US news | The Guardian

Ideologues like Ron DeSantis aren’t angry at politics in education; they’re angry their politics don’t have a monopolyThe rightwing governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and his administration recently blocked a proposed black studies course for advanced placement high school students, as well as announced policies that would inhibit state universities from teaching programming about racial diversity, equity and inclusion or so-called “critical race theory”. These moves follow on the heels of Florida’s “don’t say gay” legislation, last year, restricting teachers from discussing sexual orientation.DeSantis and other conservative politicians argue that they are saving America’s young from leftwing indoctrination, and that students should instead be exposed to “civic education” that extolls a patriotic vision of America. When DeSantis and his growing number of acolytes present themselves as champions of civic education, however, they are in fact undermining the whole point of civics: not to make children “patriotic” or just fill brains with facts (how many branches of government are there again?), but to enable individuals to be fearless, critical citizens.Jan-Werner Müller teaches at Princeton and is a Guardian US columnist. His most recent book is Democracy Rules Continue reading...

Immigrants express frustration as nine Republican-led states ask judge to end Obama-era program that gives temporary deportation reliefIt’s been almost 10 years since Areli Hernandez received her first US government work permit in her mailbox. Hernandez remembers staring at her own photograph and touching the scripted name on the card in disbelief, feeling that a long-sought dream had finally materialized.But earlier this week, the program that gives temporary deportation relief to Hernandez and hundreds of thousands of other immigrants known as Dreamers, allowing a chance to live and work legally in the US, came under threat once again in a federal court. Continue reading...

Solitary confinement inmates protest against brutal form of incarceration but state says it’s only aware of six striking menPrisoners in Texas who have been kept in solitary confinement in some cases for more than 20 years are sustaining a hunger strike in protest against their brutal form of incarceration in the face of threatened retaliation from state authorities.Outside advocates working with the protesting inmates say that in their latest count 22 men continue to refuse food, with two of them having been on hunger strike since the start of the action on 10 January. Continue reading...

The war is a battle with Putin’s Russia, and a life plagued by darknessUkraine has entered 2023 as if going into a dark room where it is impossible to turn on the light. It seems that there are windows, but there is darkness behind them too. We must wait for the dawn or the restoration of the power supply. While there is neither one nor the other, darkness provokes a feeling of deep fatigue.The Lviv University teacher and well-known Ukrainian poet Galina Kruk has noticed an unsettling pattern in her life – during a blackout, the power banks and batteries that feed her torches and lamps stop working about half an hour before the electricity comes back on. Then there is pitch darkness, which seems even thicker than when the lights first went out – that “early” darkness with which it was still possible to somehow cope. Continue reading...

The ex-president is daring Republican challengers to make the first move – and some are preparing to attackThe starting gun has been fired and the race for the White House is under way. But in Iowa, where the first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses are just a year off, the landscape is icy and snowy and eerily silent.There is no great mystery why: the Donald Trump effect. Continue reading...

Greg Kelley, who was exonerated in 2019, uses money from settlement to buy 1.3-acre Texas property for his motherYears before Greg Kelley was freed from a wrongful conviction, the Texas man’s mother – Rosa Kelley – sold her home to help pay his legal bills.But she once again has a home of her own after her son recently bought her one as a gesture of his gratitude for her support, which helped set the stage for his exoneration in 2019, his state’s capital’s daily newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, reported this week. Continue reading...

Secretary of state calls the incident in US airspace a ‘clear violation of US sovereignty and international law’A second Chinese spy balloon was reportedly flying over Latin America, according to the Pentagon, in comments that came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, postponed a visit to China after the intrusion of a separate high-altitude Chinese balloon into US airspace.“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,” Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said, a day after the first craft was spotted over US skies. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.” Continue reading...

Protester who opposed Georgia’s planned police-training facility was first environmental activist killed by police in US historyThe environmental activist who was killed by police in Atlanta while protesting against Georgia’s planned “Cop City” was shot more than a dozen times, according to private autopsy results released by his family.Officers from multiple agencies shot and killed Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, also known as Tortuguita, on 18 January after authorities moved through the camp of activists who were in a forest to protest a planned $90m police training facility. Dozens of officers from the Atlanta police department, the Dekalb county police, the Georgia state patrol, the Georgia bureau of investigation and the FBI swept through the camp. Continue reading...

Investigation finds Preston Hemphill violated rules regarding stun gun use, and video shows him saying ‘I hope they stomp his ass’A sixth Memphis officer was fired on Friday after an internal police investigation showed he violated multiple department policies in the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, including rules surrounding the deployment of a stun gun, officials said.Preston Hemphill had previously been suspended as he was investigated for his role in the arrest of Nichols, who died three days later. Five Memphis officers have already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’s death. Continue reading...

Michigan boy Mason Stonehouse had jumbo shrimp, shawarma, salads, chicken pita sandwiches and chili cheese fries deliveredA Michigan man says he was left with a $1,000 bill after his six-year-old son ordered a virtual smorgasbord of food from several restaurants last weekend, leading to a string of unexpected deliveries – and maybe a starring role in an ad campaign.Keith Stonehouse said the food piled up quickly at his Detroit-area home on Saturday night after he let his son, Mason, use his cellphone to play a game before bed. He said the youngster instead used his father’s Grubhub account to order food from one restaurant after another. Continue reading...

Plus Gawker and the end (again) of an era, and Eva Green’s WhatsApp mishapsWhen one thinks of Alec Baldwin – as this week’s news cycle sadly ensures one must – humility isn’t the first quality that springs to mind. Baldwin’s persona hinges on a comedic bombast that the 64-year-old carries over from the screen into life. Even for a man who threatens photographers in the street, yells at airline stewards and rashly tweets and deletes, however, his apparent blitheness in the wake of [checks notes] shooting and killing someone accidentally on the set of his last film has been quite something to behold. Continue reading...

Reports emerge that the embattled New York congressman told donors of his role, which the lead producer deniesJust as it seemed the well of bizarre stories about George Santos might have begun to run dry, it was reported on Friday that the New York Republican congressman told potential donors he was a producer on the notoriously ill-fated Spider-Man musical.Bloomberg News said: “The lead producer, Michael Cohl, denied Santos’s involvement, saying through an assistant that [Santos] wasn’t a producer on the musical. Santos’s name also never appeared in the playbills for the show.” Continue reading...

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has postponed a planned visit to China this weekend after the intrusion of a high-altitude Chinese balloon into US airspace.China had apologised for the incident, claiming it had been a weather balloon which had been blown off course, but US officials made clear they did not believe that explanation and the Pentagon restated its assessment it was a surveillance aircraft, adding that by midday Friday it had changed course and was over the centre of the country.Blinken’s trip, due to begin on Friday night, has been put off until circumstances are more 'conducive', US officials said

Mark Pomerantz, who was on New York team investigating tax affairs, reportedly compares ex-president to John GottiNew York prosecutors building a case against Donald Trump for allegedly lying about his wealth for tax purposes had to show the former president was “not legally insane”, one of those prosecutors reportedly writes in an eagerly awaited new book.The lawyer, Mark Pomerantz, also reportedly compares Trump, the only confirmed candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, to famous figures in the world of organised crime including John Gotti, the “Teflon Don” who died in prison in 2002. Continue reading...

The suspects have been taken into custody – one after a gun battle with federal agents – and charged with six counts of murderAuthorities in California have arrested two gang members suspected in a massacre in central California last month that killed six people, including a young mother and her infant.The pair were arrested early on Friday, one after a gun battle, the Tulare county sheriff said. Continue reading...

Antony Blinken delays trip, as China claims balloon was for ‘meteorological’ purposes and was blown off course

Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack also seeks to significantly lower sodium in meals as part of fresh nutrition standards planUS agriculture officials on Friday proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, including the first limits on added sugars, with a focus on limiting sweetened foods such as cereals, yogurt, flavored milk and breakfast pastries.The plan announced by the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, also seeks to significantly decrease sodium, making for less salty meals served to the nation’s school kids by 2029, while making the rules for foods made with whole grains more flexible. Continue reading...

Davion Irvin, 24, charged with six counts of animal cruelty after two of zoo’s emperor tamarin monkeys found in abandoned homeAn arrest has been made in the case of the missing monkeys apparently abducted from the Dallas zoo, whose shock disappearance was the latest in a series of incidents to affect the zoo’s animal inhabitants.Davion Irvin, 24, was arrested on Thursday night and charged with six counts of animal cruelty. The move could mark a breakthrough in a mysterious case which has created headlines across the US as the zoo struggled to explain how or why it was being targeted. Continue reading...

The House Republican majority voted to remove the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the foreign affairs committee on Thursday, after a heated debate. The resolution to oust Omar condemned comments she had made about Israel that had drawn accusations by Republicans and some Democrats of antisemitism. She had apologised and acknowledged that her remarks played on antisemitic tropes

‘I saw a mountaintop covered in white snow. At that point, I knew I was in trouble,’ says Kingsley Burnett, who mixed up airport codesA New York man heading off on a dream holiday to Sydney, Australia, to take a cruise got the shock of his life when he looked out of the plane window to see snow-capped mountains rather than the golden sands of Bondi Beach.“I saw a mountaintop covered in white snow. At that point, I knew I was in trouble,” Kingsley Burnett, 62, told local TV channel KTVQ after he realised he had booked and caught a flight to the tiny Montana city of Sidney rather than the Australian city. Continue reading...

Meteorologists warn frigid weather could bring record-breaking low temperatures to New York, New Jersey and New EnglandMore than 15 million people in the US north-east were bracing for “once-in-a-generation” Arctic blast on Friday and Saturday, as meteorologists warned frigid weather could bring record-breaking low temperatures.An Arctic cold front is expected to bring wind chills of -50F (-45C) in parts of northern New England, and the National Weather Service (NWS) warned dangerous wind chills were likely in an area stretching from northern Pennsylvania to Maine. Continue reading...

Law championed by Ron DeSantis also includes ID requirements and ballot box limits, making it harder to vote by mailHundreds of thousands of Florida voters had their requests for mail-in ballots cancelled last month, a consequence of a new law championed by Ron DeSantis.The change is part of a suite of new restrictions on voting by mail – including new identification requirements and ballot drop box limits – Republicans passed after the 2020 election. Previously, Florida voters could elect to automatically receive a mail-in ballot for every election for up to four years. The new measure cancelled nearly all of the standing requests on file at the end of 2022. Voters can also now only request to automatically receive a mail-in ballot for up to two years. Continue reading...

The US congresswoman Ilhan Omar has said her 'voice will get louder and stronger' after Republicans voted to expel the Minnesota Democrat from the House foreign affairs committee on Thursday as punishment for her past remarks on Israel. Omar struck a defiant note in a speech shortly before the votes were counted, accusing Republicans of trying to silence her because she is a Muslim immigrant, and promising to continue speaking out. 'Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy? Or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced? Frankly, it is expected because when you push power, power pushes back,' Omar said

Ken Buck reportedly makes remark in Capitol Hill elevator as another Republican, Mike Simpson, agreedDiscomfort at the House Republican majority voting to remove Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the powerful foreign affairs committee is bipartisan – but also deeper than first impressions suggest, according to a new report.Following the highly controversial move on Thursday, Ken Buck, a committee member and Republican congressman from Colorado, was heard calling the action the “stupidest vote in the world”, congressional newspaper Roll Call reported. Continue reading...

As New Mexico nominates roasted chile as its official aroma, we would like to hear your suggestionsNew Mexico has claimed the scent of roasted chile as its “official state aroma”.“It’s very unique to our state,” Senator Bill Soules said of roasting chile. “I have tried to think of any other state that has a smell or aroma that is that distinctive statewide, and I can’t think of any.” Continue reading...

Students and academics know cancelling speakers is trivial compared with the structural collapse in tertiary education

The EU needs an ambitious climate strategy for industry. So why is Giorgia Meloni its chief supporter?European governments have for many years basked in a sense of climate superiority over the US. We had the most ambitious climate goals; we were the constructive actor at Cop conferences; we had carbon-pricing mechanisms; and since 1990, we have reduced emissions by 28% against just 2% in the US. The US, by contrast, had climate-denying Republicans.The Biden administration now has the world’s most generous package of climate incentives – a $370bn green subsidy package, which goes by the misnomer Inflation Reduction Act. But instead of celebrating the US handouts and tax breaks for investment in such things as electric vehicles and solar panels, many European governments are furious. Continue reading...

The titillating reality series hinges on a bizarre oedipal twist. But the show, at its core, is actually reactionary and sexistMilf Manor is making viewers upset and causing the media to collectively clutch its pearls – but not, I think, for the reasons they should be recoiling. If you’ve been spared hearing about TLC’s latest contribution to the reality television garbage heap, here is the recap: Eight “hot moms”, all women in their 40s or 50s, are sent to live in a seaside villa in Mexico, where, they’re told, they’re going to be dating younger guys (the ol’ hookup house conceit). When the guys, all studs in their 20s, appear, it turns out that they’re these same women’s sons in real life.“You are not exactly on the show you thought were on,” a text from the producers tells them. Everyone looks shocked. “Wait, they’re our moms?” asks one of the sons. “Holy shit!”Nancy Jo Sales is a writer at Vanity Fair and the author of American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers Continue reading...

The GOP’s animus is based on what the outspoken, Black, African, female, Muslim congresswoman is and what she doesWho remembers how, in 2018 and just days before the deadliest attack on Jewish people in US history, a prominent US politician tweeted: “We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election!”? The tweet was widely – and correctly – understood as dangerously antisemitic, particularly heinous in a period of rising anti-Jewish hatred. And whose tweet was this? If you thought the answer was Minnesota’s Democratic representative Ilhan Omar then, well, you’d be wrong. The author was none other than the House majority leader at the time, Republican Kevin McCarthy.And who can forget when Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has tweeted that “Joe Biden is Hitler”, speculated that the wildfires in California were caused by a beam from “space solar generators” linked to “Rothschild, Inc.”, a clear wink to bizarre antisemitic conspiracy theories. Incidentally, Greene, who has a long record of antisemitic and anti-Muslim statements, has been recently appointed, by the same Kevin McCarthy, now speaker of the House, to the homeland security committee.Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. He is Professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York Continue reading...

The Golden State will struggle to stop mass shootings and protect citizens until uniform federal laws on firearms are signedThe recent mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have brought devastation, outrage and shock to Californians. As the state grieves the loss of 19 residents, one question continues to arise: how could this happen in the state with some of the strongest gun laws in the US?California’s gun laws include bans on the military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines that have been used in many mass shootings. It is one of just two states, along with New Jersey, to receive an “A” rating from the gun safety group Giffords, based on the strength of its firearm regulations. Continue reading...

Officials say balloon has been watched for a few days but decided not to shoot it down for safety reasonsThe Pentagon has said it is tracking a Chinese spy balloon flying over the US but decided against shooting it down for safety reasons.Defence officials said the balloon had been watched since it entered US airspace at high altitude a couple of days ago. It has been monitored by several methods including crewed aircraft, and has most recently been tracked crossing Montana, where the US has silo-based nuclear missiles. Continue reading...

Tyre Nichols’ death reopens wounds felt by family of Steven Askew, who died 10 years ago at hands of Memphis police. Plus, wave of ‘sushi terrorism’ grips JapanGood morning.More than 200 miles away from Memphis, as Tyre Nichols’ family mourned the beating to death of their son at the hands of police, Sylvia Askew was at home in Nashville taking care of her ailing husband, write Edwin Rios and Oliver Laughland.What happened to Steven? On the night he was killed, Steven was parked outside an apartment complex, waiting to pick up his girlfriend, when he fell asleep in his car. Two Memphis police officers, Matthew Dyess and Ned Aufdenkamp, responded to an unrelated noise complaint nearby and approached Steven’s vehicle, saw him asleep in the driver’s seat, and spotted a firearm. Seconds after Steven woke, the officers opened fire, hitting Steven nine times, including six times in the back.Why did they say they shot him? They said they spotted a firearm inside the vehicle, and claimed that as Steven woke he picked it up and pointed it. As the evidence would later show, their accounts were inconsistent and unreliable.What does Shah say about the work he has to do? “I hold myself to outcomes. I don’t hold myself to best efforts. I feel like there’s a lot of people who are like, ‘well, I gave it my best’. And I was like, ‘well, I mean, that’s not enough. You either have reduced climate emissions or you haven’t.’” Continue reading...

The practice has its roots in the 1920s. That it would lead to racial profiling was foreordainedIt is no surprise that the pursuit and deadly beating of Tyre Nichols was set in motion by a police traffic stop.Despite repeated criticism of this practice, and the widespread availability of bodycam and cellphone footage, the number of gruesome fatalities from such encounters shows no sign of declining. Continue reading...

Has defense fallen by the wayside in today’s offensive-minded NBA? According to some of the most influential players and coaches in the league, the answer is a resounding yesThe Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are considered by many to be the greatest NBA team of all time. In 2016-17, they had four All-Stars and an offensive rating of 114.8, by far the best in NBA history.That same offense would rank 10th in the league this season. Continue reading...

There’s only one game left this season, which means it’s the perfect opportunity to look back at the winners (and a few losers) of the campaign that wasThe weeks leading up to the Super Bowl have always marked the perfect time to look back at the season that was. So with the final game of the NFL season fast approaching, it’s time to hand out a few extremely unofficial awards to deserving candidates. These awards are based on what happened in the regular season alone; the postseason has already determined its winners and losers in a far less subjective manner. Continue reading...

A video filmed in Montana appears to show a Chinese spy balloon flying over the US. The Pentagon has said it is tracking the balloon but decided against shooting it down for safety reasons. Defence officials said the balloon had been watched since it entered US airspace, flying at high altitude, a few days ago. The object first flew over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and Canada before appearing over the city of Billings, Montana, on Wednesday, officials said

Try as the industry might, Modi’s quasi-fascist politics cannot be set to jaunty music and helicopter stuntsIf recent Bollywood films are any indication, it is fair to say that India’s film industry is obsessed with Pakistan. Obsessed. Like standing outside your apartment and trying to peek through your windows at night with binoculars obsessed.If the films were smarter or more daring, Pakistan might be flattered. Instead, we are beginning to be mildly confused by all the attention. Continue reading...

Trump’s situation is more perilous because of his reluctance to cooperate and his suspected obstruction of justiceDonald Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort is distinguished in the eyes of the justice department from that of Joe Biden or Mike Pence as a result of one particularly crucial difference: suspected obstruction of justice.Legal experts believe the situation for the former US president is more perilous than others swept up in the scandal because of his reluctance to cooperate at key moments in the investigation and his unwillingness to proactively search his properties for marked documents after becoming aware that he possessed such papers. Continue reading...

The recent killing reopens a family’s wounds from the death of Steven Askew 10 years ago at the hands of the Memphis policeMore than 200 miles away from Memphis, as Tyre Nichols’s family mourned the beating death of their son at the hands of police, Sylvia Askew was at home, taking care of her ailing husband in Nashville.Silvia knew how Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, felt. She too struggled over the last week, just as she had every time a Black man in America was killed by police: a decade ago, on 17 January 2013, her 24-year-old son Steven Askew was shot and killed by two white Memphis police officers moments after he awoke in his car, waiting for his girlfriend outside her home. Continue reading...

‘She just wanted to make a better community for all our children’: colleagues mourn Eunice Dwumfour, 30, who was elected in 2021A New Jersey borough councilmember was found shot to death in an SUV outside of her home, authorities said.Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was found at around 7.20pm on Wednesday, according to the Middlesex county prosecutor’s office. She had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Slick roads have caused at least 10 deaths with thousands of flights canceled since frigid weather set in on MondayA mess of ice, sleet and snow lingered across much of the southern US on Thursday, as thousands in Texas endured freezing temperatures with no power, including many in the state capital, Austin.Treacherous driving conditions had resulted in at least 10 deaths on slick roads since Monday, including seven in Texas, two in Oklahoma, and one in Arkansas. The Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, urged people not to drive. Continue reading...

Al-Qaida courier turned informant Majid Khan to be permanently resettled after being held in US custody for nearly 20 yearsThe US has released Majid Khan, an al-Qaida courier turned informant who was tortured in secret CIA prisons and held in custody for nearly 20 years, marking the first time a “high-value detainee” has been freed from Guantánamo Bay.Khan, a 42-year-old Pakistani born in Saudi Arabia, completed his jail term last March and landed in Belize on Thursday, where he is to be permanently resettled. Continue reading...

Even on the company’s broader metric, the greener stuff came out at only one-third of total expenditureThe chief executive has changed at Shell but the song remains the same. The energy transition will be “balanced” and “we intend to remain disciplined while delivering compelling shareholder returns,” declared Wael Sawan. Translation: the company will not use the sudden arrival of spectacular financial riches to boost spending on renewables.Being “disciplined” is, of course, an admirable ambition when presented starkly and without context. No chief executive of any company is ever likely to tell investors that the plan is to take wild punts on projects with little prospect of a decent return. But there is a world of nuance between the extremes. Continue reading...

Minnesota Democrat accuses Republicans of trying to silence her because she is Muslim and vows to ‘advocate for a better world’Republicans voted to expel Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar from the House foreign affairs committee on Thursday as punishment for her past remarks on Israel. Democrats objected, saying the move was about revenge after Democrats removed far-right extremists in the last Congress.A majority of 218 GOP lawmakers supported Omar’s expulsion from the committee, which is tasked with handling legislation and holding hearings affecting America’s diplomatic relations. One Republican lawmaker voted “present”. Continue reading...

Former Trump press secretary turned Arkansas governor to share ‘the GOP’s optimistic vision for the future’ after Biden speechThe White House press secretary turned Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders will give the Republican response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week.Announcing the move on Thursday, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, called Huckabee Sanders “a servant-leader of true determination and conviction”, adding about his fellow Republican: “I’m thrilled Sarah will share her extraordinary story and bold vision for a better America on Tuesday.” Continue reading...

Police in Wyoming, Ohio say officers suspected Joe Frasure Jr, 28, was burglar after responding to a 911 callAn Ohio man was fatally shot by police while cleaning out his dead grandmother’s apartment, family members say.Joe Frasure Jr, 28, was shot on Monday. He died on Tuesday. Continue reading...