US news | The Guardian

Reading Sue Gray’s interim report, it’s hard to believe that the people who made the law had obeyed the lawThe interim findings of a report by the civil servant Sue Gray are damning of the culture at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government. Ms Gray cited “failures of leadership and judgment”; “excessive” consumption of alcohol in the workplace; and officials cowed into silence about Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street. Ms Gray said she has been “extremely limited” by a police investigation and was unable to make firm conclusions about what she had discovered. However, Ms Gray’s report suggests that some of the events she examined didn’t comply with lockdown rules, saying that “a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did”. Reading this, it’s hard to believe that the people who made the law had obeyed the law.Mr Johnson’s argument to MPs had been that the Downing Street parties were not parties because lockdown guidance had been heeded. The Johnson logic was that since the rules said there could be no party, whatever happened wasn’t a party. The trouble with this reasoning is that Ms Gray has amassed enough evidence for the police to investigate a dozen potential criminal breaches of Covid rules in Mr Johnson’s home and office. The Met has 300 photographs and 500 pieces of paper from Ms Gray, which only raise the stakes for Tory MPs. This feels more like the vapour trail from a cruise missile than the wispy smoke coming off a warm gun. Continue reading...

With some of Sue Gray’s findings published, what will the implications be for Boris Johnson? Our experts give their viewIn any normal political climate, the Sue Gray report should be a final word. It is not short on statements that should condemn the prime minister, confirming the facts that have been out in the public domain for weeks now. Twelve parties – all but four of those that took place – are under criminal investigation. One of those, and this is not a passing detail, took place in the prime minister’s own flat. While the rest of the country was negotiating the fine technicalities of what constitutes a breach of the rules, in some instances pondering whether to sit on a bench in the park or not, these parties seem to suggest that No 10 and civil service staff, under the eye of the prime minister, believed they were exempt.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Congressman Thomas Massie quoted phrase coined by white supremacist convicted of possessing child abuse imagesThe Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie was under familiar fire on Monday, after criticising Anthony Fauci with a quote attributed to Voltaire but actually coined by a white supremacist convicted on charges related to child abuse images.“To learn who rules over you,” the quote says, “simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.” Continue reading...

The party’s dysfunctionality comes from the top – and those waiting for the right moment to unseat the PM risk being dragged into the mireWhen Aaron Bell attended his grandmother’s funeral, he could not allow himself to hug his grieving parents and siblings.After she was laid to rest with only 10 mourners present, in accordance with Covid regulations, he turned around and drove the three hours home without stopping for a cup of tea, because those were the rules and in a pandemic they were to be obeyed. His question to Boris Johnson on Monday afternoon was couched in tones of barely suppressed fury: “Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?”Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Author Art Spiegelman says decision to ban Pulitzer-winning novel that depicts Jewish people as mice is ‘demented’The Pulitzer prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale has become a bestseller on Amazon, after a Tennessee school board banned it.Last week, according to meeting minutes, 10 school board members in McMinn county agreed to remove Maus from the eighth-grade curriculum, citing “rough, objectionable language” and sketches of naked women they deemed unsuitable for 13-year-old students. Continue reading...

Officers did not investigate the deaths of Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls in a timely manner or notify relativesA Connecticut mayor has ordered two police officers placed on administrative leave amid scrutiny over the alleged mishandling of investigations of the deaths of two Black women.According to family members, investigations into the deaths of Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, and Brenda Lee Rawls, 53, both on 21 December, were mishandled by officers who did not investigate in a timely manner or notify relatives. Continue reading...

As many people return to the office, what about those of us left behind who have got used to the company during the pandemic?As the world returns to the office, doggy daycare is booming. You hear of kingpins who never even have to meet the dogs, but run establishments packed with canines, whose owners are each paying more for the day than the dog-loving apprentices are receiving. They offer “enrichment activities” – AKA other dogs with buttholes – and nap time, which is to say, all day.Sorry, that is unfair. There are also many fine and upstanding dog lovers providing these services, and right across the spectrum, everyone reports a surge in demand as people who got a lockdown puppy now have a regular, grownup dog. But it’s a dog with a difference. It can’t be left alone for one second. Dog behaviourists report weird, amazingly strategic new methods to stop owners going out: dogs that will hide shoes, lie down across front doors, or – in the case of one high-risk fellow – across the rear wheels of a car. Realistically, what’s the upside, for a dog, of anyone leaving the house? You can hardly blame them, but you have now created an animal that needs £40 a day spent on it just to stay sane. You might as well have bought a lockdown racehorse. Continue reading...

There has been a subtle campaign to redefine racism by the intent and not the effects of discriminatory actions, even as gerrymandered maps diminish the power of Black votersAlthough the phrase “All politics is local” is usually attributed to Tip O’Neill Jr, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, the aphorism probably originated in the February 1932 Associated Press column “Politics at Random”, when the Washington bureau chief, Byron Price, wrote: “All politics is local politics.” As valid as Price’s summarization of inside-the-Beltway politics may be, there is probably a more accurate way to describe the All American sport of civic power-brokering:All politics is racial.Michael Harriot is a writer and author of the upcoming book Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America

In statement protesting against reform of Electoral Count Act, ex-president appears to admit Joe Biden wonDonald Trump was accused of “saying the quiet part loud” on Sunday night, when he protested that Mike Pence, his former vice-president, could have overturned his election defeat by Joe Biden.Though he has appeared to admit Biden won before, Trump usually insists he won and his opponent stole the election through voter fraud – the “big lie” which animates rallies like one in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday. Continue reading...

Then vice-president elect remained inside DNC for nearly two hours before bomb was found, new details by CNN revealKamala Harris, then vice-president-elect, drove within yards of a pipe bomb left outside the Democratic National Committee on January 6 2021 and remained inside for nearly two hours before the bomb was found, it was reported on Monday.Harris’s proximity to the bomb was known previously, but not how close or for how long. CNN reported the new details in the case, part of alarming events in Washington on the day Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump. Continue reading...

The prime minister’s response to ‘partygate’ is a wild orgy of populist policies to keep up the pretence he’s still in chargeFor the past fortnight Sue Gray’s report on “partygate” has been hovering over Downing Street like a huge vulture, seeking only somewhere to land. A redacted version is expected imminently. In the meantime, Boris Johnson is panicking. For partygate he has substituted policygate, a wild orgy of populist pronouncements designed to show he is still in charge. If Johnson cannot lie himself out of trouble, perhaps he can bribe himself out of it.What do you want, everyone? I would get the Treasury to let you off extra taxes, if only that mean Rishi Sunak would let me. I can promise help with gas bills and heating allowances. I can shower the north of England with money and mayors. I can let you visit your loved ones in care homes, perhaps. I can even get on a plane, fly east and pretend to threaten Vladimir Putin with war.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Police say Extra entertainment correspondent was found dead in Manhattan on SundayCheslie Kryst, the 2019 winner of the Miss USA pageant and a correspondent for the entertainment news program Extra, has died at age 30.Police said Kryst was found dead in Manhattan, New York, on Sunday morning. Her family confirmed her death in a statement. Continue reading...

Joe Rogan has addressed controversy over his Spotify podcast, hours after the streaming service announced a plan to tackle the spread of Covid-19 misinformation. In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday night, the comedian and host pledged to 'try harder to get people with differing opinions on' and 'do my best to make sure I’ve researched these topics'. Rogan framed his podcast – which reaches an estimated 11 million listeners per episode – as 'just conversations'

New Covid commission would inform US response to future outbreaks as well as current impact of the virus. Plus, the intimacy famineGood morning.A sweeping new bill with powerful bipartisan support in the US Senate would establish an inquiry into the country’s Covid-19 response similar to the 9/11 Commission, among other provisions aimed at preventing the next pandemic.In November 2019, the US was ranked first of 195 countries for pandemic preparedness in a report co-produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, but it has consistently had one of the worst responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, said John Farmer Jr, the senior counsel for the 9/11 Commission.What’s going to happen next? There is expected to be a UN security council meeting today, at the request of the US, to give Russia the opportunity to explain its actions. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said the US was “prepared to listen” but was “not going to be distracted by their propaganda”.What’s happening on the ground? Tensions on the Ukraine border have continued to escalate, with Reuters reporting the Russian military build-up included supplies of blood in anticipation of casualties. Continue reading...

An FBI raid could give Henry Cuellar’s progressive challenger a primary boost – but a Cuellar loss could open the door for RepublicansFew people outside of south Texas, and even fewer outside the state, have heard of US representative Henry Cuellar, though he is one of the state’s most fascinating elected officials. But now the nation may know him as yet another member of Congress tied to a federal investigation. A recent FBI raid at this nine-term Democratic congressman’s home and campaign headquarters in Laredo, on the US-Mexico border, has potentially significant implications for Washington politics: it deals another blow to the art of compromise, a once-essential legislative tool, and one that Cuellar has mastered in his long political career.The FBI raid on January 19 is part of an investigation of several people with ties to the former Soviet nation of Azerbaijan. I have no direct knowledge of the nature of the federal investigation – and Cuellar has not been charged with anything – but allowing an FBI raid weeks before his hotly contested 1 March primary suggests the highest levels of the justice department signed off on this action. Continue reading...

When the quarterback joined the Cincinnati Bengals the franchise was a punchline. Less than two years later they’re going to the Super BowlThe Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl.Repeat: The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl. Continue reading...

Proposals banning abortion, discussions of sexuality, and white racial ‘discomfort’ aim to establish Florida as capital of TrumpistanIt has been a long and painful month in the Florida legislature for opponents of the state’s Trumpist governor Ron DeSantis and his loyal band of rightwing Republicans. A slew of bills has advanced attacking everything from diversity rights, abortion protections and free speech in schools, in addition to a proposal that would legally shield white people from feeling “discomfort” over the state’s racist past.And last Wednesday, an anti-masker physician, hand picked by the governor and apathetic about the value of Covid-19 vaccines, was backed unanimously by a Republican senate panel as the next surgeon-general following a walk-out by Democratic politicians frustrated by Joseph Ladapo’s evasiveness. Continue reading...

New Covid commission would inform the US response to future outbreaks as well as the current impact of the virusA sweeping new bill with powerful bipartisan support in the US Senate would establish an inquiry into the country’s Covid-19 response similar to the 9/11 Commission, among other provisions aimed at preventing the next pandemic.The new Covid commission would inform the US response to future outbreaks as well as the current impact of the disease. The bill will be co-sponsored by Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, who plan to mark it up in committee in coming weeks. Continue reading...

The lizards aren’t dead but merely immobilised when temperatures go under 10C, weather bureau saysThe US weather service has warned Florida residents that immobilised iguanas could fall out of trees due to unusually cold temperatures across the region.“Iguanas are cold-blooded. They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s [4-9 Celsius],” the US National Weather Service Miami-South Florida said on Twitter on Sunday. “They may fall from trees, but they are not dead.” Continue reading...

Massachusetts sees power outages in worst of storm, with dangerous wind chills following in its wakeThe US east coast fell into a deep freeze on Sunday, after a powerful nor’easter dumped mounds of snow, flooded coastlines and knocked out power to tens of thousands.Dangerous wind chills were expected after the storm dumped snow from Virginia to Maine. The weather may have contributed to at least four deaths in New York, all on Long Island. Continue reading...

Nine people taken to hospital from Hampton Inn in Marysville as police say all affected had been in pool areaSeven people were hospitalized in critical condition after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Hampton Inn in Ohio, officials said. A total of 11 people were taken to a local hospital.The Marysville fire chief, Jay Riley, said the source of the carbon monoxide was unclear but everyone who was hospitalized had been in the hotel pool area. Continue reading...

Negotiations for package of sanctions against Putin ‘on the one-yard line’, says Bob Menendez of foreign relations committee

One person also in critical condition in wreck caused by driver who was speeding, police sayA six-vehicle crash killed nine people and left one in critical condition in Nevada on Saturday. Police were trying to determine if a driver was impaired before running a red light, causing the collision.A local councilwoman lamented a “tremendous and unnecessary loss due to a careless and senseless act”. Continue reading...

As thousands turn out to hear the former president, midterm candidates vie for his backing by pushing ‘stolen’ election mythOn a chilly open field in Texas, Dan Patrick was delivering prepared remarks about the spectre of socialism when the crowd broke into a chant about the 2020 presidential election.“Well, we all know who won in 2020, don’t we?” the state’s lieutenant governor ad-libbed. “Who won?” There was apparently not a soul who believes the answer is Joe Biden. Continue reading...

Pressure campaign was fired by fear of repeat of disaster when Republicans replaced Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Viasat says it ‘isn’t about ripping out cost to make the numbers’, and it has longstanding relationship in UKThe chief executive of the US satellite company that is buying Inmarsat for $7.3bn (£5.4bn) has said it is not “stealing” Britain’s crown jewel in the space communications race, and is confident the deal would be cleared by a potential investigation by the government to assess the threat of a foreign takeover to national security.Rick Baldridge, the chief executive of Viasat, was in London with his team last week to meet government agencies, Inmarsat management and media as part of a mission to pave the way for clearance of the California-based company’s biggest ever deal. Continue reading...

The old divides are closing, but the flags in Derry show that some unionists are in no mood to move onThe road I grew up on in Drumahoe, on the outskirts of Derry, has been on the news lately, and not in a way that makes me proud. Journalists stand at its junction with the main road from Belfast, pointing up at the purple flag of the Parachute Regiment fluttering high on a lamp-post. They explain its significance at this time of year: it was paratroopers who killed 13 unarmed civil rights marchers in the city on Bloody Sunday in January 1972. Family members of those killed have talked about the pain the flying of these flags causes them. Politicians, including some unionists, and even the Parachute Regiment itself have called it “unacceptable”.The flag flies because there are some in the unionist community who want to show that not everybody is mourning the dead of Bloody Sunday as its 50th anniversary is marked in Derry this weekend. It is a show of disrespect. Drumahoe has been flying this flag for years, as has the village of Newbuildings on the main road into Derry from Dublin. I saw one that had a sign pinned underneath it featuring the crosshairs of a gun – a warning to anyone tempted to remove it. In Drumahoe there are always union flags and Ulster flags flying, and sometimes there are also Scottish, Israeli and paramilitary flags. They stand like a weird forest. After the Anglo-Irish agreement in 1985, “Drumahoe Says No” was daubed on a wall along the main road behind our house, the white ghosts of its letters lingering on the red brick for years after it was painted over.Susan McKay is an Irish writer and journalist whose books include Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground Continue reading...

Brookside, a former mining town with a median income of less than $40,000, generated more than $610,000 in fines in 2020Residents of a small Alabama city will on Tuesday hold a town hall meeting to discuss claims by community members and activist groups that local police have pursued excessive policing for profit.Officers in Brookside, a former mining town 20 min outside Birmingham, have been accused of generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in city revenue through ticketing, towing and other traffic-related fines, despite Brookside having no traffic lights and a few two-lane roads, news site AL.com first reported. Continue reading...

In a row over Covid misinformation, Spotify sided with the wildly successful podcast host over Neil YoungSome 20 years ago, Joe Rogan was a reality TV host, fronting Fear Factor on NBC, in which hapless contestants faced dangerous, scary or gross stunts.Now he’s one of the most powerful figures in American media, though often little acknowledged or actively shunned by the country’s coastal elites. He is sometimes left-leaning but says he detests identity politics and political correctness. He appears committed to some forms of social justice but is amenable to conservatives. Continue reading...

Neil Young versus Joe Rogan is a PR disaster and a sign the digital platform has lost its wayUntil last week, Spotify-using fans of Neil Young could access a vast 54-year catalogue of songs, which attracted more than 6 million listeners a month. Now all that remains are appearances on compilations and, for some reason, a 1989 live album. Enraged by what he saw as the promotion of “life-threatening Covid misinformation” on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the Canadian singer-songwriter issued an ultimatum: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”As Young surely knew, Spotify’s choice was a foregone conclusion. Rogan’s show, which the streaming service acquired for $100m in 2020, is its most popular podcast, with an average listenership of 11 million per episode. In its first month, it accounted for 4.5% of all podcast listening on Spotify worldwide. For Spotify, which is banking on podcasts to drive subscriptions, he is a star of the magnitude of Adele. Continue reading...

Voters aren’t sick and tired of hearing about lockdown-busting parties. They are sick and tired of the desperate excuses made in the prime minister’s nameConor Burns, one of the troupe of Johnson loyalists willing to humiliate themselves on behalf of the prime minister, now knows the first line of his obituary. It will be his attempt to excuse Boris Johnson’s lockdown-busting birthday party inside Number 10 with the immortal phrase “he was, in a sense, ambushed with a cake”. This deserved all the mockery it got, but it is by no means the most desperate of the arguments being offered by those trying to save the prime minister’s skin. Continue reading...

The takeover in Spalding county is part of Republican efforts to dominate elections mechanisms nationwideThe judges met, in private, over a two-day period in May, for what might seem like a minor task: to choose the fifth member of an elections board in rural Spalding county, Georgia.But the meetings were by no means routine. There is no record of their vote or their discussions. The interviews with Democratic and Republican applicants were conducted in private, via Zoom calls. And the position was only vacant because of a new law, specific only to Spalding county, recently introduced by the area’s two Republican state lawmakers. Continue reading...

The needless decision to limit Sue Gray’s report on partygate may make its findings irrelevant and paralyses the countryThe real villain in the story is Boris Johnson. He presided over a home and a workplace where the rules were ignored. The whole country has heard the stories.Of course everyone knew the the prime minister told lies and was unreliable. But this – a character who appeared sometimes engagingly anarchic turns out to be contemptuous and disdainful, lacking the most basic decency and honour. He shames our country, the office of PM and disables the leadership of the UK. He is on his belly to Conservative MPs: decisions about the nation’s future now depend on whether his backstairs deals with wavering MPs stem the haemorrhage brought on by the sight of his suppurating character. Continue reading...

Winner bought ticket at Chevron gas station in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles but is yet to come forwardA single ticket sold in southern California matched all six numbers and was the lucky winner of the $426m Mega Millions jackpot prize.The winning numbers drawn on Friday night were 3, 16, 25, 44 and 55. The Mega ball was 13, the California State Lottery said. Continue reading...

Republican senator says choice will be beneficiary of affirmative action but critics point to support for Trump vow to pick woman

Strategist contends West Virginia replacement could be worse but congressman Ruben Gallego could win Arizona primary

Allison Fluke-Ekren’s all-female militant group was trained in the use of grenades, AK-47 rifles and suicide belts, authorities sayA woman who once lived in Kansas before moving to Egypt and Syria has been charged with joining the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and leading an all-female battalion of AK-47 wielding militants.The US attorney in Alexandria, Virginia, announced on Saturday that Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, had been arrested and charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. Continue reading...

As the president seeks to reset course, a booming economy and receding pandemic reveal encouraging signsSnow fell lightly as Joe Biden stared into the wooded hollow where, just hours before he arrived in Pittsburgh, a half-century old bridge had collapsed. It was a dramatic illustration of what had brought the president to the City of Bridges: his urgent drive to rebuild crumbling US infrastructure.Last year, Biden signed a $1tn infrastructure bill, an achievement that eluded his most recent predecessors and one he was eager to champion after legislative setbacks. Continue reading...