Legislation on the debt ceiling, civil liberties and elections is still possible before Republican House majority kicks inAs a new era of divided government looms in the US, Democrats are rushing to complete a lengthy legislative to-do list that includes landmark civil liberties legislation, a routine but critical spending package and a bill to prevent another January 6.There are only a handful of working days left before the balance of power in Congress shifts and Democrats’ unified control of government in Washington ends. In January, Republicans will claim the gavel in the House, giving them veto power over much of Joe Biden’s agenda. Continue reading...
John Bolton is latest ex-White House official to condemn former boss and says Republicans are ready for a ‘fresh face’John Bolton, former national security adviser to Donald Trump, has described the former US president’s act as “old and tired” and said the Republican party is ready to move on to a “fresh face”.Bolton is the latest ex-White House official to condemn Trump after Republicans underperformed in this month’s midterm elections, which added to a losing streak that convinced some he is now hurting rather than helping the party. Continue reading...
Workers say conditions at Illinois facility haven’t changed since Steven Dierkes was incinerated in pot of molten iron in JuneJust nine days into his new job at Caterpillar’s foundry in Mapleton, Illinois, Steven Dierkes, a 39-year-old father of three, fell into an 11ft-deep pot of molten iron and was incinerated.Now workers at the plant are blaming lack of training, poor safety protections and grueling working conditions for his death and are threatening strike action at the world’s largest construction equipment manufacturer. Continue reading...
On a night of stalemate with the USA Gareth Southgate’s limp team seemed content simply to stay out of troubleOne point gained, or two hours lost? Certainly as England and the United States trundled their way to a fey and forgettable goalless draw, it was only natural to wonder how we might all have been spending this time more productively. Perhaps when the end finally comes, when we are lying on our deathbeds preparing to gasp our final breath, we will think back to that night we spent watching John Stones and Harry Maguire mesmerically passing the ball to each other, and quietly mourn the passing of time.It was scarcely more enthralling in the flesh than it will have been on television. Al Bayt stadium rumbled and murmured. A lone drummer in the US end pounded out a menacing rhythm. Stones and Maguire carried on passing the ball to each other, with Luke Shaw and Kieran Trippier occasionally chipping in. There was some more passing. Some more drumming. Empires rose and fell. The seas parted and unparted again. Everyone got a little older. Continue reading...
by Bryan Armen Graham at the Al Bayt Stadium on (#667CZ)
The Americans dominated for large stretches on Friday night against a team many thought would hand them a painful lessonThere’s a saying in fashion that two is a coincidence but three is a trend. Say what you want about the United States still having never lost to England at the World Cup and the abbreviated sample size behind it, but there must by now be something about the Americans’ habit of elevating their game when they meet the English on soccer’s biggest stage.They played for the first time in 1950, when an American team of amateurs including a mailman, a dishwasher and a hearse driver famously bucked the odds and marred England’s tournament debut with a 1-0 stunner in Belo Horizonte. Then came a 1-1 draw six decades later in South Africa, when Rob Green’s goalkeeping gaffe canceled out Steven Gerrard’s early strike. Continue reading...
Gareth Southgate’s team delivered a performance protest but perhaps this should be expected at World Cup of bad energyHow to control the narrative, how to cool the air, to reverse the fevered expectation of an early tournament romp? Well, that was certainly one way.Who knows, perhaps there was an element of masterful long-game vibes-chess about England’s performance against the USA in the gleaming shell that is Al Bayt stadium. Continue reading...
by Presented by Max Rushden with Barry Glendenning, N on (#667C9)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nick Ames and Paul MacInnes as England draw with the USA and Wales lose late on to IranRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.Today; Jonathan Liew joins us from the Al Bayt stadium as England are held 0-0 by an impressive USA side. The panel ask: was Gareth Southgate too slow to make changes? Continue reading...
US coast guard located man about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, after he fell overboard the Carnival Valor shipIn what some officials were hailing as a “Thanksgiving miracle” a passenger was rescued from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday evening after falling overboard from a cruise ship, the US coast guard (USCG) announced.At 8.25pm on Thursday, the coast guard located a 28-year-old man in the sea about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, after he apparently fell overboard the New Orleans-to-Mexico Carnival Valor cruise ship on Wednesday evening. Continue reading...
The US were the better side, but England dug in for a point that keeps them in control of Group B and all but qualifies them for the knockoutsEngland get the ball rolling. They take the knee beforehand.The teams are out! England are dressed from tip to toe in white, changing their shorts because the normally similarly bedecked USA’s second-choice colours are blue. They sing their anthems. Mason Mount gets the lyrics of God Save The Queen (King remix) correct this time. The Star Spangled Banner is a much better number … so belated Thanksgiving thanks to John Stafford Smith and Francis Scott Key for that. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes. Continue reading...
Harry Maguire was one of England’s better performers on a night when the USA’s three midfielders caught the eyeJordan Pickford (GK) Relieved to see the USA spurn three big chances in the first half. Kept a clean sheet. 6 Continue reading...
It was a night when England succeeded in doing one thing: dousing the expectations that had built so suddenly after the thrashing of Iran in their opening World Cup tie. The stalemate means they will almost certainly qualify for the last 16 – only a heavy defeat against Wales next Tuesday would derail them – but there was precious little else to quicken the pulse.England were flat, moving the ball backwards and sideways too often. They could not get around the blue shirts of the United States, failing to stretch them and it very quickly turned into a slog, marked by a lack of imagination. Continue reading...
Ex-president ‘dined and conversed’ with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West a week after announcing his 2024 campaignDonald Trump reportedly “dined and conversed” with infamous white nationalist Nick Fuentes at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach on Tuesday.Trump’s encounter with the openly racist Fuentes – who was in the company of disgraced rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye – came one week after the former US president declared his 2024 campaign. Continue reading...
Gunman bought firearm at a local store, police say, and took it to the Virginia branch where had worked since 2010The gunman who killed six people on Tuesday at a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia, purchased the handgun legally the same day, authorities said.The 31-year-old suspect bought the 9mm handgun at a local store, according to police. He took it to the Walmart branch where he had worked since 2010 shortly before the store was due to close. Investigators have said he was carrying several magazines of ammunition, and killed himself with the weapon before authorities arrived. Continue reading...
There is no more elegant pivot than moaning about the World Cup in Qatar to begging a Gulf state to come and buy your club“When I want a peerage,” sniffed Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe), “I shall buy one like an honest man.” So yes: I want to begin with an apology for a ridiculous statement in my most recent column, which held that David Beckham’s mega-lucrative Qatar promotional deal meant he has been “wearing the face of a man who knows he is never going to get his knighthood now”. This was obviously wrong. Having been paid a reported £150m for his work shilling for the Qatari regime, David is in fact even better placed to buy a knighthood than he was before, and could easily run to a peerage.But could David also be involved in the purchase of something else? Namely, Manchester United football club, which you’ll have noted is back on the market after the adored Glazer family have finally decided to cash out of the club they bought with some debt back in 2005. Can you cash out of something you never put cash into? Amazingly, yes. High finance is magic, and I’ve got a huge amount of time for it. Continue reading...
The New Orleans fighter’s bout with Jose Zepeda resonates with everything that still makes the sport so vivid and fascinating even amid its troubles“Nothing will kill boxing, and nothing can save it,” Larry Merchant, the great old American sportswriter and commentator, once said as he surveyed the enduring chaos of a bloody business which now operates even deeper in the shadows away from mainstream life and sport. His words have resounded again after a terrible second half of the year for boxing. A riveting fight between two contemporary artists of the ring in Terence Crawford and Errol Spence cannot be made and, instead, we face the depressing reality of Tyson Fury facing a damaged Derek Chisora for a third time next Saturday in a contest devoid of any meaning beyond the money it will make for those involved. Such a mess makes boxing seem more broken than ever.Merchant is 91 and so he has not been seen during a surreal Thanksgiving week in the Californian sunshine as Regis Prograis and Jose Zepeda prepare for their world title bout this Saturday night in Los Angeles. This is a serious and compelling super-lightweight fight which, while it will definitely not save anyone, resonates with everything that still makes the best characters in boxing so vivid and fascinating when they occupy a space of real gravitas. Continue reading...
Fears ‘superspreaders of hate’ will return to social media platform after move. Plus, Biden renews call for assault weapon ban• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Elon Musk has announced a general amnesty for suspended Twitter accounts in a move that brought a warning that “superspreaders of hate” will return to the social media platform.‘The people have spoken’. Announcing the result, Musk tweeted: “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”, a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people [is] the voice of God.” It came days after he reinstated Donald Trump’s account as well as the accounts of Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate, and unlocked Kanye West’s.There have been more than 600 mass shootings so far this year across the US. That’s according to the Gun Violence Archive, using the definition of four or more shot or killed, not including the shooter. Continue reading...
Strategists, pollsters and advocacy groups say both parties continue to treat Latino voters like a monolithic groupIn the 2022 midterms, Latino voters reinforced their power as the second-largest voting bloc in the United States.These voters, who account for nearly 35 million people, or 14%, of the US voting electorate, both tilted the balance for Democrats in key battleground state Senate races in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada and secured a Republican hold in Florida. Since 2018, the number of Latino voters has grown by nearly 5 million people, accounting for more than 60% of newly eligible voters. Continue reading...
by Justo Robles, on the Arizona-Mexico border on (#666V4)
In the deadliest year for people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border, a search party tries to find a missing 19-year-oldWhen Roberto Resendiz cautiously reached the end of a remote rocky stretch surrounded by cacti, he stopped walking.The 44-year-old Californian glanced over his shoulder. The sunrise glowed then beamed brightly over the Arizona desert, its sparse landscape undeniably beautiful, not far from Organ Pipe national monument, about 100 miles as the crow flies from Tucson. Continue reading...
The trend is expected to continue, after the supreme court ruling earlier this year overturning strict limits on public gun-carryingAn estimated 6 million American adults carried a loaded handgun with them daily in 2019, double the number who said they carried a gun every day in 2015, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.The new estimates highlight a decades-long shift in American gun ownership, with increasing percentages of gun owners saying they own firearms for self-defense, not hunting or recreation, and choosing to carry a gun with them when they go out in public, said Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington, and the study’s lead author. Continue reading...
LGBTQ Coloradans have no doubt of the motive for the deadly attack, but bias-crime legislation in the state is complicatedColorado’s LGBTQ+ communities are waiting with fearful and angry anticipation as evidence against the suspected Club Q shooter accused of killing five people and wounding 17 more is being gathered by local police and reviewed by prosecutors.Online court records show Anderson Aldrich, who has identified in legal papers as nonbinary, is facing five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime, as investigations into the circumstances of the shooting – and what motivated it – continue. Continue reading...
Maxwell Frost, Becca Balint, Monica De La Cruz, Mike Lawler and Max Miller are standouts among the 2022 midterms intakeRoughly 80 new members will join the House of Representatives when the 118th Congress convenes in January.Along with their more seasoned colleagues, they will have to navigate the potentially tricky terrain of a narrow Republican majority in the House as Democrats control the White House and the Senate. Continue reading...
Just a week after elections, number of weekly segments focused on crime slashed in half on Rupert Murdoch’s flagship networkIn the weeks leading up to the US midterm elections, the message from Fox News was clear: violent crime is surging, cities are dangerous hellscapes and Democrats are responsible.With the vote over, however, the rightwing news channel appeared to decide things weren’t that bad after all, and decreased its coverage of violent crime by 50% compared with the pre-election average. Continue reading...
When I first wore hearing aids I was ashamed of my deafness. Learning not to blame but to advocate for myself changed that“Sorry, I’m deaf,” I say. I gesture to the apparatus in my ear – the universal sign for my hearing aids not working quite as well as they should, hoping the mildly annoyed waiter in front of me repeats his question with a little less visible frustration.I’m in a burrito bar trying to order dinner, but this kind of exchange can occur in any customer service scenario. Harried staff want to get the orders in, and customers behind me are hungry. Hearing people perhaps don’t notice how frenzied daily communication is in our fast-moving society. But it has a significant impact on deaf people like me, who regularly struggle to access information.Liam O’Dell is a Deaf and disabled freelance journalist and campaignerDo 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...
From Thanksgiving through Christmas pressures mount for those charged with servicing the festival of consumerismMillions of Americans are flocking to stores and malls across the US on Black Friday in an annual mass shopping spree that has become almost as traditional as the Thanksgiving dinner that precedes it.But as throngs of shoppers kick off the holiday season of consumerism, there is a huge impact on retail and delivery workers who become busier than ever and face workplace pressures that can harm their health and safety. Continue reading...
Co-owner of Club Q, where five people were killed, says targeting of drag event is linked to hate fostered by lies about the communityThe co-owner of the Colorado Springs gay nightclub that was the scene of a mass shooting believes the attack is a reflection of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment that has evolved from prejudice to incitement.Authorities haven’t said why the suspect allegedly opened fired at the club on Saturday, killing five people and wounding 17 others. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, has not entered a plea or spoken about the incident but is facing possible hate crime charges. Continue reading...
President says he will seek to pass gun control before new Congress is seated in January, but odds of success are lowJoe Biden reiterated his calls on Thursday to ban assault weapons after mass shootings at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday and a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday left 11 people dead.While visiting a firehouse on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, to thank first responders on Thanksgiving, Biden told reporters he would attempt to pass some form of gun control before a new Congress is seated in January, possibly renewing his attempt to ban assault weapons. Continue reading...
When the US meet England on Friday night, they will effectively be facing one of the reasons for the sport’s rising profile back homeUSA captain Tyler Adams was a 13-year-old New York Red Bulls academy prospect in 2012 when NBC became the exclusive US media rights-holder for the Premier League in a deal that has since been credited with propelling soccer to new heights of popularity in the United States.Until then, nearly all English league matches were carried on Fox Soccer, a pay channel buried deep down the cable listings, inevitably limiting the sport’s mainstream exposure. NBC’s deal for both the English- and Spanish-language media rights to all 380 Premier League fixtures – for a then-bargain fee of $250m over three years that has since been renewed for $2.7bn over the next six – established soccer in the American sports firmament like never before by making matches available on both free-to-air television and NBC’s family of cable networks. Continue reading...
Law enforcement killed Glass, 22, after he called 911 amid what his mother called a mental health crisisA grand jury has indicted two Colorado sheriff’s deputies in the death of a 22-year-old man who was shot after calling 911 for roadside assistance while experiencing what his mother described as a mental health crisis, according to online court records.The indictments of the former Clear Creek county sheriff’s deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould were returned on Wednesday, five months after law enforcement killed Christian Glass. The case has become a flashpoint amid a national outcry for police reforms focused on crisis intervention and de-escalation. Continue reading...
City’s board of supervisors to consider proposal involving remote-controlled devicesThe San Francisco police department has proposed that it be allowed to use robots with “deadly force” while responding to incidents, according to a policy draft.The document outlines how the department proposes to use its collection of robots, which number 17 in total although 12 are not operational. Continue reading...
Suit alleges university caused ‘acute stress reaction’ that led to goalie’s suicideThe family of Katie Meyer, a star soccer goalie for Stanford University who died by suicide in March, has sued the university for wrongful death.The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday and reviewed by CNN, alleges that the university administrators’ actions caused her to “suffer an acute stress reaction that impulsively led to her suicide”. Continue reading...
Ex-vice-president considering the request, according to sources, but said last week he would not testify to the January 6 panelThe US justice department has asked Mike Pence to testify in the criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a person familiar with the matter.The request came before the attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed a special counsel last week to oversee inquiries examining Trump, which are focused on two areas: potential mishandling of national security documents, and the January 6 Capitol attack. Continue reading...
JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank also face lawsuits in connection with Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex traffickingA New York law that temporarily allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their abusers beyond the statute of limitations for civil claims came into effect on Thursday – and with it, the first of what could be hundreds of new legal actions.Among the first claims filed under the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), signed into law in May by Governor Kathy Hochul, is that of E Jean Carroll, a writer who accused Donald Trump of rape. Carroll filed an upgraded lawsuit against Trump minutes after the new state law took effect. Continue reading...
Man tells reporter he was relieved his child ‘wasn’t gay’ after hearing about shootingThe father of the suspected Colorado Springs shooter has provoked a backlash over comments he made over the armed attack on LGTBQ+ bar that killed five and wounded 17.In a series of interviews, Aaron Brink told San Diego’s CBS8 that when he first received a telephone call from his child’s public defender, his first reaction was to question why his child was in the club.This article was amended on 24 November 2022. An earlier version misstated the location of Aldrich’s mother’s house. Continue reading...
Runoffs lasted nine weeks in previous elections – but under new law, timeline is shortened to 28 days after general electionGeorgia’s midterm election cycle continues with the state’s highly anticipated US Senate runoff between the incumbent Democrat senator Raphael Warnock and controversial Republican candidate Herschel Walker. However, unlike years past, under the state’s new election integrity law, early voting for the runoff begins just as the general election comes to a close, giving voters a historically small window of time to cast their ballot.In previous elections, runoffs lasted nine weeks. Under the new law, SB202, which includes a spate of new voting restrictions, the timeline has been shortened substantially and must occur 28 days after the general election. This timeframe is especially important because voters must now register 30 days before an election, making it impossible for new voters to register between the general election, which took place on 8 November, and the runoff. Continue reading...
Guns have killed 22 people and injured 44 in Thanksgiving week. Plus, could hemp be a key tool in the fight against global heating?Good morning.The six people killed by a gunman at a Walmart store in southern Virginia late on Tuesday have been named, in the latest mass shooting to strike the US, this time shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday.‘It’s the guns’. Twenty-two people have been killed and 44 injured by guns in Thanksgiving week, as 2022 shapes up to be one of the worst years in recent memory. But the public response has fallen quickly and predictably into patterns all too familiar to observers of America’s gun crisis.Did Trump commit a crime in connection with the events of January 6? Pence told NBC on Sunday: “I don’t know if it is criminal to listen to bad advice from lawyers.” Continue reading...
Rob Green and Bert Williams have unfortunate roles in the history of two teams who meet again in QatarAt least Rob Green can laugh about it now. “I was doing the school run when I found out England had drawn USA in their group at the World Cup,” the former goalkeeper wrote in the Mail on Sunday this week. “I had just enough time to send one tweet, with one emoji, a pair of eyes. As if to say: ‘Well this is awkward.’”But despite his blunder that helped the United States hold Fabio Capello’s side to a 1-1 draw in their opening match in 2010, Green – who is working as a pundit for BBC radio in Qatar – is not the only England goalkeeper to have bitter memories of facing them at a World Cup. Continue reading...
Gareth Southgate’s team selection worked perfectly against Iran but also showcased the importance of England’s finishersIn the 71st minute of England’s victory over Iran, Gareth Southgate brought on Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish. They are not traditional substitutes, they are the manager’s finishers – the players brought on to lift the tempo and see the match out. They made a difference and could do once more against the USA on Friday.Gregg Berhalter’s side struggled to hold Wales in the second half because their stamina levels were depleted and a tired challenge from Walker Zimmerman on Gareth Bale resulted in a late penalty. If the USA run out of steam in the same manner, they could face an even tougher final quarter against the freshness of England’s bench. Continue reading...
Sheng Thao says her experiences will help her lead the city through its severe housing crisisAt the steps of city hall, surrounded by supporters and a gaggle of press, Oakland’s new mayor-elect Sheng Thao exhaled.“It’s been a long journey,” she began. “We’ve been through a lot to get to this moment right here.” Continue reading...
Far-right Republican congresswoman has record of anti-LGBTQ+ statements that advocates call ‘dangerous’LGBTQ+ advocates in the US have criticized the far-right Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert as a hypocrite in light of her past anti-LGBTQ+ statements after she offered prayers to the victims of the recent Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs.The shooting at the LGBTQ+ club that left five dead took place on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. ACLU-Colorado’s senior policy strategist and trans activist Anaya Robinson called Boebert’s condolences “disingenuous”, and blamed incendiary comments about the community for such tragedies. Continue reading...
Don Shula’s team won every single game on their way to victory in Super Bowl VII. They are still the only NFL team to have recorded a perfect seasonIt’s been 50 years since the 1972 Miami Dolphins became the first (and, so far, only) team in NFL history to win every game in a season. For many who played on the Dolphins that year, it’s hard to reconcile the passage of time with the immediacy of the memories. “Fifty years is a long time ago,” laughs Dick Anderson, the Dolphins’ Pro Bowl safety in 1972, but it “feels like it was yesterday.”It’s useful to quickly clarify one aspect of the ’72 Dolphins’ achievement – for a finicky reason, the phrase “perfect season” (rather than “undefeated season”) is often used to describe the campaign. Although ties are uncommon in today’s game, they were once relatively prevalent. In the 1920s, four teams technically finished their seasons ‘undefeated,’ although each of them finished with at least one draw. As such, the Dolphins’ lossless and tieless 1972 season remains unique in NFL history. The league itself has acknowledged the team’s peerless performance – the ’72 Dolphins were judged to be the greatest team in NFL history during the league’s centennial celebrations in 2019. Continue reading...
The 90-year-old sociologist on ‘vengeance politics’, cruelty and climate change as she looks back on half a century of activismFrances Fox Piven has a warning for America. Don’t get too relaxed, there could be worse to come.“I don’t think this fight over elemental democracy is over, by any means,” she said. “The United States was well on the road to becoming a fascist country – and it still can become a fascist country.” Continue reading...
As a teenager, I argued with my parents about covering up. Then I saw a photo of my mother wearing a short dress in 1950s SudanOn 16 September, Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iran’s morality police after supposedly wearing her hijab incorrectly and sporting skinny jeans. Later that night, she died in their custody. Amini’s family claim the morality police beat her to death, an accusation they have since denied. What has followed have been the country’s largest protests in recent years. Iranians of all ages, ethnicities and genders have joined in the demonstrations. I watched on and did my due diligence by posting on social media too, but I also couldn’t help reflect on my own relationship to clothing – and freedom.Can you be free and wear the hijab? It’s worn by many of my family and friends, and it was always presented to me as a choice when I was young. Modesty, however, was more important. I’m of Sudanese origin but I grew up in Northern Ireland, where, as a teenager, it wasn’t trendy to cover up. I spent years battling with my parents, who would be telling me that I was showing too much skin, that I should never show my cleavage or midriff. In the late 1990s fashions changed from crop tops to long T-shirts. I remember my mother’s relief that we wouldn’t have to go through the “go get changed” conversation every time I wanted to leave the house.Basma Khalifa is a Sudanese multi-disciplinary creative living in LondonDo 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.
The documentary maker Ondi Timoner explains why, having followed ‘impossible visionaries’ in movies such as Dig!, it made sense to record her father’s final daysLast year, I made the most personal film of my career, about my father Eli’s death. In January 2021, aged 92, Dad was in hospital, bedbound, with no prospect of recovery. My mother was struggling to cope. The only option appeared to be going to a facility for his remaining months.I’ve been a film-maker for 30 years and have always dreamed of telling my father’s story. I tend to make films about characters I describe as “impossible visionaries”: people with a singular vision who sometimes act impossibly to try and realise it – and to withstand the doubt and ridicule they incur. Continue reading...
Half an hour with no decisions to make? That’s my idea of blissI had an MRI scan recently. There I lay, strapped in, with a roof tile laid on my chest. Would I like to listen to some music? No, ta. Then I was told it would take half an hour and I changed my mind about the music, but the bloke had gone. Silence it was. Silence, that is, apart from the weird, irregular clanking and banging noises these things make. It was a feet-first entry, which felt like being loaded into a canon for a daredevil stunt. There was also a lot of going in and out. At first I thought this was the bloke trying to pick the right spot but it turned out this was the nature of this particular scan – something to do with veins that I barely understood. In a bit, out a bit, all the way in, a bit out, all the way out, back in a bit, and so on.It ought to have been stressful, but it wasn’t. It was the opposite. I was soon intensely relaxed, having no choice but to submit to this whole disorientating caper. And that was the point – I had no choice, no options. My life’s too full of options, with thousands of decisions, on matters big and small, necessary every day. Now, for an increasingly wonderful half-hour, there were none. I had one job: to keep perfectly still as I was slid in and out at random depths like some absurdist representation of uncertain sexual intercourse. Had they been available at the time, these scanners would certainly have featured in Woody Allen’s film Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid To Ask).Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Peltola made history to become the first woman to represent the state when she won a special election in AugustMary Peltola, a Democrat and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, has won her bid to retain the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives.Peltola made history when she won a special election this summer to replace the Republican Don Young after his death. She is also the first woman to represent Alaska in Congress since it became a state in 1959. Continue reading...
Walmart employee says gunman, who police say killed himself, was manager who opened fire on workers gathered in break roomSix people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart store in southern Virginia late on Tuesday, in the latest mass shooting to strike the US, this time shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday. The gunman killed himself, police said.A witness, Jessie Wilczewski, told a local TV station, WAVY, the gunman began shooting at a group of about 14 employees gathered in a meeting room at the start of their shift in the store, located in the city of Chesapeake. Continue reading...
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