Mark Meadows' wife complained of cost of dry-cleaning to remove smell from suits, Cassidy Hutchison writes in new memoirMark Meadows burned so many papers in his office fireplace as Donald Trump's presidency came to its chaotic end that the then White House chief of staff's wife complained about the cost of dry-cleaning his suits to remove the bonfire" smell, Cassidy Hutchinson writes in her eagerly awaited memoir.The New York Times reported the passage about Meadows burning documents, before MSNBC confirmed it. Continue reading...
Spiralling tensions between Pristina and Belgrade have again spilled over into violence. The European Union's mediating strategy is not workingAt the weekend, Kosovo's prime minister, Albin Kurti, spoke despairingly in relation to a decade of talks about normalising relations with Serbia, which continues to refuse to recognise his country's independent status. In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Kurti claimed that the negotiations, mediated by the European Union, were in danger of reaching a dead end. Shortly after publication, there was ominous confirmation that a nadir has indeed been reached. In a serious escalation of tensions, five people, including a Kosovan police officer, were killed after an ambush by unidentified armed men near the Serbian border.For the EU and its foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, the ramifications of diplomatic failure stretch well beyond the fate of the northern tip of Kosovo, with its majority Serb population. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU has redoubled its efforts to anchor the western Balkans within its orbit and combat Moscow's influence. But Sunday's shootings indicate that in this Balkan hotspot, its approach isn't working. Continue reading...
New Jersey senator strikes defiant tone to reporters and accuses some of rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat'Insisting he would not resign after being indicted on corruption charges, the embattled New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez told reporters that $480,000 in cash found in a safe, clothing and closets at his home was kept there for emergency personal use.For 30 years," Menendez said, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings accounts, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba." Continue reading...
Gavin Newsom signs bills a day after controversial veto on parental support of their child's gender identityThe California governor, Gavin Newsom, signed several bills on Saturday aimed at bolstering the state's protections for LGBTQ+ people, a day after the Democrat issued a controversial veto that was criticized by advocates.The new laws include legislation that focuses on support for LGBTQ+ youth. One law sets timelines for required cultural competency training for public school teachers and staff, while another creates an advisory taskforce to determine the needs of LGBTQ+ students and help advance supportive initiatives. Continue reading...
The same law used to charge Donald Trump is being wielded against protesters in a historic prosecution of 61 defendantsSixty-one defendants in the largest criminal conspiracy case ever leveled against a protest movement are bracing for the next step in the legal process, unsure if they will see a jail cell any day.Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights is preparing to face historic prosecution with a historic defense", said Devin Franklin, movement policy counsel. The organization hopes to raise $12m and is contacting lawyers across the country, said Tiffany Williams Roberts, public policy director. Continue reading...
During a recent trip to Brazil, I saw how Indigenous women activists there have completely changed the political landscapeI was invited to the third Indigenous Women's March in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, earlier this month. The last occupation of Brazil's legislature was in January 2022, when a group of rightwing thugs, imitating the January 6 riot in the US, attempted to kill Brazilian democracy. This was the exact opposite.Five hundred Indigenous women from across Brazil occupied the Congress - not with guns or knives or anger, but with the strength and truth of their words, the intensity of their knowing, with their headdresses, feathers and beaded primordial designs calling us to the earth, to know the earth, to protect and respect the biomes and honor Indigenous women's rights to their lands. Continue reading...
Trump's claim that he always' has workers' backs is laughable. As president he undercut them at every opportunityStrikes are painful affairs for unions and companies alike, but that hasn't stopped Donald Trump from making plans to go to Detroit next week to try to make political hay out of the United Auto Workers' historic strike. The former president is planning a prime-time speech before 500 union members that will trumpet the message that he has always had their back".As with so many Trump pronouncements, that is appalling poppycock. During Trump's four years as president, he and his administration did far more to stab workers in their backs. Continue reading...
The high court has been telling politicians that flagrant corruption is now perfectly legalGold bars, guns, cash stuffed into a coat and favors for a foreign government - the new indictment of Bob Menendez, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, reads like the plot of a cheap pulp novel satirizing political graft. But the allegations against the longtime lawmaker are all too real - and the purported scheme all too predictable - in a country whose judiciary has been effectively telling politicians that corruption is perfectly legal.Evoking memories of Abscam and the Keating Five scandals, the details of the Menendez indictment are certainly anomalous for their cartoonish color. Indeed, this affair goes way beyond the donation-for-legislation culture that has been normalized in Washington. Federal prosecutors allege an elaborate plot in which Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez's power and influence as a senator to seek to protect and enrich" a trio of businessmen and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt". Continue reading...
Republican congresswoman tweets image of Hanukah menorah in effort to commemorate unrelated Jewish holiday of Yom KippurFar-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has drawn ridicule for using an image of a Hanukah menorah in an attempt to commemorate the unrelated Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.The derision the Georgia representative brought upon herself comes after she was previously criticized for perpetuating antisemitic conspiracy theories. Continue reading...
In March 2021, Governor Andrew M Cuomo signed a new law that legalized adult possession and use of cannabis in New York state.Two years later, there are only 23 legal weed dispensaries. Why have so few licenses been granted? New York wanted social equity to be at the heart of who was profiting from the change in law. The first licensed dispensary for recreational cannabis in New York is run by Housing Works, a non-profit that provides housing and healthcare to people living with HIV and Aids.
Members of Hernandez family were heading to birthday party when Cadillac Escalade collided with train at crossing in Plant CitySix people heading to a birthday party were killed after a freight train struck their car at an unguarded crossing in central Florida over the weekend, according to authorities.The wreck killed five members of a family and their friend just before 7pm local time on Saturday. One person was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Continue reading...
Asylum seekers who arrived before the end of July - about 472,000 - will now be able to legally live and work in the USVenezuelan asylum seekers in the United States have welcomed the news of temporary permission to live and work in the country as a vital helping hand" after the Biden administration announced that it would extend temporary protected status (TPS) to nearly half a million Venezuelan nationals.The Department of Homeland Security announced that the TPS extension now includes those who arrived in the US by the end of July, whereas the previous cutoff date was 8 March 2021. Continue reading...
The film and TV industry has always relied on financial precarity for the people who make it tick. It only takes one shock to put freelancers into hardshipI can pinpoint the exact moment I knew I wanted to be a film-maker. I'd received The Fellowship of the Ring extended edition DVD for my 11th birthday and devoured the behind-the-scenes footage faster the film itself. I felt my chest flutter with excitement as I watched the crew recount how important the experience was to them. I wanted to follow in their footsteps and make people feel the way I had watching that film.Years later, that ambition became a reality. But now, when I think of film-making, I feel knots of dread in my stomach instead of excitement. I'm one of the thousands of workers in the UK who have lost their jobs as a direct result of the actors' strikes in the US. In July, actors joined writers on the picket line fighting for more equitable residuals in an ever-changing streaming landscape, and for fair compensation for the use of their likeness by AI. Continue reading...
Europe's captain Luke Donald exudes confidence before the renewal in Rome ... with one US sporting icon's supportThis feels like an early win for Europe. Michael Jordan, a long-time cheerleader for the US in Ryder Cups, believes Luke Donald's team will prevail at Marco Simone next Sunday. Donald, a neighbour of Jordan, had dinner with the NBA icon in recent weeks. He tipped the Europeans to win," Donald says. Take whatever you want out of that one.He is a good friend. He would be very supportive of me having a great experience. I think ultimately he wants the US to win." Yet Jordan's faith is in Europe. Continue reading...
The south-eastern part of New York state plumped for Republican candidates, but the Biden impeachment inquiry could add to backlashIn Anthony D'Esposito's New York congressional district, Democrats are licking their lips.The Republican won an unexpected election to the House of Representatives in 2022, styling himself as a moderate in a historically Democratic district that Joe Biden had easily won by 14 points two years earlier. Continue reading...
State party's decision to allow Trump on to presidential ballot without loyalty oath shows governor's iron grip is looseningThere haven't been many good days for Ron DeSantis's flailing presidential campaign lately, and news that the Florida governor has slumped to fifth place in a poll for the New Hampshire primary will hardly have lifted his spirits.Yet the biggest blow of the past week came from Florida's once fiercely loyal Republican party, which appears to be souring on the idea of their man in the White House. Continue reading...
Unprecedented and extremely dangerous' attacks threaten justice system and prosecutorial independence, say former politiciansRising verbal attacks by Donald Trump and key political allies against a Georgia district attorney and two other prosecutors who have filed criminal charges against the former US president are endangering prosecutorial independence and might spur acts of violence, ex-federal prosecutors and ex-House Republicans warn.Trump's attacks on the federal and local prosecutors who have brought cases against him are unprecedented and extremely dangerous," Michael Bromwich, the former justice department inspector general, told the Guardian. Continue reading...
After five days of negotiations with studios and streaming services, union says it has a deal for members to vote on. Plus, meet the oldest fish in captivityGood morning.Hollywood writers are poised to end their nearly five-month strike after reaching a tentative agreement with studios, the writers' union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said on Sunday night, though the full details of agreement still have to be formally approved.What happens now? Union leaders are expected to vote on the full terms of the new three-year contract on Tuesday, according to the union's email to members, which was posted on social media.Over the weekend, John Fetterman became the first US Senate Democrat to suggest Menendez should quit, while a Democratic New Jersey congressman announced he would run against Menendez in next year's primary election. Continue reading...
Miami steamrolled the Denver Broncos, scoring the most points in a game since 1966. They could have had a lot moreThe Miami Dolphins broke out the cheat code on Sunday. Before half-time.Some NBA teams struggle to score 70 points in a game. But here we are in the NFL, and Mike McDaniel's state-of-the-art offensive machine were putting up 35 before the third quarter arrived, then kept cranking out video game numbers in a surreal 70-20 scorching of the Denver Broncos. Continue reading...
What does representing Europe mean given the disparate nationalities uniting in a common cause against the US?It started in January in Abu Dhabi. At the all-European Hero Cup, an early precursor to the Ryder Cup, Luke Donald put some messaging in place. Three of Donald's predecessors as Europe's captain, Thomas Bjorn, Jose Maria Olazabal and Paul McGinley, delivered impassioned speeches to players. Olazabal focused on the spirit of Seve Ballesteros. Bjorn talked of the importance of the traditions handed down by European teams of old. McGinley, whose 2014 captaincy was lauded by all who encountered it, carefully outlined what it takes to prevail against the United States. Players were said to be spellbound by the trio.Donald is not the tub-thumping, rabble-rousing type. There is no chance he will rampage around the locker room at the Marco Simone club outside Rome in the coming week, screaming in the face of Europe's contingent. Yet there must be subtle and consistent messaging towards a team who are looking to reclaim the trophy after being embarrassed in Wisconsin two years ago. Continue reading...
Senator Menendez was indicted on a set of explosive charges of corruptly aiding the government in CairoThe indictment of Senator Bob Menendez on charges of corruptly aiding the Egyptian government has set the stage for a week of renewed pressure on US lawmakers to withhold military aid to Egypt.Menendez stepped town temporarily from his position as head of the Senate foreign relations committee on Friday after he was indicted by New York's southern district court on a set of explosive and detailed charges. Continue reading...
Nancy Sampson, 61, was sightseeing on the Blue Ridge parkway when she fell 150ft from a cliff near a popular nature siteA hiker died after plunging off a waterfall overlook along the Blue Ridge parkway in North Carolina during the weekend, according to the US National Park Service.Nancy Sampson of Greer, South Carolina, was sightseeing at the park at about 12.15pm on Saturday when she tumbled over a cliff around the Glassmine Falls overlook. Continue reading...
The World Cup and Olympic champion was a serial winner for her country. But fans at her final match also acknowledged her contributions off the fieldMegan Rapinoe ended her international career in familiar fashion: victorious and mischievous.The star and her USA teammates defeated South Africa 2-0 in a friendly at Soldier Field in Chicago. Though Rapinoe will play a few more games for her club team, OL Reign, Sunday marked her last with the US and was the final stanza in a near two-decade career in which she won 203 caps, two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal. Continue reading...
Former US president, who has been in ill health for several years, is set to turn 99 on 1 OctoberFormer president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have made a surprise appearance at a peanut festival in their Georgia home town, the Carter Center wrote in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter.The former president, who was also once a peanut farmer, and his wife are seen in a video riding through the Plains Peanut Festival in a black SUV. Continue reading...
A Washington Post-ABC poll showed results that diverge from most other surveys, and even the pollers made a caveatA new Washington Post-ABC poll showing Joe Biden trailing his presidential predecessor Donald Trump by 10 percentage points was excoriated by leading political pollster Larry Sabato.Noting that the pollsters themselves cautioned that their survey was an outlier, Sabato - the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia - called the decision to release it ridiculous". Continue reading...
Ex-president reportedly told Gen Mark Milley in 2019 that severely wounded soldier should be banned from public appearancesPete Buttigieg, the US transport secretary and a military veteran, has criticized Donald Trump after a report that he sought to bar a severely wounded veteran from public appearances during his presidency.In an interview with the Atlantic, Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said Trump had been irritated after Luis Avila - who lost a leg and suffered brain damage after an IED attack in Afghanistan - sang at Milley's 2019 welcome ceremony. Continue reading...
Erin Dupree's Loonacy Cannabis Co reportedly sold products stronger than recently enacted marijuana legalization allowedThe recently appointed director of Minnesota's new marijuana regulatory agency, Erin Dupree, has resigned amid reports that she sold illegal cannabis products in the state.Dupree ran a business that sold products exceeding state limits on THC potency, owed money to former associates and accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in tax liens, Minnesota Public Radio reported. Continue reading...
Team USA looked set for victory until Caroline Hedwall and Carlota Ciganda rallied late to ensure Europe retained the cupEurope need something to happen ... and Leona Maguire provides it on the 2nd! She rakes in a 30-foot birdie putt to level up her match with Rose Zhang. Meanwhile back on 1, Anna Nordqvist sends a garden-variety wedge to 12 feet, while Jennifer Kupcho half-fluffs her chip from the rough at the back, leaving herself a long birdie putt. Slight advantage to the Swede.Jennifer Kupcho up next on the 1st tee. She's been up and down this week, but has always played aggressively, and there's no change in approach here. She takes driver and finds the rough at the back of the green. Anna Nordqvist doesn't have the power game to reach the green so sends a 3-wood down the right. And off they go on their journey. Continue reading...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is just the latest voice in a Democratic chorus calling for the New Jersey senator to leave officeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined the calls for Bob Menendez to resign, after the Democratic US senator from New Jersey was charged with accepting gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz and other gifts as bribes.Speaking on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez said the charges against Menendez were extremely serious" and he should step down. Continue reading...
Former White House aide to Trump's chief of staff tells CBS News Sunday Morning she could not go back to my apartment'The former Donald Trump White House aide who became a pivotal January 6 witness remembers wanting to make a last-minute run for it before delivering her crucial testimony about the US Capitol attack that the defeated president's supporters staged.But Cassidy Hutchinson kept her nerve, and the cost of breaking ranks with Trump and his fanatical supporters was steep. Continue reading...
Much of the attention this season has been on two superteams: the Aces and Liberty. But their playoff opponents are capable of causing upsetsThe 2023 WNBA season has been defined by superteams, with the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and the new-look New York Liberty claiming the top two seeds in the league before sweeping their way through the first round of the playoffs. And that new superteam shine has benefitted the league, with viewership up 21%, making this the WNBA's most watched season in 21 years.But even with the array of talent in Las Vegas and New York, the league is deeper overall than ever, with stars sprinkled throughout the country. In fact, all 12 teams had at least one All-Star this season. And some teams had two, including the No 4 seed Dallas Wings, who will meet the Aces in one semi-final matchup, which starts on Sunday, and the No 3 ranked Sun, who will tip off against the Liberty on the other side of the country. Continue reading...
Fundraising down 48% as Movement Voter Project's director says sense of urgency' has dissipated in people's minds'Progressive political fundraising in America is facing a crisis, according to a leading Democratic grassroots donor organization, which warned this month that donations to progressive groups are way down in 2023 across the board".According to the Movement Voter Project, progressives have a five-alarm fire going into 2024". The organization's director, Bill Wimsatt, said he was pressing the panic button" because donor inaction is creating a movement-wide crisis. Continue reading...
Nearly a dozen US football players have died of heat in recent years as teams reckon with training in a changing climateAt the end of a pre-season football practice in late July, Myzelle Law, a 19-year-old defensive lineman for MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas, returned to the locker room, and began showing signs of seizure. It was hot outside, but Law's internal body temperature had reached 108F (42.2C), his family said. He died about a week later, of heat-related illness.Last summer, the same thing happened to the 17-year-old lineman Phillip Laster Jr, a rising senior at Brandon high school in Mississippi. In 2021, 16-year-old Drake Geiger, a player for Omaha South high school in Nebraska, died after collapsing on a practice field. Continue reading...
Mayor Max III carries the mantle of the golden retrievers who went before him, led by his human chief of staffA sandy-haired hedonist with a penchant for hamburgers and kissing babies - on paper, Mayor Max III might seem like your typical US congressman. In reality, he's the only politician in the world who can close his mouth on command, according to his chief of staff (and owner), Phyllis Mueller.She dangles a treat above his snout as he demonstrates. Good boy, Max!" she says. Continue reading...
Millions of Democrats and independents view Trump's four years in office as a disaster but for supporters it is his biggest assetWearing a shirt festooned with countless images of Donald Trump, Leverne Martin was looking cheerful for a man who had set off from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, at 9pm and driven through the night, arriving in Dubuque, Iowa, at 5.30am. When did he intend to sleep?As soon as President Trump is back in the White House," the 55-year-old handyman replied without missing a beat. If we don't get him back in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where he belongs, we're in a mess, man. That's why I'm voting for President Trump. That's why I drove nine hours." Continue reading...
Cultural appropriation is the bogeyman of our time. Let's celebrate the joy of cross-pollinationHuman beings have, ever since they developed distinct cultures, always worried that their purity might soon be blemished. In ancient Greece, Therpandrus caused offence by adding an extra string to his lyre. In 16th-century China, the emperor ordered all seafaring ships destroyed because of fears about the cultural changes that foreign trade missions might induce. In 19th-century Germany, the composer Richard Wagner worried that Jews might spoil the authenticity of German culture.Traditionally, it has been the right that opposed and the left that defended new cultural influences. But, in recent years, many progressives have also started to worry about ways in which cultures might cross-pollinate. While they celebrate a great variety of traditional cultures, they now warn about the dangers of cultural appropriation".Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
The influence of News Corp is overstated - and politicians need to revamp their tactics and schmoozing accordinglyWhat are you going to do about the Sun?" It was the first question Neil Kinnock asked, when a bunch of eager young political advisers setting up a now long-forgotten campaign for Britain to join the single currency begged his advice. By then an EU commissioner, Kinnock had never forgotten the paper's devastating 1992 front page asking the last person left in Britain to turn out the lights if Labour won. But for decades now, his question has haunted the liberal left.The Murdoch press has earned a fearsome reputation among progressives as a kind of giant toad squatting in the road, blocking the way to everything from higher taxes to gay rights and, above all, closer relations with Europe. Few did more to pave the way for Brexit than the immigrant-bashing, Brussels-baiting Sun, whose once cheeky Euroscepticism had descended by 2015 to the nadir of a Katie Hopkins column describing migrants drowning at sea as cockroaches. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in the water ... I still don't care," she wrote. Across the Atlantic, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel offered a similarly shrill platform for the angry, increasingly paranoid voices who would propel Donald Trump to power. Though he eventually came to regret enabling Trump, when the 92-year-old Murdoch finally relinquished the reins of his empire to his son Lachlan last week, it was with one last defiant populist attack on the elites" supposedly setting the political narrative. Continue reading...
Best-selling American author says the new Netflix-endorsed city break doesn't show the best features of her adopted home - free preschool, university and healthcareThe news flashed up like a red beret: Netflix has endorsed a real-life Emily in Paris-themed trip to the French capital, based on its hit TV show. The four-night visit includes a masterclass on the art of flirting" (taught by a woman meant to resemble Emily's cruel-but-sexy boss); a lesson on baking pain au chocolat; optional runs along the Seine, like Emily takes in the series; and many evening aperos.There is no shortage of Emily-themed activities in Paris. The tourist office publishes its own guide to destinations from the show, and there are dozens of unofficial tours (several warn participants not to attempt their three-hour walks wearing stilettos). Last autumn I attended an American's Emily-themed bar mitzvah here; the party T-shirt had stars of David inserted into the cross-hatches of the Eiffel Tower. Continue reading...
House in West Milford collapsed due to unknown cause' and explosion under investigation by detectives and fire marshalsFive people were hospitalized after an explosion at a New Jersey home on Friday night, police said.The house in West Milford was heavily damaged by the explosion about 9 pm, the local police department said in a statement. Continue reading...
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