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Seattle are sitting atop the American League West but the team's ambitions have been dashed plenty of times beforeBilly Mac remembers being in the broadcast booth in 2019 when Felix Hernandez pitched his final game for the Seattle Mariners. Hernandez, a Cy Young Award-winner and six-time All-Star who also threw a perfect game, came up in the big leagues with the team in 2005. But over the course of his 15-year career in the Pacific northwest, he was often the lone bright spot for a franchise that at one time had a 21-year playoff drought (a streak that finally fell in 2022). From his first All-Star season in 2009 until his final one in 2015, Hernandez boasted a stunning 2.83 ERA, winning 104 games and losing only 65. Yet, he never once made a postseason pitch. But for Mac, a fact like that is all too familiar for the team he's rooted now for decades - a team that was established in 1977 and remains the only active MLB franchise to never make a World Series.Few careers were less taken advantage of than that of Felix Hernandez," Mac tells the Guardian, refraining from using the word wasted. In the booth that night, Mac says he snapped a photo of the team's broadcast crew as Hernandez left the mound. They all stood up," he says. You don't see a standing ovation in a radio booth - that was a really special moment." Continue reading...

The president's hubris in thinking he was capable of a second term could be catastrophic - now the inquest is under wayIn the wake of Joe Biden's disastrous performance in the US presidential debate last week, the national tone shifted from shock and horror to fury. Biden himself, pityingly regarded, was spared the worst of the criticism. Instead, the two people who seem to have incurred the most anger have been his wife, Jill - suddenly thrust into the unhappy mould of the new Nancy Reagan - and, esoterically, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Biden's refusal to stand aside has thrown everyone back to RBG's late-in-life vanity that ended in the overturning of Roe v Wade.Terrible as things are, there was, it has to be said, some relief in finally being able to say the quiet part out loud. With the energy of a cork leaving a bottle, a lot of people came forward this week with more evidence of the president's lapses". In the New York Times, anonymous European officials who met Biden at the recent G7 summit in Italy belatedly registered their alarm; those who attended a recent event at the White House did the same. While big money donors joined the chorus of those freaking out, Biden's aides pushed back with examples of how probing and insightful" the president continues to be. Continue reading...

Argentina are cruising, Colombia, Venezuela and Uruguay are rising, while the US and Mexico are in crisisThere's a recipe for making the best tournaments. You need the right balance of favorites marching towards the final and underdogs carving their way out of the group stage. A nation furthering a massive unbeaten streak doesn't hurt, either. The same goes for a host nation crashing out in dramatic fashion.The first 24 games of the Copa America have added just about every ingredient in that great tournament recipe. With the group stage complete and the knockout rounds awaiting us, which teams look the strongest? Continue reading...

A Putin-friendly president would pose a grave danger to Europe. Like it or not, this calls for greater defenceSoon after Labour forms a government, it will find itself in a new world. It now seems likely that Donald Trump will win the presidency of the United States. If he does, this should bring an end to our abiding fantasies about a special relationship.It was always an illusion. After the astonishing, heroic intervention of the US in the second world war preserved us from invasion and fascism, we built a romantic fairytale of enduring love. But both countries act in their own interests. While the UK and Europe have leant on the US for security, the dominant power has long used us as an instrument of policy. Continue reading...

At my local market in Barcelona, I see how few young people have the time or inclination to join the queues for a friendly chatBarcelona's famous market, La Boqueria, was voted the best in the world by Food & Wine magazine last month (ahead of Marche des Enfants Rouges in Paris and Campo de' Fiori in Rome), much to the derision of residents who long ago abandoned the city's famous 13th-century market to the millions of tourists who visit it each year.Once the place to go for things you couldn't get in your local neighbourhood market - wild boar, pheasant, goose barnacles, tamarillo or edible insects - stallholders now offer plastic cups of fruit salad, paper wraps of jamon serrano and pre-mixed sangria. And who can blame them if it brings in twice what they make selling tomatoes? Continue reading...

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President meets with Democratic governors for candid' talks as he seeks to reassure his party and the publicA group of leading Democratic governors offered words of support for Joe Biden on Wednesday as pressure mounted on the president to leave the race.The governors, including Tim Walz of Minnesota, Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York, held a closed-door meeting with Biden in Washington as he sought to reassure his party - and the public - that he is up to the job after a shaky debate performance. Continue reading...

Reed Hastings one of first major party donors to urge Biden to bow out, telling him to make room for a vigorous' leaderReed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix and a Democratic party megadonor, has called for Joe Biden to take himself out of the presidential race following his disastrous performance at last week's debate against Donald Trump.Hastings told the New York Times on Wednesday that the president needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous". Continue reading...

Samuel Woodward faces life without parole after conviction in killing of Blaze Bernstein, 19, in Orange county in 2018A southern California jury has convicted Samuel Woodward of the 2018 murder of former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein, following a three month-long trial that re-excavated a brutal killing that made international headlines for the perpetrator's membership in the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division organization.Bernstein, a 19-year-old pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania, disappeared on 2 January 2018 after meeting up with Woodward, then 20, that evening. The pair, who had attended the Orange County High School for the Arts together, had reconnected over the dating app Tinder. Bernstein's body was found six days later, buried in a park in Orange county. Woodward was the last person Bernstein was in contact with, and immediately fell under suspicion. Continue reading...

After president's poor debate performance, pundits point to polls saying Harris would do better in a race against TrumpAs Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to withdraw his candidacy following last week's poor debate performance, Kamala Harris has emerged as the frontrunner to replace him.The president forcefully rejected calls to end his campaign on Wednesday, telling his staffers: No one is pushing me out ... I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end and we're going to win." His defiant remarks came after the New York Times reported that Biden had privately told allies he understood he might not be able to salvage his candidacy if he could not convince voters of his viability. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Michigan governor and potential Biden replacement writes in memoir True Gretch of desire for face-to-face' talksGretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan widely spoken of as a possible Democratic candidate for president should Joe Biden cede to growing pressure and leave the race, wants to meet members of a far-right militia who plotted to kidnap and kill her.I asked whether I could meet with one of the handful of plotters who'd pleaded guilty and taken responsibility for their actions, just to talk," Whitmer writes in a new book, of the plot motivated by resistance to Covid public health measures and revealed with 13 arrests in late 2020. Continue reading...

White House denies reports president is weighing whether his candidacy is viable or not with spate of interviews lined upThe White House insisted on Wednesday that Joe Biden is staying in the election as the presumptive Democratic nominee, while the US president reportedly told his campaign team I'm in this race to the end" amid mounting pressure for him to step down over concerns he is not up to the job, at 81.Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary, told reporters the president is not dropping out", even while he owns" his dire performance in the first debate of the campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump last week. Continue reading...

Casper Ruud and Naomi Osaka were knocked out, while there were wins for Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who beat Mario Berrettini in a belterThe current scene.Do you want the good news or the bad? Let's start with the bad. The forecast is now worse than first expected, and there could be on-off light rain for the next few hours. Not ideal when the tournament is already playing catch-up. But the weather is looking much better for tomorrow, and there should be an uninterrupted day's play. Continue reading...

Plus: A dispatch from Wisconsin, more lies and no more lawyering for Rudy GiulianiHello there.Well, that was interesting, wasn't it? The election was trundling along pretty normally, then we get a momentous week that changed the shape of the race and the stakes involved. Continue reading...

The supreme court's sweeping ruling is a blow to democracy in the USThe supreme court's ruling on presidential immunity combines a tectonic constitutional shift and immediate political repercussions to devastating effect. It allows one man to stand above the law. It slows and appears to gut the 2020 election-subversion case against Donald Trump, though it does not necessarily end it. No one believes a trial can be held before November's election, although court hearings could still offer a detailed airing of the evidence thisautumn.There could hardly have been a better week for Mr Trump, who saw his rival stumble so badly in last Thursday's debate that Joe Biden faces growing calls to quit four months from election day. Anyone who doubts how consequential a second Trump administration term would be for the United States and the world need only look to the supreme court, now ruled by a conservative supermajority thanks to three Trump-appointed justices. Continue reading...

Coalition behind measure says it turned in more than double the needed signatures to get it on November ballotA proposal to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution of Arizona, a key battleground state in the upcoming US elections, has inched closer to becoming an official ballot measure.On Wednesday, Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition behind the measure, announced that it had turned in more than 800,000 signatures - more than double the needed amount to get the measure on the ballot come November. Continue reading...

Citizens must make this presidential election about rescuing our democracy from authoritarianismThe US supreme court found this week that former presidents have presumptive immunity from prosecution for official acts". This ruling doesn't just place Donald Trump above the law. The true danger of the opinion is that it could protect precisely the kind of official acts that might destroy the American republic itself.The origin of the idea that the official acts of a president are immune from prosecution is found in a case about a fired whistleblower. In 1970, President Richard Nixon fired A Ernest Fitzgerald, an air force management analyst, in retaliation for his publicizing information about cost overruns. Fitzgerald brought a civil suit against Nixon, seeking damages for his dismissal. The supreme court sided with Nixon, granting the president absolute immunity from damages liability predicated on his official acts". Continue reading...

The president has given no indication he plans to step aside, but possible replacements are already being namedJoe Biden is reportedly weighing whether to withdraw from the presidential race following his damaging debate performance last week, in which he repeatedly tripped over his own words and failed to rebut Donald Trump's many false claims.According to the New York Times, Biden told a key ally that he knows his upcoming interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign appearances in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will be crucial in quelling voters' concerns about his fitness for the presidency. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday found that Biden and Trump remain tied in the race while one-third of Democrats believe the president should drop out of the race. Continue reading...

Voters who snubbed Biden over Gaza stance could play key role at Democratic conventionAfter Joe Biden's poor debate performance and calls by some prominent Democrats to replace him, the hundreds of thousands of anti-war voters and the delegates who represent them have taken on new significance in the US presidential race.More than 700,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primaries for uncommitted" options after a movement started in Michigan to pressure Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and stop US funding and arms to the Israeli government. Continue reading...

Another day, another disaster, and all of my own making. But this one left me with a triumphant smileI left a bag with everything in it on platform three at York station. Imagine my disappointment. I was on a direct train to London, finishing the puzzle I'd been doing on my phone as I'd boarded the train, so absorbed that I'd left half my luggage - the important half - behind. My Sunday was in tatters.I'd had such a nice day planned - a nice lunchtime train journey, after a nice morning with family and friends in York, leaving plenty of time to get home to watch the England match. But it wasn't to be. It rarely is. For this is my special power - common to many people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - forever finding ways of turning leisure time, in this case a relaxing afternoon, into a nerve-shredding orgy of panic. Continue reading...

People of various political backgrounds in the US state say they are increasingly feeling like pawns in a political gameA few hundred feet from the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, Laura Aldana chuckled at the suggestion - made by both leading presidential candidates - that the region had fallen into chaos.Where?" she asked rhetorically. She gestured toward the street outside the downtown formalwear boutique where she works. There's almost too little to do here." Continue reading...

Lawsuit says student and youth groups hurt after teacher was fired for reading My Shadow is Purple to studentsThe Southern Poverty Law Center and another group have amended a federal lawsuit against a Georgia school district to include a transgender student and a grassroots youth organization, effectively becoming the first case challenging anti-LGBTQ book bans" in the state.The move - done anonymously to protect the student - widens the case's focus from how teachers are affected by censorship laws and policies in Georgia, to how those same policies affect children. Continue reading...

Up to 25 House representatives could call for president to step aside. Plus, US expels more than 100 Chinese migrantsGood morning.Joe Biden is to meet with Democratic governors today in an attempt to stave off growing discontent over his candidacy, with a congressional Democrat calling for him to withdraw from the presidential race.Are any sitting Democrats calling on Biden to step aside? So far: only one. Lloyd Doggett, a congressman from Texas, yesterday became the first Democrat in the House of Representatives to publicly urge the president to step aside. Instead of reassuring voters, the president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump's many lies." Adam Frisch, a Democratic House candidate in Colorado, echoed the call, and former presidential candidate Tim Ryan has also urged Biden to pull out.Newsom, Newsom, Newsom. Online political betting odds that Gavin Newsom, the California governor, would end up at the top of the presidential ticket this year tripled to a one-in-four chance last week, despite the relatively low chance of the president stepping aside.US and China resume cooperation on migration issues. In recent years, the US had a difficult time returning Chinese nationals who do not have the right to stay in America because China has resisted taking them back. Last year, US border officials arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals on the southern border, 10 times the number the year before. Continue reading...

Voters are realising that we have the chance of a lifetime to consign this destructive, incompetent party to third place

The former Trump attorney is spending as much as $2,000 a month on the site. It's a lot of cash for someone who has filed for bankruptcyAs the ancient proverb goes, a man's Amazon purchase history is a window into his soul. And Rudy Giuliani's soul, it would seem, is crammed full of $4 polyester ties. According to court documents filed as part of bankruptcy claims proceedings, the former mayor of New York and personal attorney of Donald Trump has recently made a troubling quantity of Amazon and Apple transactions". In May alone, he spent almost $2,000 on Amazon. His purchases, which have attracted a fair amount of mirth on social media, include other ties from a brand whose tagline is Always to be a Gentlemen". He also bought a lot of dress socks, coffee and toiletries.We've all made embarrassing online purchases. Under ordinary circumstances, mocking Giuliani for buying anti-shine makeup powder and deep bronze" tanning lotion would be a low blow. But Giuliani is not a private citizen. He's a political figure who was allied with the former president and who has been vocal about American manufacturing jobs. The fact he buys cheap imported accessories online while virtue-signalling about how much he supports American jobs is worth remarking on. Continue reading...

The court's conservative justices have thrown aside the rule of law - and their own legitimacy - to serve one manThe violent attack on Congress on 6 January 2021, and all the ancillary attempts to steal the 2020 election, were a coup attempt led from the executive branch of the federal government with support from Republicans in the legislative branch. 1 July 2024 - this Thursday - was a more successful coup attempt orchestrated by six judges of the judicial branch.With fear for our democracy, I dissent," wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in an opinion joined by justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, after the US supreme court's conservative majority ruled that Donald Trump holds absolute immunity" for official acts" done while president. Part of what's shocking about the state of the union right now is that an entire party and the US supreme court's conservative majority have abandoned almost everything - the truth, the rule of law, their own legitimacy, their place in history and the fate of the nation - to serve one man.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility Continue reading...

Paul George switching Los Angeles for Philadelphia makes the 76ers the biggest winners of free agency so far. Who were the others?The NBA's free agency period kicked off this week with a flurry. Here are highlights of some of the league's biggest moves and how they may shape the season to come.Winners: The 76ers and Paul George Continue reading...

Hailey Welch details in podcast interview how viral clip has upended her life and doesn't want it to be her image'When she went viral in a video clip showing her coining the onomatopoeia hawk tuah" to describe what intimate act reliably drives men wild in her experience, Hailey Welch thought about keeping herself hidden from the masses.Then the rumor circulated that the photogenic blonde in the video with the thick southern drawl was actually the daughter of a humiliated religious leader. The attention had caused the woman to be fired from her education job, another rumor claimed. And social media users started creating fake accounts with photos of her. Continue reading...

Investment bank Stephens hired to find suitors for business, which wants to expand overseas operationsThe high-end steakhouse chain Hawksmoor has been put up for sale in a deal that could value it at about 100m.The restaurant chain has hired the investment bank Stephens to start looking for potential suitors for the business, which is hoping to expand its overseas operation. Continue reading...

Fire crews in California are battling a wildfire in Butte County that forced about 13,000 people to evacuate in and around Oroville. The Thompson fire broke out before noon on Tuesday and grew to more than 3 sq miles by evening Continue reading...

The New Popular Front will improve ordinary people's lives - and it's an effective, economically sound alternative to the far rightThe first round of legislative elections in France produced an unprecedented surge of support for the far right. Next Sunday, 7 July, the National Rally (RN) and its allies could potentially make it to power. Not just with a relative majority, but - and there is a significant probability of this - with an outright one.Some may argue that the far right is here and we should simply get used to it. Far-right parties have won elections in recent years in other European countries, including Italy and the Netherlands. But we cannot get used to it. A far-right victory represents a major threat to our basic social contract and our liberties. We face the implementation of policies that discriminate against foreigners, migrants, women, minorities and more. Because it has no credible economic platform, the far right will revert to the only thing it knows - the exacerbation of tensions and the politics of hate.Julia Cage and Thomas Piketty are the authors of A History of Political Conflict: Elections and Social Inequalities in France, 1789-2022Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

In India being a female fan of Shah Rukh Khan is not just about a love of film - it's a form of resistance against restrictive gender normsShah Rukh Khan may be an Indian cinematic legend and star of record-breaking Bollywood blockbusters but he is not someone you would expect to appear in socioeconomic studies. And yet, for almost two decades, the actor has been central to my research into the economic lives of ordinary Indian women.It started in 2006, when as a research assistant for a project with the Institute of Social Studies Trust and the Self Employed Women's Association, a trade union. My job involved surveying home-based workers - women who made incense sticks and garments at home for less than the minimum wage - in a poor area of Ahmedabad.Shrayana Bhattacharya is an economist and author Continue reading...

President blames global travel for lacklustre debate as 25 House members reportedly prepare to call for him to step downJoe Biden will meet with Democratic governors on Wednesday as the president faces increasingly concerning polls and growing calls to withdraw his candidacy, including from a congressional Democrat.Biden will talk with governors and Capitol Hill leaders this week, officials said on Tuesday, to reassure them of his competence and address escalating discontent among party leaders after last week's calamitous debate performance against Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Independent candidate says I am not a church boy' after ex-nanny tells Vanity Fair he assaulted her at his home in 1998Robert F Kennedy Jr has responded to an allegation that he sexually assaulted an employee by stating: I am not a church boy," as scrutiny grows over his long-shot run for the presidency.The independent candidate, who is seen as a threat by both the Biden and Trump campaigns, made the statement after his former babysitter told Vanity Fair that Kennedy assaulted her at his home in 1998. Continue reading...

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Jim Farley says country is in love with these monster vehicles' but big cars are not sustainable in the age of EVIt is time for the US to get back in love" with smaller cars, according to the chief executive of Ford.In a wide-ranging interview at the Aspen Ideas festival, Jim Farley said the auto industry needs to focus on smaller EVs and commercial vehicles. He acknowledged that American consumers are in love with these monster vehicles" but said they need to get back in love" with small cars. Continue reading...

Peltier, 79, in poor health and sentenced to life over two deaths in South Dakota, not eligible for another hearing until 2026Leonard Peltier, the 79-year-old Indigenous activist who has spent nearly 50 years in prison for the 1975 murders of two FBI agents, has been denied parole. Many fear the ruling all but ensures that the longest-imprisoned Indigenous American will die behind bars.Peltier has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in connection with the deaths that occurred at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. For decades, advocates such as Coretta Scott King, Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis and James H Reynolds, the US attorney who handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier's case, have fought for his release. Continue reading...

An alarm rang loudly and continuously in a midtown Manhattan station - and neither commuters nor workers at businesses in the station could identify itFor nearly two weeks, an alarm rang loudly and continuously inside a New York subway station.As the New York Post first reported, the mysterious bell" knelled through the stairway to a downtown 1 train platform at 50th Street in midtown Manhattan, a few blocks north of Times Square. Neither commuters nor workers at businesses located inside the station could identify the source of the incessant ringing. Continue reading...

Congressman Joe Morelle vows to act in wake of supreme court decision - but plan is highly unlikely to succeedA Democratic congressman is calling for a new constitutional amendment to reverse the supreme court's ruling granting presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution, a decision that could hamstring the federal case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Congressman Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, raised the idea on Monday, just hours after the supreme court issued its 6-3 decision, which fell along ideological lines. Continue reading...

Lawyers ask New York judge to delay sentencing and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg says he is not opposedDonald Trump has asked the New York judge who presided over his recent hush-money trial to set aside his conviction as he seeks to capitalise on Monday's supreme court ruling granting him broad immunity from prosecution.In what is probably just the first real-world impact of the controversial ruling from the conservative-dominated court, which said Trump cannot be held criminally liable for many acts taken when he was president, Trump's legal team sent a letter to the trial judge, Juan Merchan, asking him to postpone the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for 11 July, while Merchan weighs how Monday's court ruling affects the case. Continue reading...

Officials shot the animals after a coyote bit the girl, who was attending a supervised summer camp in Golden Gate ParkWildlife officers shot and killed three coyotes at the San Francisco botanical garden over the weekend after a coyote attacked a five-year-old girl.Two coyotes were shot on Saturday and one was shot on Sunday, said Patrick Foy, a spokesperson for the California department of fish and wildlife on Monday. Continue reading...

The president could have made a dignified exit from the race for the White House - but his family has apparently implored him to stay put. Now he seems determined to see things through to the bitter, messy endThe moment Joe Biden walked off the debate stage last Thursday night, the clock started ticking. There was a small window of time after the president's disastrous performance in which he could have made a dignified exit from the 2024 race. He could have called a press conference on Monday morning and said he had carefully assessed the calls made by the New York Times editorial board and high-profile pundits and political consultants urging him to step down. He could have said he had decided it was the best thing to do for the future of the US and democracy itself. Biden would have looked selfless; a man putting country before ego. The Democratic party could have gone swiftly to work, rallying behind a replacement.I am not saying this scenario would have been simple. Of course not. It would have been a mess! But not as much of a mess as the situation we find ourselves in now. The window for a dignified exit has passed. Doubts about Biden's cognitive fitness, meanwhile, are only increasing. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll, 72% of registered voters don't think Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president; the same percentage don't think he should be running for president. Among Democratic registered voters, 46% don't think he should be running for president, up from 36% earlier this year. Continue reading...

White nationalists and groups were ordered to pay more than $24m for damages stemming from Unite the Right rallyFour years after deadly violence erupted during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a jury ordered white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay a total of more than $26m in damages to people with physical or emotional injuries from the event.Most of that money, $24m, was for punitive damages, but a judge later slashed that amount to $350,000 - to be shared by eight plaintiffs. On Monday, a federal appeals court restored more than $2m in punitive damages, finding that each of the plaintiffs should receive $350,000, instead of the $43,750 each would have received under the lower court's ruling. Continue reading...

Officials say the Indiana lawmaker had an unloaded pistol in her carry-on bag at the Washington DC airportRepublican US congresswoman Victoria Spartz has been charged with a weapons violation after she brought a gun to the Dulles international airport in Virginia on Friday, according to local authorities.Spartz, a Republican representing Indiana's fifth congressional district, was traveling to Europe for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly when she was stopped and cited for carrying a pistol in her carry-on bag, Axios reported. Continue reading...

While most politicians haven't taken the platform seriously, the Reform UK leader is an astute content creator - and is reaping the benefitsNigel Farage was born to be a TikTok star. He joined the platform in March 2022, announcing it's got to be done, it's where it's at" in a video that has been watched more than 600,000 times. He is still one of the first politicians to bother taking the platform seriously, and it is paying him vast dividends. The Guardian reported last week that Farage is outperforming all other UK parties and candidates on TikTok in terms of engagement and average views, according to data from 22 May to 17 June.Farage has been prolific in his output since his election candidacy was announced. He posted several times a day for the first two weeks of his campaign, flooding the algorithm with short, characterful videos that resonate powerfully with his fanbase. The recipe to his success is clear: he's willing to be opinionated, comical and - most compellingly in British politics - himself. Continue reading...

New $297.9bn budget signed by Gavin Newsom, the state's governor, does not specify what programs it would aidCalifornia plans to spend up to $12m on reparations legislation under a budget signed by Gavin Newsom, marking a milestone in the state's efforts to atone for a legacy of racism and discrimination against Black Californians.The reparations funding in the $297.9bn budget the California governor signed over the weekend does not specify what programs the money would go toward. Lawmakers are not considering widespread direct payments to Black Californians this year.California's first-in-nation reparations taskforce releases final reportCalifornia's proposals to rectify past discrimination advance through senateThe forgotten history of what California stole from Black familiesThink reparations are impossible? The story of Japanese Americans proves otherwise Continue reading...