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Florida used to be seen as a swing state but in recent years it has lurched further and further to the right. Now there are worries democracy itself is under threatAhead of the US midterm elections, Oliver Laughland travelled around Florida to find out what really mattered to the people getting ready to vote. He told Michael Safi how he travelled to Disney World, and found the “happiest place on Earth” had become a political battleground thanks to a controversial bill curtailing the teaching of sexuality and gender identity in schools.Elsewhere he met Charlie Crist, the politician trying to take on Ron DeSantis – the Florida governor who is seen by many as the successor to Donald Trump. And he heard how the Democrats are hoping the backlash against the scrapping of Roe v Wade, which protected the right to abortion in the US, could help their party. Continue reading...

A week out from US midterm elections, president pleads with energy firms to invest profits in lowering costs for American consumersPresident Joe Biden has accused oil companies of “war profiteering” as he raised the possibility of imposing a windfall tax if companies don’t boost domestic production.In remarks on Monday, just over a week away from the 8 November midterm elections, Biden criticised major oil companies for making record profits while refusing to help lower prices at the pump for American people. The president said he would look to Congress to levy tax penalties on oil companies if they don’t begin to invest some of their profits in lowering costs for American consumers. Continue reading...

Suspect who faces state and federal charges told police he wanted to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and ‘break her kneecaps’The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told police he wanted to hold the congresswoman hostage and “break her kneecaps”, authorities in California said on Monday afternoon.David DePape, 42, confronted a sleeping Paul Pelosi in the couple’s San Francisco townhouse bedroom shortly before 2.30am last Friday morning, according to a federal affidavit filed in court on Monday. Continue reading...

Hecklers were attacking a policy providing affordable housing for LGBTQ+ peopleThe progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said she will stand up for LGBTQ+ rights after an attack by hecklers caused chaos during a recent speaking event in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York.The Democrat from New York met the heckles at the back of the Boys and Girls Club with dancing, the video of which has gone viral on social media. Continue reading...

If too many abstain in the election on 1 November, the way could be clear for a coalition featuring Jewish supremacistsOn 1 November, Israel votes in a general election for the fifth time since spring 2019. Recent polls show that the country’s former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his rightwing coalition are just shy of clinching victory. Sixty-one seats in the Knesset, the 120-seat parliament, is the magic number. As fate would have it, Israeli Arab voters may determine the outcome.In 2021, Israeli Arabs were instrumental in ousting Netanyahu from office. This time, however, they may give him a boost by simply sitting on their hands: if they stay at home, the odds of Netanyahu and his allies returning to power markedly improve. Reports are already pointing to an expected low turnout.Lloyd Green is a New York attorney, and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

The shameful scenes at Manston will be repeated as long as asylum seekers are scapegoated by ministers avoiding scrutinyActions have consequences. Britain’s political elite has for a long time decided to pander to – or deliberately stoke – bigotry against migrants and refugees. This is a joint enterprise with rightwing media outlets that have sought to portray some of the world’s most vulnerable people as a marauding mob, undeserving drains on resources and incompatible with British culture. It has reaped rich political dividends: justified public anger at a lack of affordable housing and secure work, declining living standards and austerity has been redirected, crudely, at the caricatured foreigner. To achieve this aim, it has been necessary to strip migrants and refugees of their humanity: after all, most human beings do not tolerate harm being committed against those we see as “people like us”.This brings us to the Manston migrant processing centre, in Kent, and the petrol bombs that were lobbed on Sunday at a Dover Border Force immigration centre. Most people would find the conditions at Manston intolerable if it were housing cats and dogs, let alone people. Around 4,000 people seeking asylum – way more than double the official maximum capacity – sleep on blankets on floors. It is supposed to be a short-term holding facility, where checks are conducted before the people there are moved on to detention centres or accommodation. But these human beings are being effectively imprisoned for up to four weeks. In these bleak overcrowded conditions, there has been an outbreak of diphtheria, while scabies is said to run rampant.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Former vice-president says meeting at which advisers led by Giuliani urged Trump to not accept election defeat was ‘a new low’A post-election meeting at which advisers led by Rudy Giuliani attacked campaign lawyers and urged Donald Trump not to accept his election defeat was “a new low” for a president “well acquainted with rough-and-tumble debates”, Mike Pence writes in a forthcoming memoir.Of the meeting in November 2020, the former vice-president writes: “In the end, that day the president made the fateful decision to put Giuliani and [attorney] Sidney Powell in charge of the legal strategy … The seeds were being sown for a tragic day in January.” Continue reading...

America’s multi-million dollar meeting will overshadow the Melbourne Cup and the jumps racing at Aintree this weekWith all due respect to Australia, where the Melbourne Cup is due to stop the nation at around 4am GMT on Tuesday, the attention of the racing world this week will focus squarely on the Kentucky bluegrass, and the 14 Grade One events that make up the 39th running of the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Lexington this weekend.This news may also grate with diehard fans of the jumps, who will argue that the Grand Sefton Chase over the National fences at Aintree will generate far more betting turnover in the UK on Saturday than any of the events in Kentucky. But the simple fact remains that jumping is a niche activity in the global racing industry, enjoyed almost exclusively in Britain, Ireland and France, while the Breeders’ Cup is the richest and most prestigious meeting of the year in the country which has, by several measures, the biggest racing and breeding industry on the planet. Continue reading...

Research by #WeCount shows a 6% decline, with fall of 22,000 in most restrictive states partially offset by 12,000 rise elsewhereThere have been at least 10,000 fewer abortions since the nationwide abortion rights established by Roe v Wade were repealed by the US supreme court in June.New research from the national research project #WeCount shows that with federal abortion protections rolled back, there have been 10,570 fewer legal abortions – a 6% decline – than estimates in April before the June ruling. Continue reading...

The former president’s son spread an image of a hammer and references to the baseless conspiracy theory about the attackerIn the aftermath of the attack on Paul Pelosi, amid rising concern over rightwing figures stoking violence against political opponents, Donald Trump Jr posted online a crude meme featuring a hammer, the weapon used to attack the husband of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on Friday.“OMG,” the former president’s son wrote next to the picture, which also had the caption “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready”. Continue reading...

Republican Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams spar in final gubernatorial debate before midtermsIn the final televised debate with Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams before their November election, Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, refused to say whether he would support harsher abortion restrictions if re-elected to a second term and if fellow Republicans dominating the state legislature sent them to his desk.At WSB-TV’s Channel 2 Action debate Sunday, Kemp, a Republican, said it was not his “desire to go move the needle any further” on abortion restrictions in Georgia, adding that he would look into additional restrictions passed by state lawmakers “when the time comes”. Kemp at a previous debate had said he “would not” support new abortion limits. Continue reading...

If Musk’s tweet doesn’t raise bright red warning signs all over the world about his judgment and character, I don’t know what willJust three days after Elon Musk bought Twitter, he posted a tweet promoting the baseless allegation that Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, who was assaulted on Friday at the couple’s home, had been drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.The police found Paul Pelosi, 82, attacked with a hammer inside his home by a man, David DePape, who had entered through the back door, seeking the speaker.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

The Brooklyn Nets star’s promotion of a documentary that espouses bigoted tropes comes at a time of rising prejudice against Jews in AmericaIn the wake of Kanye West’s recent antisemitic rhetoric – that Diddy is “controlled by the Jews” and that he’s going “def con 3 on the Jews,” for example – brands have dropped the rapper in droves.As displays of antisemitism continue to rise, people from all walks of life have denounced West and offered support and compassion. During Sunday’s slate of NFL games, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, himself a Jew, aired a powerful PSA in partnership with the Foundation for Combatting Antisemitism. Fighting hate of all forms, including antisemitism, should be an easy lane to take. Continue reading...

New book by Australian reporter Paddy Manning hints at Succession-style feud with ramifications for US rightwing politicsIt’s long been thought that the succession plan for Lachlan Murdoch to take control of Fox Corporation and News Corp was set in stone for when his 91-year-old father, Rupert Murdoch dies.But a new book is stoking speculation that Murdoch’s oldest son might be ousted in a Succession-style feud with his family, in a move with potentially huge ramifications for Fox News, the TV network that dominates US rightwing politics, according to a new biography of the Anglo-Australian media heir. Continue reading...

According to the US Capitol police, there were 9,621 threats against members of Congress in 2021. It’s surprising that there aren’t moreSurely I’m not the only person haunted by visions of 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, the husband of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, struggling with an intruder in the early hours this past Friday. It’s not hard to imagine the terror that Pelosi must have felt as he made his coded phone call to the police, telling them that someone had broken into his San Francisco home. And it’s all too easy to picture his assailant, David DePape, calling out, “Where’s Nancy?”, the same cry that went up from the insurrectionists roaming the halls of the US Capitol on 6 January.In fact, the only thing that’s hard to comprehend is why, given the current political climate, incidents like this one don’t occur more often. According to the US Capitol police, there were 9,621 threats against members of Congress in 2021, and the frequency of those disturbing emails and phone calls appears to be increasing. Republican and Democrats alike have been warned that they and their families will be killed, and some have wisely taken advantage of the provision that allows them to use their campaign funds to pay for private security teams.Francine Prose is a former president of Pen American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Continue reading...

Judge dismisses case against British former trader Tom Hayes, who was jailed over interest rate scandalA New York court has dismissed a criminal indictment against Tom Hayes, the British former trader at UBS and Citigroup who served five and a half years in a UK prison for rigging the Libor lending benchmark.Prosecutors in the US filed a motion to dismiss the case against Hayes and another former UBS trader, Roger Darin. Continue reading...

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva takes over a deeply divided country, and a congress dominated by rightwing partiesThe Workers’ party (PT) supporters were out in force last night in the centre of São Paulo, pretty much as they were 20 years ago when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva first won the Brazilian presidency. Then, as now, convoys of celebrating Lula-supporting Petista drivers honked their horns, with their chanting, flag-waving passengers precariously hanging out of car windows.That win – which followed three unsuccessful runs – was sweet. This victory – Lula’s third – is perhaps even more gratifying because the former trade union leader has come back from imprisonment, defied his political enemies and condemned his nemesis, Jair Bolsonaro, to defeat. And last night there was an element of relief in the joyous mood because, for the moment at least, the incumbent rightwing populist’s dark threats to overturn the result had failed to materialise.Richard Lapper is author of Beef, Bible and Bullets: Brazil in the Age of Bolsonaro Continue reading...

Knitting is a fantastic way to fight anxiety, keep one’s mind occupied and fight fast fashionI’ve become addicted to knitting and I’m clearly not the only one: I’ve seen people knitting on the subway, in college lectures and even, once, in a bar.I’m not surprised. Knitting is a fantastic way to fight anxiety, keep one’s mind occupied, and – by making clothing for yourself and those you love – fight fast fashion.Maeve Higgins is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

The race between Evan McMullin and Senator Mike Lee in the reliably red state is tightening as Democrats stand asideUtah is usually reliably Republican turf but in this year’s midterm elections a Senate race in the Mormon-dominated state could see a remarkable upset – and one that could damage the Republican party’s ambitions to capture the Senate.Independent challenger Evan McMullin, a former CIA agent who unsuccessfully ran for president against Donald Trump in 2016, is seeing his race tighten against Mike Lee, a two-time Republican incumbent who initially supported Trump’s legal challenge to the election but later voted to certify it. Continue reading...

On Sunday, we saw how small mistakes can decide a game in a league as competitive and intricately choreographed as the NFLThere is a reason why they don’t call American football “the beautiful game.” It can be poetic, for sure, but often NFL games are decided by flat-out ugly mistakes. Successful NFL play-calling requires pinpoint execution by every player on the field and a single slip-up can lead to disaster. We saw several such cases on Sunday.Let’s start with the Carolina Panthers, who were a successful extra-point attempt away from beating the Atlanta Falcons. PJ Walker had connected with DJ Moore on a 62-yard Hail Mary pass that no less of an expert than Patrick Mahomes called “the best throw of the year.” The game was tied and there were just 12 seconds left on the clock. Continue reading...

Campaigners feel groundswell of support for proposal to stop a 1931 abortion ban from going into effectIn the spring of this year, Julie Falbaum’s 20-year-old son walked into a frat party filled with about 50 of his peers, holding a stack of petitions. They were for a campaign to protect abortion.“Who wants to be a dad?” he yelled. Like a park-goer throwing bread to pigeons, he chucked the forms around the room and watched as dozens of young men swarmed to sign them. Continue reading...

Curated by the US writer and critic Antwaun Sargent, an exhibition aims to explore the new aesthetic in portraiture being created by an emerging generation of black models, photographers and stylists.The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion is at the Saatchi Gallery in London until 22 January 2023 Continue reading...

The unpopular president has made far fewer campaign appearances in the off-year election than his predecessorsMusic, chants and applause filled the gymnasium of a community college in an upstate New York battleground district, where Joe Biden delivered Democrats’ closing economic argument of the midterm election season.The president acknowledged Americans’ struggle to cope with painfully high inflation, while touting the progress his administration had made toward a post-pandemic recovery. He closed his remarks with a stark warning: if Republicans win control of Congress, they would create “chaos” in the economy. Then he waded into the crowd to shake hands and snap selfies. Continue reading...

With any luck he will kill it through hubris and we will be free! FREE!

Payments to follow exoneration of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam who both spent decades in prisonThe city of New York is settling lawsuits filed on behalf of two men who were exonerated last year for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, agreeing to pay $26m for the wrongful convictions that led to both spending decades behind bars.The state of New York will pay an additional $10m. David Shanies, an attorney representing the men, confirmed the settlements on Sunday. Continue reading...

Delirious Wembley fans happy to overlook failings of both sides in front of record crowd for an NFL game in LondonMarino is ready for the snap, he stands, surveys the field, the pass soars through the Wembley mist and Jerry Jeudy makes the grab. Marino is delirious. The Broncos are about to snatch a 21-17 win from the jaws of defeat. Marino is a teenage Miami fan in the stands? Confused, good.Welcome to the NFL in London. Continue reading...

Dire warnings after hammer assault on speaker’s husband and amid concern that security does not adequately reflect threatsDemocratic politicians have ramped up their warnings about the threat of political violence in America after a man bludgeoned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband with a hammer in their California home on Friday.The dire warnings come amid longstanding concern that security services provided do not adequately reflect ongoing threats, especially as midterm elections loom. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that Paul Pelosi’s assailant had been carrying zip ties when he broke in. Continue reading...

House speaker’s husband told alleged intruder that he needed to use restroom and spoke in ‘code’ to alert authorities of problemPaul Pelosi, the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who was attacked with a hammer during an invasion of their California home, saved his life after secretly telephoning for help from the bathroom.According to Politico, Paul Pelosi told the alleged intruder – identified by authorities as David DePape – that he needed to use the restroom. Paul Pelosi’s mobile phone was charging in the bathroom at the time; the 82-year-old then made a surreptitious call to 911, and remained connected. Continue reading...

Speaker’s husband underwent surgery after hammer assault that comes amid rising warnings of political violence in the USHouse speaker Nancy Pelosi said her family is “heartbroken and traumatized” after a brutal and bloody hammer assault on her husband that has shocked the US as it stands on the brink of tense and crucial midterm elections.An intruder smashed his way through a rear door into the Pelosi’s house in San Francisco on Friday. The man confronted Paul Pelosi and shouted, “Where is Nancy.” Continue reading...

We have to break the cycle of misogyny that makes women feel at risk: This Girl Can’s guide sets out steps you can takeThe clocks have gone back, the evenings are drawing in, the weather is changing. None of this makes it easier for people to exercise. For many, the winter nights can be a threat to mental wellbeing.People like me (men) have historically dealt with these winter fears by ignoring them. Active men like me love telling anyone who will listen how good exercise is for physical and mental health. And when my wife hasn’t immediately rushed out the house to jog around the block in the dark and gloom, I’ve just repeated the message, but louder. Continue reading...

Harvard and UNC attendees address how applicants’ backgrounds shape their lives as supreme court hears caseWhen Andrew Brennen thinks about the US supreme court deliberations over race-conscious admissions, he reflects on his parents, both attorneys, and his brother. In 2009, his father, David, became the first Black dean of the University of Kentucky’s law school since the state desegregated its colleges and universities.“Had they not had access to higher education that they received, who knows what they would’ve been doing,” Brennen, who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019, says. “I’m thinking a lot about how different my life, my brother’s life, would be if affirmative action hadn’t been in place.” Continue reading...

The US reported the GDP bounced back – but at best it’s preliminary data that’s revised multiple times. Info from the top two payroll services are a better betTrying to figure out the future in the current climate is enough to give you a migraine. Where is the economy heading? Should you take risks or circle the wagons? Can you hire and spend or do you need to cut overhead and retract? People are relying on you to make the right decisions. But unfortunately, the data which most of us receive is not very helpful.For example, this week the US reported gross domestic product (GDP) – the broadest measure of the health of the economy – bounced back last quarter. Good news? My advice: ignore it. Why? Because like most of the big numbers that the government reports this number is based on surveys, and how accurate are you when you answer a survey? At worst, it’s inaccurate, at best, it’s merely preliminary data that’s revised multiple times over the succeeding months. By the time it’s finalized the data is too old to be of use to any business manager looking to figure out the economic future. Continue reading...

Hundreds of pilots across the US have been volunteering the use of their small planes to fly people seeking the procedure from states that outlawed itAll Steven knew was what time and where. A part-time pilot from the Chicago area, he was picking up a total stranger in his single-engine plane, a passenger who needed to fly more than a thousand miles, across state lines, from the midwest to the east coast.“Within 15, 20 minutes of arriving and meeting the person, we were in the plane and I got the engine fired up, ready to go,” he said. Continue reading...

Attacks on the ethnic diversity of Tory cabinets have not been limited to the right; there is lack of nuance on all sides of the race debateAs a Briton of Indian heritage, I had mixed feelings when I saw the images of the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, celebrating Diwali at a Downing Street reception. Who could fail to be moved by the fact the UK has its first prime minister of colour? But there is also much I abhor about Sunak’s politics.Because there’s more to me than my ethnicity, I don’t have any trouble holding both these thoughts in my head at once. Sixty years ago, racial discrimination was perfectly legal: of course it matters that children can today see that you don’t have to be white to lead this country. But like his Tory predecessors at the Treasury, Sunak is a fiscal hawk, making unnecessarily harsh spending decisions that have resulted in significant hardship. Like many Conservatives, he does not appear to place much stock in the idea of structural discrimination, through which too many young people are held back from achieving their full potential because of their race or class background. Continue reading...

The best horror movies thrill us with fear and pity – just the catharsis Aristotle looked for in tragedyI spent the past week in the mountains of western North Carolina, where the seasonal colour of the tree-covered Appalachians offers a fiery backdrop to small-town life. You can’t beat this place for autumnal vibes, with apple pies and cider on sale in every store, gourds and pumpkins in every layby. And then there are the Halloween decorations. People take them seriously here, their windows, lawns and roofs fantastically dressed in ways that range from the tastefully spooky to the unashamedly exhibitionist. My nearest neighbours have a menagerie of inflatables – a werewolf, a skeleton, a zombie – that blow up taller than their house.The folk I stay with, however, don’t construct ghosts out of bedsheets and brooms or hang up fake spiders’ webs on their porch. They have their own way of marking the season. For the whole of October, my friends Andrew and Carrie commit to watching a different horror film every day. To some, that will sound like psychological torture. But this is a couple who enjoy the genre so much that the first thing you pass on walking into their home is a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit of DVDs with names such as Chopping Mall and Slumber Party Massacre. Continue reading...

A century on, the epic masterpiece speaks to today’s anxieties about loss of traditionHe promised “a new start”.I made no comment. What should I resent? Continue reading...

The ex-president remains his party’s rock star and is touring key states to fire up voters – but his midterms record is far from flawlessShe never got to vote for him because she was too young. But when Barack Obama came to rally this week, Emma Berlage wouldn’t have missed him for the world. “It’s a Friday night, Halloween weekend no less, and everybody’s here,” the 24-year-old said. “After he was president he’s continued to stay cool and very popular with Democrats.”More popular than the current president, Joe Biden? “Yes. I mean, in terms of coolness, yes!” Continue reading...

The tech magnate’s purchase of the social media platform was the easy bit – now he must be responsible for toxic contentWhen the news broke that Elon Musk had finally been obliged to buy Twitter, the company he had tried – for months – to get out of purchasing, it reminded many observers of the 1979 commercial for Remington shavers in which the corporation’s president, Victor Kiam, proclaimed that he liked the electric razor so much “I bought the company.”This was a mistake: Kiam merely liked the business he bought, whereas Musk is addicted to his company, in the sense that he cannot live without it. In acquiring Twitter, he has therefore forgotten the advice given to Tony Montana in Scarface: “Don’t get high on your own supply.”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...

Speaker’s husband underwent surgery for skull fracture as political figures unite in condemnation of violenceA man accused of clubbing the husband of the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, over the head with a hammer and threatening his life while demanding “Where is Nancy?” now faces charges of attempted murder and other felonies a day after the violent break-in at the couple’s San Francisco home.Paul Pelosi, 82, underwent surgery for a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands, though doctors expect a full recovery. The 82-year-old House speaker herself was in Washington with her protective detail at the time of the assault, but she flew back to San Francisco on Friday afternoon and went to the hospital. Continue reading...

Ordinance in Everett, Washington, requiring coffee servers to cover up is unconstitutional, judge rulesA Washington city’s dress code saying so-called bikini baristas must cover their bodies at work has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal court.The decision in a partial summary judgment this week comes after a lengthy legal battle between bikini baristas and the city of Everett, on the outskirts of Seattle, over the rights of workers to wear what they want, the Everett Herald reported. Continue reading...

Eighty-six people died in the 2016 tragedy, yet compassion and empathy have become exhaustedIn Paris, a trial is taking place concerning the 14 July 2016 attack in Nice when a man drove a truck into a crowd of families attending a firework display. The three-month trial, due to end in early December, is of eight associates of Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel accused of assisting him in the attack, when a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais. A total of 86 people were killed, including 15 children. More than 450 were injured. You’d think it would be a big deal. You would be wrong.I’ve been reporting on the trial for the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. In the church-like Palais de Justice, where the public can watch the trial on large screens, the average attendance is around six. One afternoon there were only two of us, me and a sweet-faced old lady whispering a melancholy but urgent commentary to herself. Continue reading...