Endorsement for Congress comes after Mike Pence rejected Trump’s claim that he could have reversed his election defeatEven though Donald Trump recently sparred with Mike Pence over whether the former vice-president could have done more to overturn Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race, Trump on Friday handed an endorsement to Pence’s brother in an Indiana congressional race.Trump’s endorsement of Greg Pence, who is seeking a third term as the US House representative for Indiana’s sixth congressional district, is politically intriguing for a couple of reasons. Continue reading...
The streaming service’s stumble could also show that the fight for everyone’s attention is going to be much tougher in futureIn the early 1930s, when Claud Cockburn worked on the Times, the subeditors had a competition to see who could compose the dullest headline. Cockburn claimed that he won with “Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead”. Alas, subsequent factcheckers have failed to unearth such a headline in the archives, but it came to mind last week when Netflix announced, in a quarterly earnings report, that for the first time in a decade it had lost subscribers – 200,000 of them, to be exact. In North America, it had lost 640,000 and suffered additional losses in every other region except for Asia-Pacific area, where it added a million.This didn’t seem very interesting to this columnist, especially as it included the period when Netflix had pulled out of Russia, where it had 700,000 subscribers, which to my mind meant that the reported loss would have been a gain of half a million had Putin not invaded Ukraine. Continue reading...
Only 5% of reported sexual assaults in the US result in arrest, according to Rainn, and just 2.8% result in felony convictionsThe rape conviction of the Republican Idaho lawmaker Aaron von Ehlinger on Friday was a rare victory for prosecutors in a criminal justice system that can be fraught for victims of sexual assault, experts said.When a legislative intern accused von Ehlinger of rape last year, she was subjected to online harassment and abuse. When she testified at an ethics hearing, some Von Ehlinger supporters filmed her and chased her through the statehouse. This week, when the young woman took the stand to testify in her attacker’s criminal trial, she became so distraught she fled.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
Lawyers for groups challenging Republican say text Greene sent to Meadows, released by House panel, shows she lied in testimonyLawyers for voters seeking to bar the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress over her support for the January 6 insurrection have accused her of lying in a hearing in the case.In a filing Friday, lawyers for groups challenging Greene said a text from the Georgia congresswoman to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, released by the House committee investigating January 6, shows she lied in testimony. Continue reading...
Infection comes amid worst outbreak of the virus in seven years but CDC says health risk to general public remains lowAn inmate in Colorado has become the first human in the US to test positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, amid the worst outbreak of the virus in seven years and a cull of millions of poultry in dozens of states.The unnamed prisoner contracted the infection during a work release assignment at a farm in Montrose county where workers were euthanising an infected flock, the Colorado department of public health and environment said. Continue reading...
Ohio state representative Jean Schmidt said a baby created from rape could grow up to cure cancer – during a debate on abortion, naturallyLike a deranged game of limbo, Republicans seem to be in competition to see just how low they can go. A couple of weeks ago a Republican in Tennessee was lecturing homeless people on how they should look at Hitler (who spent some time living on the streets) as an inspiration. This week, a Republican in Ohio is both-sidesing rape. On the one hand, Ohio state representative Jean Schmidt mused during an Ohio house government oversight committee meeting on Wednesday, rape is bad. On the other hand, you’ve also got to find the silver linings.Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for order Continue reading...
Native students who aren’t a member of a federally recognized tribe are dismayed that they are left out of the free tuition programLast week the University of California announced that the higher education system would waive tuition and student services fees for California residents who are members of federally recognized tribes.The announcement elated some Native people in California, who viewed it as a potentially life changing initiative. But it garnered harsh criticism from many others who are members of nations that aren’t federally recognized and are deeply disappointed that an institution that stresses acknowledging historical wrongs suffered by Indigenous people can in the same breath leave so many out of such an important resource. Continue reading...
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby fought back tears and said it was 'difficult to look at some of the images' of Vladimir Putin's 'cruel' and 'depraved' invasion of Ukraine.Kirby stated that the US had underestimated the level of 'violence and cruelty' that Russian forces would undertake, and described it as 'brutality of the coldest and most depraved sort'
Angel City FC made their NWSL debut on Friday night, winning 2-1 over the North Carolina Courage before a star-studded Banc of California Stadium crowd
The gala comes amid a surge of Covid cases in Washington, with many journalists skipping the would-be super spreaderIt is a sign that political life in Washington is getting back to something like normal. It is the return of “nerd prom”.On Saturday the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) will host its annual dinner for the first time since 2019 after a coronavirus-enforced hiatus, and Joe Biden will become the first US president to address the gala since Barack Obama in 2016 following a boycott by Donald Trump, who made little secret of his contempt of the media. Continue reading...
Trump’s primary endorsement has split voters and the party in Ohio in a race already defined by ‘meanness and pettiness and just plain craziness’“America’s Hitler.” “A total fraud.” “A moral disaster.” Those were a few of the descriptions that JD Vance, bestselling author of the memoir Hillbilly Elegy, once offered for Donald Trump. But none of that past criticism was evident here last Saturday night, as Vance shared a stage with Trump to accept the former president’s endorsement in the Ohio Senate Republican primary.“He’s the guy that said some bad shit about me,” Trump said of Vance during his rally at the Delaware county fairgrounds. “If I went by that standard, I don’t think I would have ever endorsed anybody in the country.” Continue reading...
Mark B Allen faces 22 counts of misdemeanor for mistreating remains of 11 people, including infantsA Los Angeles funeral home owner illegally left the remains of 11 people, including infants, in stages of decay and mummification and faces more than a decade in jail, prosecutors said Friday.Authorities opened an investigation into the Mark B Allen Mortuary and Cremations Services Inc., after receiving complaints from families. The mortuary, owned by Mark B Allen, is now closed and phone numbers listed for the business were disconnected. Continue reading...
Socialite was convicted in December of five counts for bringing teenage girls to the disgraced financier Jeffrey EpsteinThe judge in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking case has upheld her conviction, according to a ruling issued Friday. In rejecting Maxwell’s request for acquittal, Judge Alison Nathan said the guilty verdict was “readily supported by the extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence admitted at trial”.“Further, those counts of conviction matched the core of criminality charged in the Indictment, presented by the Government at trial, and on which the jury was accurately instructed,” Nathan said. Continue reading...
Brian Ulrich is the second person to plead guilty to the charge and could face up to six years in prisonA member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia on Friday became the second participant in the 6 January 2021 Capitol insurrection to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy for his actions in advance of that day.Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia, faces five to six years in prison after pleading guilty in federal district court in Washington DC, according to sentencing guidelines. He also pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding, which in this case was the hours-long delay in the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election over Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Late-night talkshow hosts juice former president’s testimony to attorneys representing a group of protesters suing over 2015 rallyDonald Trump has been mocked for fearing protesters would throw “dangerous” fruit at him, with late-night talkshow host Trevor Noah calling it “one of the most crazy defenses I’ve ever heard”.The revelation came during the former president’s testimony to attorneys representing a group of protesters suing over their violent removal from a Trump campaign rally in 2015. Continue reading...
New York judge said there was no evidence Trump had conducted a thorough search for the records sought by attorney generalA New York judge on Friday denied a request from Donald Trump’s lawyer to end a contempt-of-court finding against the former US president and kept in place $10,000-a-day fine over his failure to comply with a subpoena issued by the state attorney general investigating the business practices of Trump’s family company, the Trump Organization.Justice Arthur Engoron in New York state court in Manhattan said he was not satisfied with an affidavit provided by Trump and said there was no evidence Trump had conducted a thorough search for the records sought by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James. Continue reading...
With 2,000 tactical warheads at his disposal, we must hope the Russian president’s warnings are tacticalAs the war in Ukraine and its consequences weaken Russia’s conventional military, Vladimir Putin’s government has resorted to nuclear threats designed to project strength. Mr Putin wants to intimidate his opponents. But his strategy is failing. Instead of Ukraine’s allies backing down, they are stepping up their support. The US Congress this week approved $11bn of arms to Ukraine, three times the total military aid Washington has so far given.The US president, Joe Biden, was right to call out Mr Putin for making “idle comments” about nuclear weapons. It is unthinkable that blunders and miscalculations would take the world to the edge of the nuclear abyss. Yet that is where the world is heading. Whereas the Cuban missile crisis lasted 13 days, Russia’s war is already into its third month. With no clear end in sight, more deadly battles look inevitable – increasing the chances of mistakes. Continue reading...
The US army has presented an Italian woman with a birthday cake to replace the cake that American soldiers stole from her as it cooled on a windowsill 77 years ago. Meri Mion, who turned 90 the day after the presentation, wiped away tears at a ceremony in Vicenza and said she had not been expecting the cake, although she clearly remembered the moment when the one baked for her 13th birthday had 'disappeared'.The event marked the anniversary of the day on which the 88th Infantry Division fought its way into the city on 28 April 1945, during one of the final battles of the second world war
‘I don’t think he should be our nominee,’ ex-president’s attorney general tells NewsmaxWilliam Barr, Donald Trump’s former attorney general, said in an interview on Thursday that it would be a “big mistake” for the Republican party to nominate Trump for president in 2024.Appearing on the Newsmax television channel, Barr said Trump, who has hinted that he will run again, would not be a sound choice. Continue reading...
Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother saysA former US Marine has been killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces – the first US citizen known to have died in combat in the war with Russia.Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed on Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Continue reading...
CDC planned to suggest in 2020 that religious communities hold services online but key passages were struck outDonald Trump’s administration overrode Covid-19 guidance to religious organizations, according to newly released emails, which would have encouraged churches to consider virtual religious services rather than in-person worship.In May 2020, as coronavirus cases and deaths surged, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent the White House a draft of its planned guidance to faith-based communities, seeking approval for publication. Continue reading...
As his poll numbers crater, Biden appears to be offering no course correction. He still hasn’t signed a stack of potentially wildly popular executive orders on matters ranging from debt cancellation to drug pricing Continue reading...
Severe maternal morbidity has also increased in recent years, especially among people of color, according to NPWF reportA growing number of non-white women are resorting to alternatives to hospitals for labor and delivery in the US, a new report has revealed.According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, a nonprofit organization that focuses on public policies surrounding women and families, community births – births carried out at home or in community birthing centers – increased by 20% from 2019 to 2020, with the spike largely situated among communities of color. Continue reading...
Zelenskiy calls for ‘strong response’ to strikes that came hours after Biden announced US would double aid. Plus, British Virgin Islands premier arrested on cocaine charges
The MSNBC counter-terrorism expert and former US navy servicemember discusses his decision to take up arms in UkraineMalcolm Nance, MSNBC’S former military and counter-terrorism expert, is always fighting someone.As a personal and professional acquaintance of Nance, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when the literary agent to whom I had introduced him a few months ago, interrogated me about whether I knew that Nance had joined the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine in March.Michael Harriot is a writer and author of the upcoming book Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America Continue reading...
New York ruling that 26 congressional districts were illegally distorted deals major blow to party’s quest to retain HouseNew York’s highest court on Wednesday dealt national Democrats a major setback in their quest to keep control of the US House, when it struck down the state’s 26 congressional districts because they were illegally distorted in favor of Democrats.New York is critical for Democrats in the decennial process of redrawing congressional districts. The state’s 26 seats offer the party one of the richest opportunities to use mapmaking power to their advantage. Democrats currently have a 19-8 advantage in the congressional delegation, but drew a map that gives them three additional seats, increasing their advantage to 22-4 (New York is losing a congressional seat because of population loss). It would give the party 85% of the congressional seats in a state Joe Biden won with about 61% of the vote. Continue reading...
Learning how to find things out is what the scientific method is all about. The UK’s curriculum would benefit from more of itI’ve been giving considerable thought recently to the way we teach science at school – and whether we have the balance right between catering for those children who will become the scientists and engineers of the future (and how would we be able to tell this anyway?), and those who don’t think they have a natural aptitude for science, or are simply more interested in other subjects.The issue goes beyond which science topics we should be teaching, and in what depth. I’m more concerned by the obsession with making children memorise scientific “facts”, and whether this is what we should be focusing on so much. Perhaps spending more time learning how we “do” science – what’s called the scientific method – is more valuable than simply “knowing” stuff.Jim Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. His new book, The Joy of Science, is out now Continue reading...
A suddenly distorted wide receiver market – thanks, Jacksonville! – turned a position once considered an NFL draft afterthought into the focal point of Thursday’s first round
A 19-hour journey from New York to Chicago filled me with wonder. Partly, as in the UK, at the priceAmtrak trains leave New York from the Moynihan Train Hall, a vast Beaux Arts building that used to house the city’s main post office. Like its equivalents in London – Paddington or St Pancras – it is designed to give travellers a sense of soaring possibility, the first stage in a journey that might take them anywhere. Last week, over Easter, my two seven-year-olds and I boarded a train at Moynihan for the 19-hour journey to Chicago. We could barely have been more excited if we’d been setting out in covered wagons.The romance of train travel is an anachronism that climate activists are keen to revive, but it’s a tough sell. In the US, the national train network is slow, patchy and underfunded. Amtrak teeters, apparently indefinitely, on the brink of bankruptcy, requiring multiple government subsidies – the latest, in November last year, totalled $66bn. In Britain, the issue is cost, too, although it’s one largely borne by the consumer. Andy Burnham’s recent Twitter fury about the cost of rail fares between London and Manchester – £369 for a last-minute return, which, as the mayor of Manchester pointed out, might buy you a return flight to Brazil – highlighted an exorbitant system so riven with fare rules as to make it unusable beyond the narrowest of circumstances.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The bolide, which disintegrated in Louisiana, was also reportedly spotted in Arkansas and MississippiA loud boom prefaced a streaking fireball spotted in three Southern states, scientists confirmed Thursday.More than 30 people in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi reported seeing the exceptionally bright meteor in the sky around 8am Wednesday after hearing loud booms in Claiborne county, Mississippi, and surrounding areas, Nasa reported. It was first spotted 54 miles (87 km) above the Mississippi River, near Alcorn, Mississippi, officials said. Continue reading...
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert among those poised to receive letters requesting voluntary cooperation, sources sayThe House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to issue letters requesting voluntary cooperation from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and around a dozen other Republican members of Congress, according to two sources familiar with the matter.The panel intends to issue a letter to McCarthy – the top House Republican – and is considering further letters to Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mo Brooks, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, as well as some Republican senators, the sources said. Continue reading...
Effort to ‘help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers’ likely to face stiff opposition from big tobaccoThe US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued a long-awaited proposal to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, a major victory for anti-smoking advocates but one that could dent sales at tobacco companies.The proposal, which comes a year after the agency announced the plan, still needs to be finalized, and could take years to implement as it is likely to face stiff opposition from big tobacco. Continue reading...
It’s peculiar that we think certain elements about ourselves are set in stone, even if there’s no real evidence to suggest thatFor the last year I’ve been going to the physio once or twice every week, a by-product of having hips and knees that tend to seize up like elastic bands that have been pulled too tight. What began as a demoralising routine of strength tests and painful needling, has recently felt triumphant: I’m completing increasingly strenuous rehab exercises – successfully completing them. I’m not only in less pain, but I’m stronger than I thought I was.“You’re the dux of rehab,” my best friend Brigid texted when I bragged about graduating to another difficulty level. I was in no position to disagree. Continue reading...
Make or Break’s behind-the-scenes look at the World Surf League engages fans and non-fans alike even if some hard questions remain ignoredThere is a moment early in the first episode of Make or Break, a new series from Apple TV+ about the World Surf League, when Tyler Wright neatly encapsulates the tension at the heart of professional surfing. “We come from a sport of, ‘aww we’re hippies’,” says the Australian surfer, a two-time WSL champion. “We’re not. We’re competitive little assholes.”Surfing has long grappled with this bipolar identity; a sport initially beloved by the counter-culture movement that grew popular, some would say too popular, on the back of booming commercial and competitive success. Make or Break, an entertaining seven-part series, is the latest attempt by the surfing elite to capitalise on its popularity. Given the show has already been renewed for a second season – before it even went to air – they will most likely succeed. Continue reading...
Bill approved without discussion or debate now heads to the Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign itThe Oklahoma house gave final approval on Thursday to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.The bill approved by the GOP-led house on a 68-12 vote without discussion or debate now heads to the Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days. The assault on abortion rights is one of several culture-war issues conservatives in GOP-led states have embraced, like restricting LGBTQ+ rights, that drive the party’s base in an election year. Continue reading...
by Andrew Kennis at Estadio Olímpico Universitario, on (#5YNEB)
Seattle came back from a two-goal deficit amid a hostile atmosphere as they attempted to score a rare continental triumph for MLSWhen it comes to the Pumas UNAM, the only certainty is uncertainty. In that sense, Wednesday night’s first-leg of the Concacaf Champions League final lived up to its billing in a match filled with surprises, twists and VAR-filled drama. By the time the final whistle blew, the Pumas had thrown away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw that felt like a loss for a team who departed the Estadio Olímpico Universitario wondering what could have been. In contrast, Seattle head home for the second leg upbeat after escaping what had looked like a heavy defeat.Drama peppered the match: four VAR reviews, and the same number of penalties, the last of which was scored in the ninth minute of added time by Nicolás Lodeiro to give the Sounders a crucial draw. Continue reading...
After prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Moses for trying to register to vote, I met her in person – and learned what’s next now that her case is overHello, and Happy Thursday,I’ve been closely following the criminal case against Pamela Moses, who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote, for the last few months. But on Monday I met her in person for the first time. Continue reading...
