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Since we don’t spend December shopping and wrapping any more, we give each other the gift of time insteadThere is no greater gift than never again having to walk into an overheated, Wham-blasting shopping centre full of animatronic reindeer and the smell of damp hair, to spend £20 on a pot plant that nobody has asked for nor, in all probability, wants. To never again hear Noddy Holder shouting across the shop floor as you dither between shaving soap and another brown leather wallet. To never again try to bring four rolls of non-recyclable wrapping paper home on the packed bus.Which is why, in my immediate family, we do not swap presents at Christmas. My mother, my sister, my father, my partner and my child: none of us get each other Christmas presents. It’s been an agreement for the last few years and, all being well, one that will hold water again this festive season. But it would be unfair to say we don’t actually give each other things. We may not buy things, wrap things, put things under a tree or push anything but a hairy toe into a stocking on Christmas Eve but that’s not to say we don’t give gifts. Instead we bestow upon each other the treats of time, saving money, the weekends in the run-up to Christmas at home, sanity, and evenings not clogged with sticky tape and phone calls and online checkouts. You may think these are rambling attempts at optimism from a Scrooge but I really believe that, by taking presents out of the equation, I have given my family back almost the whole of December to spend as they wish.Nell Frizzell is the author of The Panic Years Continue reading...

Settlers may not like to see Indigenous names returned to the landscape around us. But we were here firstNear the summit of a peak west of Missoula, Montana, the hiking trail forks as it clears the forest of pine and fir trees. A wooden sign indicates the way to a steep climb over tumbled rocks to reach the peak, Ch-paa-qn. This is a Salish word that means “shining mountain,” or “gray, treeless mountain top”.Except that some rube has used a knife to all but scratch the Indigenous word out and replace it with “Squaw” in crude letters. Continue reading...

Variant accounted for 73% of new infections last week, nearly a sixfold increase within a week. Plus, the Bidens get new petsGood morning.Omicron is the dominant version of Covid in the US, federal health officials have announced, racing ahead of Delta and other variants and accounting for 73% of new infections last week.Should we be sticking to our holiday plans? Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, has warned that festivities could lead to increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths, adding: “An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled.”What is Joe Biden doing about Omicron? Half a billion at-home coronavirus tests will be sent free to the American public in an effort to fight the surging variant, the president will announce today.The letter sent on Monday night is the first time the panel has publicly released a request to a fellow member of Congress as it investigates Donald Trump’s communications with his Republican allies. But the panel notably did not subpoena Perry.The panel has interviewed about 300 people as it seeks to create a comprehensive record of the attack and the events leading up to it. Continue reading...

The world of masters athletics, open to competitors aged 35 and often much older, is a place for older sportspeople to break world records well into their golden yearsThe story of Kathy Bergen’s decorated track and field career began in the pages of AARP magazine, which is another way of saying it didn’t start until after she turned 50. In the years since, Bergen has cemented her status as a legend in the world of masters athletics, which is open to competitors aged 35 and older. She was inducted into the USA Track & Field Masters Hall of Fame in 2008, and was named the top female masters athlete in 2015. Earlier this month at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida, Bergen received her highest honor, as she was named the top masters athlete of the year by USATF.The accolades are deserved for someone who has broken so many world records that she loses count. “Off the top of my head, I’m thinking 24, 28. I’m not really sure,” Bergen said in a phone interview. (It’s 28, but who’s counting?) Continue reading...

Joe Biden brings in new German shepherd puppy, to be joined by a cat in JanuaryPresident Joe Biden on Monday introduced the newest member of his family, a purebred German shepherd puppy named Commander, while the first lady’s office said the cat she promised more than a year ago to bring to the White House would finally join them in January.But the news was not so good for another member of the Biden animal family. The family decided it was best for their other German shepherd, Major, to live in a quieter environment with friends after some biting incidents. Continue reading...

Republican pushed justice officials to overturn election and met Trump before attack, say investigatorsThe House panel investigating the US Capitol insurrection on 6 January has requested an interview and documents from Scott Perry, the Republican representative of Pennsylvania, marking the first time the committee has publicly sought to interview a sitting member of Congress.The latest request launches a new phase for the lawmakers on the committee, who have so far resisted reaching out to one of their own as they investigate the insurrection by former president Donald Trump’s supporters and his efforts to overturn the election. Continue reading...

Workers went on strike and pushed union drives in record numbers after corporations made giant pandemic profitsIn 2021 workers appear to have had enough.Amid constant claims from some industries of labor shortages as the economy recovers from Covid-19 shutdowns, workers have been pushing employers and elected officials to raise wages, improve working conditions and benefits such as paid sick leave through walkouts, protests, rallies and strikes. Continue reading...

The story of the pandemic is one of trying to understand a future we cannot plan for while still clinging to hope

Derecho, often described as an inland hurricane, hit the north-central US on 15 December, separately from Kentucky tornadoesThe National Weather Service’s (NWS) storm prediction center has described the multiple tornadoes and thunderstorms that struck the Great Plains and upper midwest last week as the result of a rare event called a derecho.A derecho, often described as an inland hurricane, is derived from the Spanish word “derechos”, which means to “direct” or “straight ahead” and was first used in 1888 by a chemist and professor of physical sciences. Continue reading...

Former Minnesota police officer says she meant to use her Taser when she shot Black motorist deadThe jury in the manslaughter trial of Kim Potter, the suburban Minneapolis police officer who says she meant to use her Taser instead of her gun when she shot and killed the Black motorist, Daunte Wright, began deliberating on Monday afternoon.A prosecutor had told jurors earlier in the day that Potter knew what she did was wrong, she made a “blunder of epic proportions” and that she did not have “a license to kill”. Continue reading...

Senate majority leader says Democrats will keep working on Biden plan ‘until we get something done’Democrats will keep working on Joe Biden’s Build Back Better spending plan “until we get something done”, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer told colleagues on Monday – a day after a stunning move by Joe Manchin of West Virginia drew accusations of betrayal from the White House and seemed to leave the president’s agenda dead in the water.In a letter to colleagues, Schumer wrote: “We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build Back Better Act – and we will keep voting on it until we get something done.” Continue reading...

Prosecutors say Maxwell, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, manipulated victims and groomed them for sexual abuse

More than 5 million adults became first-time gun owners between January 2020 and April 2021 compared to 2.4 million in 2019Gun purchases accelerated in the US during 2020-2021 compared to 2019, with more than 5 million adults becoming first-time gun owners between January 2020 and April 2021 compared to 2.4 million adults in 2019, a study on new gun ownership reveals.The survey, conducted by Professor Matt Miller at Northeastern University and published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, shows that between January 2019 and April this year, around 7.5m people, or 2.9% of all US adults who had not previously owned guns, purchased them. Continue reading...

Police in Akron say 63-year-old paid trucking company to help him take Lego-like structure to neighbouring countyA 58ft pedestrian bridge stolen from an Ohio city last month has been found and a man is facing charges, police said.Akron police said investigators acting on tips and other information on Friday afternoon found the missing span partially disassembled on property in Sharon Township in neighboring Medina county. A man has been arrested and charged with felony theft, police said. Continue reading...

The boy, previously known as Roland Doe, underwent exorcisms in Cottage City, Maryland, and St Louis, Missouri, in 1949The boy whose case inspired the portrayal of a demon-possessed child in the 1973 horror movie classic The Exorcist has been named.The US magazine the Skeptical Inquirer named the then 14-year-old boy, previously known as Roland Doe, who underwent exorcisms in Cottage City, Maryland, and St Louis, Missouri, in 1949. Continue reading...

Former president sues Letitia James on grounds of political bias in effort to halt inquiry into his business affairs

Leaders of the sport criticize the Harry Potter creator’s trans views as leagues also cite trademark issuesHarry Potter’s favorite sport, quidditch, is to receive a new name in the US, in part because its leaders are critical of the controversial views of the fictional wizard’s creator JK Rowling, which the US leagues have called “anti-trans”.Two leagues that operate the sport in the US also cite trademark issues for their decision for the rebranding. Continue reading...

Academic and member of CIA advisory panel says analysis applied to other countries shows US has ‘entered very dangerous territory’

Detectives say 76-year-old Mark Personette, linked to death of Marissa Harvey, may be suspected in other unsolved homicidesA man was arrested in Colorado on suspicion of killing a teenage girl in San Francisco more than four decades ago. Detectives say he may be a suspect in other unsolved homicides.Mark Stanley Personette, 76, was arrested in suburban Denver on Thursday following a joint operation by San Francisco police, the FBI and the Jefferson county sheriff’s office, authorities announced on Sunday. Continue reading...

Cameron Glover launched the Sex Ed Business Academy, a coaching program for sex educators who aspire to launch sustainable sex ed businesses of their ownIn 2016, Cameron Glover was a recent college graduate with a budding freelance writing career when a story assignment led her down a life-changing online rabbit hole.“I was researching the sex education industry, and noticed that a lot of the information out there was pretty outdated,” recalls Glover from her home in Long Beach, California. The professional landscape was also conspicuously straight and white. As a queer, Black millennial, her interest was nonetheless piqued. Continue reading...

The American right might win the occasional battle – but they will never win the war against progressWhile their fear and dismay is often regarded as rooted in delusion, rightwingers are correct that the world is metamorphosing into something new and, to them, abhorrent. They’re likewise correct that what version of history we tell matters. The history we tell today lays the groundwork for the future we make. The outrage over the 1619 Project and the new laws trying to censor public school teachers from telling the full story of American history are a doomed attempt to hold back facts and perspectives that are already widespread.In 2018, halfway through the Trump presidency, Michelle Alexander wrote a powerful essay arguing that we are not the resistance. We, she declared, are the mighty river they are trying to dam. I see it flowing, and I see the tributaries that pour into it and swell its power, and I see that once firmly grounded statues and assumptions have become flotsam in its current. Similar shifts are happening far beyond the United States, but it is this turbulent nation of so much creation and destruction I know best and will speak of here.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses Continue reading...

It’s not good enough to blame Joe Manchin for failures when Biden isn’t using the full scope of presidential powers to help ordinary AmericansWhen Joe Manchin, the West Virginia senator, announced on Sunday he could not support Joe Biden’s $2.2tn Build Back Better legislation, it marked the end of at least one era. Biden and other Senate Democrats had spent most of 2021 trying to get Manchin, a conservative Democrat, to vote for a bill that would dramatically bolster the social safety net, combat climate change and raise taxes on corporations.Manchin has not budged from his central concern – that the spending is too much, inflation is too high, and the national debt will loom ever larger. He is wrong to oppose the legislation, but it’s clear negotiations will only go so far. In a 50-50 Senate, the margin for error is almost nonexistent, and Manchin represents a state Donald Trump won comfortably in 2016 and 2020. Democrats of all ideologies have little leverage over him.Ross Barkan is a writer based in New York Continue reading...

Flurry of revelations raises prospect that the committee may be heading towards an incriminating conclusion. Plus, the weirdest stories of 2021

The Tank at Allan B Polunsky Unit allows the most isolated men a rare chance to be part of the prison communityAs soon as I drive past the East Tempe Church on the outskirts of Livingston, Texas, I can hear the laugh track on my radio. It’s from “Martin,” a three-decade-old television sitcom. The fictional Detroiters’ racy wisecracks seem incongruous crackling through my car speakers on a winding country road.When the laughter dies down, the slight Southern lilt of a DJ named “Megamind” cuts in to introduce the next segment. Continue reading...

The Cardinals have the look of a side coming unstuck at the wrong moment, in danger of winding up in a wild-card spot after opening the year as the NFL’s last unbeaten teamThe Cardinals are 3-4 over their last seven games after opening the season with a 7-0 record, transforming, on a dime, from the league’s only two-way juggernaut into a bundle of parts masquerading as a team.On Sunday, against the Lions in Detroit, you could almost feel the shudders of concern seeping through the screen. All those early-era Kliff Kingsbury concerns were back in full force: The dodgy clock management, the lack of faith in an (admittedly rough) offensive line clouding the offensive play-calling, the boom-or-bust defensive doctrine striking out more than it hit – again. Continue reading...

In the face of a draconian abortion ban in effect for more than three months, the mission has only grown stronger for a progressive congregationIn the late 60s, the burgeoning movement to legalize US abortion state by state found an unlikely yet loyal ally – a contingent of women at the First Unitarian Universalist church in Dallas, Texas.In lieu of knitting sessions and bake sales, the church’s Women’s Alliance advocated for abortion rights and even had a hand in legally supporting Roe v Wade, the pivotal US supreme court case that protects abortion care in the US as a constitutional right. Continue reading...

Largest murder trial in US history saw 19 men hanged after race-driven violence at Camp Logan army baseA group of attorneys and advocates have pledged to seek clemency for 110 Black soldiers who were convicted in a mutiny and riots at a military camp in Houston in 1917.The South Texas College of Law Houston and the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have signed an agreement to continue fighting for clemency for the soldiers of the all-Black Third Battalion of the US Army’s 24th Infantry Regiment, the Houston Chronicle reported. Continue reading...

Flurry of recent revelations raises the specter that the committee is swiftly heading towards an incriminating conclusion

Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is key to President Joe Biden's hopes of passing a $1.75tn domestic investment bill, has said he will not support the package.Manchin has been a key holdout on the White House's Build Back Better plan, which aims to bolster the social safety net and fight climate change, and is the cornerstone of Biden's legislative agenda.'I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,' Manchin told Fox News, citing concerns about inflation. 'I just can't. I have tried everything humanly possible.'

Omicron surge leads to event cancellations and lines at testing sites but health system not yet under serious strain

Advocates are critical of the immigration policy’s reinstatement, while asylum seekers see the plan as better than nothing from the USEvery day feels like a bad dream to Timoty Correas. He spent five months in a jam-packed tent camp before moving weeks ago to a roach-infested hotel full of migrant families in a neighborhood, blocks from the US border where, he said, during the night local crime cartels would load crowds of smuggled people in and out of houses used as hiding places.Like thousands of other people here, Correas and his eight-year-old son are stranded at the US border, always hoping that hardline pandemic-related restrictions will cease and the processing of asylum seekers by the US will resume. Continue reading...

Saving American democracy will require stopping these three powerful forces already on the way to destroying itWith the Senate adjourned for the holidays and Joe Biden’s Build Back Better social and climate package stalled, the president’s remaining agenda is at the mercy of the 2022 midterm election year. So the practical question is: what should be his, and the Democrats’, first priority when Congress returns in January?Biden obviously wants to get his spending package passed. But swift action on voting rights is essential. Republican state legislatures will soon begin drawing partisan congressional maps that federal legislation would outlaw. Several states have already changed election laws in ways making it harder for people in minority communities to vote and giving Republican legislatures greater power over election outcomes. Continue reading...

‘The beloved community bell helped to create’ remembers a teacher, friend, mentor and the impact her work will continue to haveI was asked to write about bell hooks’ life and legacy but I realized it would not be true to the spirit of how she lived for any one person to sum her up. Instead I have gathered a communal offering of memory, friendship, loss and love for the visionary we’ve lost.bell spent her life standing up against “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” – a phrase she said she didn’t much like but which connected all the forms of domination that are enslaving us in the world today. I watched her create, along with other women, a vision of Black feminism that invigorated an entire generation. She taught me personally about so many things: decolonization, the tyranny and trap of masculinity, how love must be our guiding principle in all that we do, the roles white women can and can’t play in this movement. Continue reading...

Maxwell’s attorneys tried to replace her image of a privileged socialite with one of being a kind and generous employerWhen Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense case started last Thursday, her team tried pulling off a near-impossible task – making the British socialite accused of sex trafficking seem likable.Indeed, the first defense witness in Maxwell’s Manhattan federal court sex-trafficking trial, former assistant Cimberly Espinosa, described her ex-boss in glowing terms. Continue reading...

Girls are barred from school, women can’t work. But too much reporting and diplomacy fails to note their absenceIn the days after the Taliban took Kabul, more than one correspondent shared clips from its streets, marvelling at how fast the city had returned to “surprisingly normal”, with shoppers back out and a sudden sense of quiet in a place that had been constantly braced for the next suicide bombing.The correspondents were men, who apparently didn’t register one stark difference; it was also largely men in their videos. Most of the city’s women had vanished into their homes, terrified of what Taliban rule would mean for them. Continue reading...

Voting rights activists say the country has not fully awakened to the threatA dry run. A dress rehearsal. A practice coup. As the first anniversary of the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol approaches, there is no shortage of warnings about the danger of a repeat by Republicans.But even as Donald Trump loyalists lay siege to democracy with voting restrictions and attempts to take over the running of elections, there are fears that Democrats in Washington have not fully woken up to the threat. Continue reading...