Latest pardons build on pattern of granting clemency to people who align with president politicallyDonald Trump pardoned the hosts of a reality TV show convicted of defrauding banks to fund their luxurious lifestyle in the same week that he pardoned a sheriff who accepted bribes from businessman in order to make them into law enforcement officers.The latest pardons build on Trump's pattern of granting clemency to people who align with him politically and who he believes were part of a justice system weaponized against conservatives, particularly Trump supporters. Continue reading...
Minneapolis-to-Madison flight was fowled by two feathered stowaways that were eventually captured and deplanedMayhem erupted just before takeoff on a plane heading from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin, after passengers realized their aircraft wasn't the only thing trying to take flight.A flap ensued as two pigeons were found inside the cabin of the Delta Air Lines domestic flight on Saturday, causing brief scenes of chaos as passengers and crew tried to capture the birds flying around the cabin before the jet could take wing. Continue reading...
A pigeon that managed to board a Delta Air Lines flight caused panic as the plane prepared for takeoff from Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport to Madison, Wisconsin. The footage was filmed by Tom Caw, a passenger on the flight, who said the plane was returned to its gate so the bird could be removed. Caw said in an Instagram post that the footage captured the second pigeon that disrupted the flight Continue reading...
With the court slated to issue a flood of rulings by early July, the justices have an important choice: to bend to Trump or to grow a real backboneWith the most authoritarian and lawless president in history sitting in the White House, the US supreme court is no doubt worried about looking weak in one of two ways. First, the court fears it will look pathetically weak if it becomes the first supreme court in history to have a president defy its rulings in a wholesale way. With that in mind, the court seems to be taking pains to avoid provoking Donald Trump's defiance - it has issued several decisions upholding the president's actions while in other cases, it has given him lots of wiggle room even as it objected to his administration's moves.Then there's the court's second, big worry - that it will look pathetically weak if it doesn't stand up to the most authoritarian president in US history. Many legal experts criticize the court for not standing up more to Trump, even though he has brazenly attacked the court and many lower-court judges, has defied several judicial orders and has, according to numerous judges, repeatedly violated the law - whether by deporting immigrants without due process or by freezing funds approved by Congress. Continue reading...
Couple was found guilty in 2022 of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30m and tax evasionDonald Trump has pardoned a reality TV couple who were sentenced to prison after defrauding banks of at least $30m, the White House announced on Tuesday, the latest in a string of gestures that appear to benefit supporters of the US president.Julie and Todd Chrisley, stars of the USA Network show Chrisley Knows Best and Growing Up Chrisley that showed the family's lavish lifestyle, were convicted in 2022 of taking out more than $30m in fraudulent loans from community banks. After their conviction, a judge sentenced Todd Chrisley to 12 years in prison, while his wife received seven years behind bars. Continue reading...
Federal judge had found Trump administration violated order by sending people from other countries to African nationThe Trump administration asked the US supreme court late on Tuesday to halt an order allowing people to challenge their deportations from the US to South Sudan, an appeal that came hours after the federal judge overseeing the case suggested the Trump administration was manufacturing" chaos and said he hoped that reason can get the better of rhetoric".Judge Brian Murphy found the White House violated a court order with a deportation flight bound for the chaotic African nation carrying people from other countries who the Trump administration said had been convicted of crimes in the US. Murphy said those people must get a real chance to raise any fears that being sent there could put them in danger. Continue reading...
by Annette McGivney in Cortez, Colorado on (#6XK4S)
As the administration slashes jobs and hobbles research, current and former workers say the mood inside US national parks - described as America's best idea' - is bleakThrowing up his hands in disgust and abruptly resigning was not how Mark Nebel envisioned he would end his long career with the National Park Service. He loved his job at the Grand Canyon, where he had worked for 15 years.As manager of the park's geosciences program, Nebel, 68, oversaw efforts to protect its geology and paleontology as well as monitoring water sources, air quality and the effects of climate change. He had planned to stay in his position at least five more years before retiring. There was still much research to do to support the vulnerable ecosystems in one of the world's greatest natural wonders. Continue reading...
Farms rely on seasonal workers and undocumented immigrants, but the Republican's plans to fill the gap would legalize oppression', advocates sayLast spring, Carmelo Mendez was pruning peach trees in Colorado on a temporary visa, missing his children and wife back home, but excited about how his $17.70 hourly wage would improve their lives. This spring, he's back in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala frantically searching Facebook for a job on one of the thousands of farms across the US that primarily employ guest workers like him.Mendez is one of the more than 300,000 foreign agricultural workers who comes to the US every year on an H-2A visa, which allows him to temporarily work plowing fields, pruning trees and harvesting crops in states from Washington to Georgia, Florida to New York, Texas to California. But as federal immigration policies change rapidly, farmers and workers alike are uncertain about their future. Continue reading...
by Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans on (#6XK2G)
Brandon Licciardi pleaded guilty to assisting ex-NFL player Darren Sharper's efforts to drug women so as to rape themA former Louisiana sheriff's deputy who admitted in 2016 that he raped a woman drugged by serial rapist Darren Sharper - the ex-National Football League champion - has been transferred from federal prison to a halfway house as he approaches the completion of his sentence.At the culmination of what was once a nationally prominent criminal case, Brandon Licciardi, 40, pleaded guilty in federal and state courthouses in New Orleans to assisting Sharper's efforts during prior years to surreptitiously drug women's drinks with sedatives or anti-anxiety medication so as to rape them.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
The US coach is short on big names and time, and will spend this summer hoping for a spark from the domestic leagueSo far, the conversation around the United States' Gold Cup camp roster is primarily about absence. Christian Pulisic isn't there. Neither is Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, or Gio Reyna. Yunus Musah is missing for personal reasons. Josh Sargent is out for football reasons."Mauricio Pochettino doesn't have this name, he doesn't have that name. He also doesn't have much time. That was already the case when he took on the US job with just two years to go before a home World Cup, but the situation seems all the more pressing now, a year away from the international game's signature event and only a couple months removed from some Concacaf Nations League results that were, well, a bit catastrophic. Continue reading...
Mrs Trump is seemingly so disinterested in her role as first lady that along with being mostly absent from the White House, she's got an AI to read her audiobook. How long before she replaces herself with a robot?I imagine students at the US Military Academy at West Point are trained to handle unexpected situations, but I'm not sure anyone could have prepared them for the bonkers speech Donald Trump delivered to graduates on Saturday. I wish I could point you to a government transcript, but the White House recently started removing official transcripts of the president's public remarks, replacing them with curated videos instead. I imagine (just a hypothesis!) that this is to make Trump seem more coherent.One of the highlights" of the disjointed ramble Trump delivered at West Point was his thoughts on trophy wives: I must tell ya. A lot of trophy wives, doesn't work out [sic]," he mused in the middle of an anecdote about a divorced real estate developer (not him). This has raised a few eyebrows; particularly as Michael Wolff's 2018 book about Trump claimed the president used to boast that Melania was his trophy wife." Continue reading...
by Coral Murphy Marcos (now); Lucy Campbell, Léonie on (#6XJ6E)
This liveblog is now closedEarlier this morning, Alan Garber, president of Harvard University, told NPR's Morning Edition that elite institutions need to double down on their commitment to the good of the nation" and be firm in our commitments to what we stand for".Garber said he finds the measures taken by the Trump administration to be perplexing"; while he acknowledges there is work to be done on campus regarding viewpoint diversity, he said he struggles to see a link between funding freezes and fighting antisemitism.I think that we have heard from some people that they do feel that [Harvard lacks viewpoint diversity]. What is perplexing is the measures that they have taken to address these that don't even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems. Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift. The research funding is given to universities and other research institutions to carry out work - research work - that the federal government designates as high-priority work. It is work that they want done. They are paying to have that work conducted. Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard, and it is hard to see the link between that and, say, antisemitism.I would say that the federal government has the authority through the budgeting process to reallocate funds. But the question to ask is what problem is [Trump] trying to solve by doing that? The money that goes to research universities in the form of grants and contracts, which is almost all of the federal support that we get, is used to pay for work that we perform at the behest of the government. So in reallocating to some other use, including trade schools, it means that work just won't be performed. So the right question is, is this the most effective use of federal funding? Do you really want to cut back on research dollars? I'm less concerned about whether it goes to a trade school or if it goes to some other project, like working on highways. The real question is, how much value does the federal government get from its expenditures on research? There is a lot of actual research demonstrating the returns to the American people have been enormous.I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for - I believe I speak for other universities - is education, pursuit of the truth, helping to educate people for better futures. And hopefully our own students, after they graduate from our institutions, go out and serve the world. In the end, we're about producing and disseminating knowledge and serving our nation and our world. When we fail in that, then we can expect to be attacked. So number one, I think we all need to redouble our commitment to the good of the nation and the world. And I know my fellow leaders fully embrace that. Continue reading...
State's interscholastic federation said it was extending access for more biological females' at track and field meetThe governing board for California high school sports is changing its competition rules at this weekend's state track and field championships to allow more girls to take part amid controversy over the participation of a trans student-athlete.The California Interscholastic Federation said it was extending access for more biological female" athletes to participate in the championship meet. The group announced the change Tuesday after Donald Trump posted on his social media site about the participation of a trans athlete in the competition. Continue reading...
New cable directs US embassies to stop processing visas for new students; federal agencies cancel $1oom in contracts with Harvard. Key US politics stories from Tuesday 27 May at a glanceThe Trump administration has continued its crackdown on American universities by ordering US embassies worldwide to immediately stop scheduling visa interviews for foreign students.The directive comes as the government prepares to implement comprehensive social media screening for all international applicants and after the president's assault on Harvard that followed pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year. Continue reading...
Body of Matthew Kelemen found and roommate - who died in car chase last week - identified as suspect, officials sayThe remains of a freelance writer in Las Vegas were found last week inside a container at a downtown business, authorities said.Las Vegas police said in a news release that they discovered the body of Matthew Kelemen, 56, while responding to a report of a foul-smelling odor" coming from the container. Continue reading...
Reservoir lost 27.8m acre-feet of groundwater in 20 years, Nasa study finds, vanishing twice as fast as surface water'The Colorado River basin has lost 27.8m acre-feet of groundwater in the past 20 years, an amount of water nearly equivalent to the full capacity of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, a new study has found.The research findings, based on Nasa satellite imagery from across the south-west, highlight the scale of the ongoing water crisis in the region, as both groundwater and surface water are being severely depleted. Continue reading...
Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves still at large, while at least 11 people arrested on suspicion of aiding prisonersTwo of the 10 prisoners who escaped from New Orleans's jail on 16 May remained on the run as of Tuesday, after three more of the group were rearrested on Monday, authorities said.One of the men was arrested by local police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about 80 miles north-west of New Orleans. Two others were arrested in Walker county, Texas, Louisiana state police said on the Twitter/X. Continue reading...
Tuberville, who transitioned from college football coach to politician, aims to succeed Republican governor Kay IveyRepublican US senator Tommy Tuberville has officially entered the race for governor of Alabama, revealing a campaign website on Tuesday to launch his candidacy.If the campaign is successful, Tuberville could become Alabama's governor-elect by the end of 2026. He aims to succeed Republican governor Kay Ivey, who is finishing her second term and is barred from running again due to term limits. Continue reading...
Cam Norrie beat Daniil Mevedev in a thriller and there were also wins for Sonay Kartal, Jack Draper, Novak Djokovic and Coco GauffNorrie, leading 2-1 on serve, has two more break points against Medvedev on Simonne Matheiu, to add to the one he had in the second game. But these come and go too, the second when Medvedev draws Norrie in with a drop shot before pulling off the pass. After a few deuces Medvedev holds, but he's not looking too comfortable.Naomi Osaka has a tendency to be hard on herself and yesterday was no different after her absorbing 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 defeat against the 1oth seed, Paula Badosa. The four-times grand slam champion has struggled to rediscover her best form since returning to tennis last January after the birth of her daughter, and said yesterday: I think as time goes on, I feel like I should be doing better. But also I hate disappointing people. So, like, even with Patrick [Mouratoglou], I was thinking this just now, but he goes from working with the greatest player ever [Serena Williams] to, like, what the fuck this is. You know what I mean?" Continue reading...
Man believed to be high on methamphetamine swam in alligator-infested waters before charging at officersA Florida man was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies after he was bitten by an alligator during an early morning dip in a lake, then threatened the officers with garden shears as he attempted to enter their patrol vehicle, the sheriff said.Photos posted to social media by deputies in Polk county showed the aftermath of Monday's fatal, exceptionally chaotic events in Lakeland that ended with Timothy Schulz, 42, dead in what Grady Judd, the sheriff, called a rampage". Continue reading...
US president launches fresh criticism of Russian counterpart and suggests US sanctions could be increasedDonald Trump has warned Vladimir Putin that he is playing with fire", launching a fresh broadside at his Russian counterpart over stalled Ukraine peace efforts.Trump's latest comments came after he called the Kremlin leader CRAZY" over the weekend following a mass Russian air attack on Kyiv, and warned that Moscow risked new sanctions. Continue reading...
The move ends the CDC's booster recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women, bypassing normsThe US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, announced that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would remove Covid-19 booster shots from its recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women.Legal experts said the Trump administration appointee's decision, which Kennedy announced on social media, circumvented the CDC's authority to recommend such changes - and that it is unprecedented for a health secretary to unilaterally make such a decision. Continue reading...
A Guardian investigation found that legal claims against private-equity backed healthcare companies are increasingly being delayed or obstructed in bankruptcy courtGene Davis was in his 50s when he could no longer ignore the pain in his knee. He worked two jobs he loved in Stamford, Connecticut - he and his brothers were all firefighters, and they also ran a real estate business together. It meant a lot of walking up stairs. Finally, in July 2019, Davis got his knee replaced with an implant. At first, he was recovering fine. Then, the pain got worse.An X-ray revealed that bits of the implant had begun to splinter into his leg. He assumed it was bad luck. After a second surgery to get a new version of the same device, manufactured by a Florida-based company called Exactech, things just got worse. Here we go again," he thought, I'm haemorrhaging a lot of blood ... and I'm wondering why." Eventually, Davis, who had always been conscientious about his health and, at 60, still fit into his Marine uniform, had to leave his job at the fire department. Continue reading...
Mary Trump tells Hay-on-Wye book festival in Wales that her uncle, the US president, isn't close with anybody'Donald Trump has never evolved" and isn't close with anybody", according to Mary Trump, the US president's niece and a vocal critic of his business and political career.The daughter of Donald's older brother, Fred Trump Jr (nicknamed Freddie), Mary Trump told the Hay festival in Wales - where she was discussing her latest book about the Trump family, Who Could Ever Love You - that she no longer has relationships with anyone in her family apart from her daughter. Continue reading...
The consumer confidence index rose after hitting its lowest reading since May 2020 as Trump pressed ahead with tariffsAmericans' views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to the lowest level since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs.The Conference Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from April's 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020. Continue reading...
These people once said they cared about cancel culture'. But look at how they are trying to cancel the children's YouTuber Ms Rachel for featuring a toddler from Gaza on her channelThoughts and non-denominational prayers to all the anti-woke warriors out there. It may seem as though everything is going their way now Donald Trump is back with a vengeance, but the poor things have run into a bit of a branding problem. For years, the anti-woke crowd positioned themselves as fearless free thinkers taking on the intolerant left. The journalist Bari Weiss wrote a fawning New York Times piece in 2018 describing rightwing voices such as Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens as renegades of the intellectual dark web" (IDW).Now, however, the people who used to position themselves as oppressed truth-tellers operating in what Weiss's article called an era of That Which Cannot Be Said", have a state-sanctioned microphone. They've won. But in winning they've made it difficult to continue the charade that they give a damn about cancel culture". Look around: some of these self-styled free speech warriors are doing everything they can to ruin the lives of everyone who doesn't 100% agree with them.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Scott Jenkins was found guilty of accepting over $75,000 in exchange for appointing auxiliary deputy sheriffsDonald Trump announced on Monday that he had issued an unconditional pardon to a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted on federal fraud and bribery charges.Scott Jenkins, 53, had served as the sheriff of Culpeper county in northern Virginia for 12 years, having been elected in 2011 and re-elected twice. Continue reading...
Putin has tied his political survival to the war, and he believes Russia is winning. The US president will not make progress on peace until that changes
Exclusive: Trump advisers lose confidence in Pentagon leak investigation Hegseth used to justify firing three top aidesThe White House has lost confidence in a Pentagon leak investigation that Pete Hegseth used to justify firing three top aides last month, after advisers were told that the aides had supposedly been outed by an illegal warrantless National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap.The extraordinary explanation alarmed the advisers, who also raised it with people close to JD Vance, because such a wiretap would almost certainly be unconstitutional and an even bigger scandal than a number of leaks. Continue reading...
The bill could stop federal courts from enforcing their rulings, eliminating any restraint on TrumpIf enacted, Donald Trump's Big Ugly Bill as it emerged on Thursday from the House of Representatives would result in the largest redistribution of income and wealth in American history - from the poor and working class to the rich.Hidden within the bill is also a provision that would allow Trump to crown himself king.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...
With a home World Cup on the horizon, we look at how potential players for Mauricio Pochettino's squad affected their standing this past seasonThere is, understandably, a lot of angst going around the US men's national team fanbase. Recent performances have not been up to standard, and disappointing results are creating a distinctly doom-y feeling just over a year out from the start of a home World Cup.What might be lost in all of this is what was, by and large, a very solid season for Americans abroad. Here's how the major figures affected their international standing this past season (Major figures meaning: players who have been involved with the senior team within the last year or so). Continue reading...
In an age of division where authoritarianism is seeping into every corner of American discourse, the Spelling Bee offers up a reminder of what America should truly beWe're living through turbulent times, to say the least. Authoritarianism and fascism threaten the United States. The conspiracy thinking, paranoia and manufactured outrage so characteristic of QAnon and the big lie about the 2020 election have colonized our political discourse like a fungus. Even the National Spelling Bee, a cultural institution which will be celebrating its centennial this year and which is generally exempted from the far right's paranoid vitriol, hasn't been immune. Earlier this year, a foofaraw erupted when right-wing outlets reported on the acceptance of womyn" as an alternate spelling of women" in the regional-level wordlist which the National Spelling Bee issues each year.The reason womyn" was included in the wordlist wasn't some shadowy feminist plot by the Bee's organizers. The competition simply allows any word in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary, unless it is obsolete. Womyn" is in the dictionary, along with tens of thousands of other words, such as pointless", culture" and war".Scott Remer is a professional spelling bee tutor, freelance writer, and the author of the textbooks Words of Wisdom: Keys to Success in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Sesquipedalia!: A Rigorous Vocabulary Study Guide, Regional Bee Ready!, and A Few Final Words of Wisdom. Continue reading...
Donald Trump says he is considering taking a further three billion dollars of grant money' from the institution. Key US politics stories from Monday 26 May at a glanceDonald Trump delivered the traditional presidential Memorial Day speech at Arlington national cemetery and also attacked judges on social media, talking up his own achievements and threatening Harvard University with further cuts to its funding.Trump posted on his social media platform: I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land." Continue reading...
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