, Marpet opted to end his NFL career just as it had started to soar. A year removed from earning a Super Bowl ring, fresh off his first Pro Bowl, Marpet was done. At the age of 28. Continue reading...

The largest wildfire in state history has torn through centuries-old rural communities, displacing thousandsFor Kathryn Mahan and her husband, Jamie, the front steps of their home in the northern New Mexico village of Las Dispensas were a family touchstone. The couple built the house themselves in 2015 and fashioned the steps out of concrete blocks. Every year they photographed their daughter, Rayyah, on them - as Rayyah grew, the steps stayed the same.The largest wildfire in New Mexico history has suddenly changed all that. Continue reading...