My rage at this state of affairs consumes and numbs me. This is not the United States I know

Joan Didion, the eminent journalist, author and documenter of contemporary America, has died from Parkinson’s at the age of 87. Known for her pioneering blend of the personal and the political in her journalism and essays, Didion became a household name with her writing on US society that was collected in books including Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album

Ex-officer maintained during trial that she made a mistake when she grabbed her gun instead of her TaserThe jury in the manslaughter trial of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who shot dead 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April 2021, has found her guilty.The former police officer, who is white, had maintained that she made a tragic mistake when she grabbed her gun, instead of her Taser, and shot Wright, who was Black, when he was pulled over while driving in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. Continue reading...

An appeals court ruled against the former US president two weeks ago but prohibited documents from being turned overDonald Trump turned to the supreme court Thursday in a last-ditch effort to keep documents away from the House committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol.A federal appeals court ruled against the former US president two weeks ago, but prohibited documents held by the National Archives from being turned over before the supreme court had a chance to weigh in. Trump appointed three of the nine justices. Continue reading...

A letter organized by Martin Luther King III and his wife comes after Republicans successfully filibustered bills four times this yearMore than 800 faith leaders have called on the Biden administration and Senate Democrats to pass voting rights legislation next year.“We cannot be clearer, you must act now to protect every American’s freedom to vote without interference and with confidence that their ballot will be counted and honored. Passing comprehensive voting rights legislation must be the number-one priority of the administration and Congress,” faith leaders said in a letter addressed to the president and Senate members on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Wyomia Tyus made Olympic history and paved the way for athlete activists, but never became a household nameOnly six people in the world have won the 100m dash in back-to-back Olympic Games. The first was Wyomia Tyus in 1964 and 1968. Next was Carl Lewis, then Gail Devers, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain Bolt (who won three times in a row), and Elaine Thompson-Herah. To many people, the name Wyomia Tyus is less familiar than the others.Tyus was not only the first Olympian to win back-to-back gold in its prestige event – she also made history in other ways. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, when Tyus crossed the line first in the 100 meters, she set a world record of 11.08 seconds. And when she ran, she was wearing dark shorts instead of the team-issued white shorts, a gesture to show her support for human rights. Continue reading...

James Franco has acknowledged sleeping with students of an acting school he previously ran, saying he struggled with a sex addiction and has been working to improve his behaviour in recent years.In excerpts from The Jess Cagle Podcast on Sirius XM made public on Wednesday, Franco, 43, said that while teaching he 'did sleep with students, and that was wrong'. He said he had not started the school to lure women for sexual purposes

Tennis player with a remarkable 21 grand slam titles to her name who was a tenacious force on court in the 1950s and 60sFor a tennis player of such high achievement, Darlene Hard, who has died aged 85, was never really given her due. In an era that started with the domination of Louise Brough and Doris Hart and continued through such outstanding champions as Althea Gibson, Margaret Smith Court and Maria Bueno, Hard’s remarkable record of winning 21 grand slam titles – three in singles, 13 in doubles and five in mixed doubles – tended to get lost amid the blazing headlines that her rivals attracted.A happy, fun-loving personality off court, Hard was a tenacious force on it. In the days when top male players automatically played doubles and mixed, she had her pick of partners – a sure sign of the respect with which she was held. “Yes, I think she just came and asked me if I wanted to play with her at Wimbledon,” Rod Laver said. “I had seen her play and saw how well she served and volleyed which we all did in those days, so I thought I’d give it a go although I never really rated myself as a doubles player.” Continue reading...

In light of the more transmissible coronavirus variant, should people alter their plans? Our experts give their adviceNearly two years into the pandemic, Angela Rasmussen was looking forward to a more typical Christmas with her family. She was planning to fly from Canada back to the US, hoping that preventative measures would be enough to keep everyone safe.And then Omicron hit. Continue reading...

Developers of 432 Park Avenue, on so-called ‘Billionaire’s Row’, reject criticism and complaints of alleged design defectsThe developer of one of the world’s tallest towers has responded to a multi-million dollar lawsuit from the building’s condominium board over construction and alleged design defects that have resulted in floods, elevator malfunctions and electric explosions.The response, filed on Wednesday in New York state supreme court by an entity managed by Los Angeles-based CIM Group, said that the complaints against 432 Park Avenue in New York’s so-called Billionaire’s Row are “vastly exaggerated.” The developer also called the lawsuit “ill-advised” and argued that it was “an effort to wrest unwarranted payments”. Continue reading...

Court to hear arguments in January on vaccine-or-testing rules for workers at large firms and healthcare worker mandateThe US supreme court agreed on Wednesday to take up disputes over the Biden administration’s nationwide vaccine-or-testing Covid-19 mandate for large businesses and a separate vaccine requirement for healthcare workers.The brief court order said the court will hear oral arguments on 7 January in the two cases, with rulings likely to follow in short order. Continue reading...

Healthcare workers around the world have been on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic for almost two years, which put them through the darkest days of their careers. Five doctors who have worked in hospitals in Uganda, New Zealand, the US, India, the UK and Brazil told the Guardian about how the pandemic had tested them personally and professionally, but how they continue to find hope and resolve to keep working.Thanks to Dr Peter Kavuma, Dr Dalilah Restrepo, Dr Yogesh Kalkonde, Dr Anne Menezes and Dr Megan Smith, who is also a spokesperson at the campaigning organisation EveryDoctor

The senator’s betrayal is devastating for the future of trust and cooperation within the Democratic partyOn Sunday, Senator Joe Manchin finally said the word that many have expected from him for a long time: “no”. After a year of mammoth negotiations over the Biden administration’s social welfare and climate legislation, called Build Back Better, the senator from West Virginia told Fox News that it was time to stop trying and move on. At the same time, he released a statement blaming inflation, the national debt and Covid-19 – in other words, anything but himself – for the failure to reach a deal.The White House was reported to be “blindsided” by the news. But progressives have long seen this moment coming. All year long progressives in Congress have been negotiating with moderates like Manchin over the Biden administration’s legislative priorities. They agreed to support an infrastructure bill which the moderates badly wanted (and which was, to be fair, a good piece of legislation) in exchange for assurances that Build Back Better would also pass Congress. They stuck by this deal through thick and thin, even when Manchin insisted on defanging many of its climate provisions. They didn’t even balk when asked to drop their demand that both pieces of legislation pass Congress at the same time, which would have prevented Manchin from shirking on the agreement later. Continue reading...

Why do we need to turn this — as we do so much else — into a question of individual risk, personal calculation, and self-interested choice?When it comes to the surging Omicron variant of Covid, just about all I’m hearing is advice about holiday planning. Should one attend a holiday party? Travel? Meet friends at a restaurant?Much of the answer boils down to how to calculate one’s tolerance for risk when so little is known about Omicron except that it spreads easily. Experts are throwing around a lot of numbers. Columnists are sharing their own personal calculations.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

At least 10% of those who survive any Covid infection – whether asymptomatic or severe – will develop long CovidOn Wednesday, the New York Times – and others – published what appeared to be good news. “Omicron infections seem to be milder, three research teams report” read the headline. Many readers must have been relieved to see this news, especially with cases sky-rocketing even as the holiday season is in full swing.As someone living with post-viral conditions exacerbated by Long Covid, I read the story carefully. I noted the preliminary nature of the data from South Africa, Scotland and England, and the prediction that the greater infectiousness of Omicron would still likely land many people in hospitals already strained to capacity. Continue reading...

The US once helped destroy Chilean democracy. Now, a constitutional reform movement in Chile could teach the US how to fix its ownChile always gave the lie to the cold war claim that the United States stood for democracy. When its voters in 1970 showed the temerity (“irresponsibility”, Henry Kissinger called it) to elect socialist Salvador Allende as president, Washington helped orchestrate the coup that toppled him, and backed the resulting dictatorship.It seems those “irresponsible” Chilean voters are at it again – on Sunday, they elected leftist Gabriel Boric as president by a 12-point margin, on the back of a campaign for a new constitution. But if Chilean democracy seems on the road to recovery from its Washington-backed disfiguration, prospects for democracy in the United States look rather bleak.Tony Karon is a South African-born journalist and former anti-apartheid activist. He is currently the Managing Editor of AJ+ Continue reading...

Researchers have advocated moving away from ‘just-in-time’ model to more resilient structuresIt was hard to get through 2021 without hearing about the supply chain.Before the pandemic, the way products from all over the world would get to American consumers seemed to be a part of a smooth-going system. A survey of consumers found that 45% of Americans admitted to never thinking about how their products were made and delivered before the pandemic. Continue reading...

As the holidays approach – and some health workers contract Covid – experts warn of an unmanageable crush of patientsOn her fourth day of Covid symptoms, Ruth woke up in the worst pain of her life. It felt like her joints were filled with broken glass; she couldn’t walk, couldn’t move. “It was worse than childbirth,” she said.When friends texted to check on her, she couldn’t hold the phone or move her fingers to write back. Her doctor called in medication, and it took Ruth 40 minutes to shuffle to the pharmacy half a block away. Continue reading...

Some of the longest sentences have gone to rioters charged with ‘assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon’Judges across the US have been handing down stiff sentences and hard words in recent weeks for extremist supporters of Donald Trump who took part in the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.Since a federal judge sentenced Jacob Chansley, the US Capitol rioter nicknamed the “QAnon shaman” for his horned headdress, to 41 months in prison last month, more US judges have been delivering strict sentences to defendants charged over their roles in the attacks earlier this year. Continue reading...

President tells ABC that country is in better position than last Christmas but is struggling with testingPressed about US testing shortages amid the omicron surge, Biden conceded in an interview that “nothing’s been good enough”.In an interview with ABC’s David Muir on Wednesday, the president signaled that the country was in a better shape now than last Christmas but said he wished he had ordered free at-home tests earlier than this week. A surging demand for tests, driven by the new variant and the winter holidays, has led to long lines and shortages around the country. Continue reading...

Sonny ‘Hoot’ Gibson thought his mind was playing tricks when the sound emerged from his demolished office buildingNine days after a tornado demolished his three-story office building in downtown Mayfield, Kentucky, Sonny “Hoot” Gibson was standing in the rubble when he thought he heard a faint meow.It instantly gave him hope that his office cat, Madix, who hadn’t been seen since before the storms hit, was alive. Gibson said he had tried to find the black cat with yellow eyes who liked to greet customers of his rental business, but he had given up after a few days. Continue reading...

Centrist senator has rejected the idea of joining GOP but has indicated openness to being an independentFor many Democrats, Joe Manchin has become an unshakeable problem. The centrist senator is at odds with other Democrats on everything from filibuster reform to climate policy, and he recently announced his opposition to the Build Back Better Act, the lynchpin of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.But Republicans think Manchin now represents an opportunity to boost their numbers. Continue reading...

Panel writes to Republican congressman from Ohio, calling for meeting next monthThe House committee investigating the events around the 6 January attack on the US Capitol has asked the congressman and close Trump ally Jim Jordan to make an appearance before the panel.Jordan is a conservative Republican from Ohio who is seen as a close confidant of the former US president. Continue reading...

Joseph Moore helped foil at least two murder plots, according to court records, in nearly 10 years working undercoverIn nearly 10 years working undercover very recently for the FBI inside Florida’s Ku Klux Klan, Joseph Moore helped foil at least two murder plots, according to court records from a criminal trial for two of the klansmen.He lived a secret double life. At times the US army veteran donned a white robe and hood as a hit man for the Ku Klux Klan in north Florida. He attended clandestine meetings and participated in cross burnings. He even helped plan the murder of a Black man. Continue reading...

AJ Webber offers a tour of his 75 sq ft West Village apartment and tells viewers: ‘Whatever your expectations are, lower them’Most New York stories ultimately revolve around property, but one TikTok user has shown the world just how crushing the city’s rental apartment situation has become despite the Covid-19 pandemic.In a 46-second viral clip, AJ Webber offered a tour of his minute, 75 sq ft, low-ceiling West Village dwelling that just barely contains a sink, a microwave, and a loft bed. The short video has now had more than 26m views on the platform. Continue reading...

Hockey’s place in an increasingly crowded sports landscape is far from guaranteed, which makes the decision by the NHL and its players’ union to pull out of the Olympics short-sightedDo you believe in miracles?The NHL and its players’ union apparently do not. They’ve decided to take away the opportunity to put their sport on a grand stage, taking the rash, short-sighted decision to keep their players home while lower-tier journeymen and youngsters skate for Olympic gold in Beijing. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Civil case puts business dealings of Jo Bamford under spotlight as well as alleged family tensions• Industrial scion with big money in green energyThe heir to the JCB digger empire, whose father Lord Bamford is one of Boris Johnson’s biggest financial backers, is locked in a legal battle with a former close friend that has shed fresh light on alleged tensions inside one of the UK’s most powerful industrial families.The case has also raised questions over the conduct of Jo Bamford, a 43-year-old self-styled “green entrepreneur” who is a director at a key JCB holding company and has now set himself up as an investor in bus manufacturing and hydrogen. Continue reading...

The new Covid variant has introduced the real possibility that the NFL season will be completed under unsatisfactory circumstancesAn hour before kickoff Tuesday, a pair of seats under cover at rainy Lincoln Financial Field for the Philadelphia Eagles’ must-win NFL game against Washington could be snapped up on Ticketmaster.com for $50 each. That is a savings of 75%, sports fans.Someone bought those tickets for $190 each some months ago in the hopes of sitting in them, or selling them for even more money, but the coronavirus wrecks a lot of plans now. The game was postponed for two days after the virus hit the Washington roster especially hard. Continue reading...

The pandemic has taken a toll on the festive season, and now many of my fellow Father Christmases are strugglingFather Christmas is a very real person to so many children. Obviously with Santa being so occupied at this time of year, many impersonators go out to entertain and help with all of the excitement leading up to Christmas. I’ve just finished a 27-show run as a Father Christmas impersonator, at a four-day event run by Dudley metropolitan borough council. The council team presented an outdoor, big-screen Father Christmas experience. With the trees and the hall expertly illuminated and the audience sitting in marquees with two walls taken out, children watched a short story concluding with its characters finding a “magic portal”. The screen blitzed and Father Christmas appeared.Not all Father Christmas gigs are like this – and I’ve been doing them for 18 years. One year, I worked in a grotto that was actually more “grotty”: a garden shed plonked in the middle of an indoor shopping centre, with some plastic gnomes and penguins dotted around it. A funless elf wheeled the children through at a rate of knots. The hours were long and the pay was poor. Most of the children were too young to understand what was happening; the parents were eager only for that picture with Santa, never mind that their child was bawling their head off. Having an argument in your allocated two minutes is not a very festive option. As with any close contact with children, you need to make sure your reflexes are quick to save your beard. Unless you are a “real-beard Santa” – then it just hurts.Alec Powell is a children’s entertainer, magician and Father Christmas impersonator Continue reading...

Lawsuit filed by longtime adviser to Donald Trump is the latest in a flood of litigation by targets of the committeeMichael Flynn, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump, has sued the congressional committee investigating the deadly 6 January attack on the US Capitol in hopes of blocking it from obtaining his phone records.Flynn alleged in a lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, that a subpoena issued to him by the House of Representatives select committee was too broad in scope and punishes him for constitutionally protected speech as a private citizen. Continue reading...

We’re making progress in the arms race against the virus, but work in the lab must be supported by public health measuresIt’s beginning to feel a lot like last Christmas. Case numbers of a new Covid variant are exploding across the UK, and the prime minister is cautioning that restrictions may be called for. But while the threat of Omicron likely surpasses that of previous variants, our tools to track and combat the virus have also advanced since last year.The world was alerted to Omicron by the Botswanan and South African scientists who first sequenced the novel variant on 24 November, and it was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization two days later. It was immediately obvious to them that they had something alarming on their hands when they saw the large number of mutations in the Omicron genome.Dr Manon Ragonnet-Cronin is an MRC Fellow at Imperial College London and a member of the Imperial College Covid-19 response team Continue reading...

Basic civil rights do not take a holiday, so neither should those entrusted to safeguard those rightsVoting rights are under assault by Republican state lawmakers, clearly afraid of the power of the Black electorate and empowered by the gutting of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. The federal response, or lack thereof, will affect not only Black voters but the power of all Americans to shape our government with our votes. Endemic racism obscures the obvious: an attack on Black voters is an attack on the foundation of our democracy.With two voting rights bills held hostage in the US Senate by threat of a Republican filibuster, Democrats are not fighting back with the same vigor that Republicans have used to trample on the rights of voters. A failure of US Senate Democrats to move on the passage of voting rights will ultimately be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they fail to secure rights for the voters who put them into office, their base for the midterm elections will shrink and open a path for a Republican takeover in 2022.Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown are co-founders of Black Voters Matter Continue reading...

Farmers in Oregon had their ‘worst summer ever’ as heat, drought and extreme weather threaten industryIt happened overnight. Larry Ryerson, 78, woke up on a Sunday morning in late June in Medford, southern Oregon, to find thousands of seedlings on his 10-acre Christmas tree farm dying.

Program asks people on voter rolls to prove citizenship, sparking concern that eligible voters could be wrongfully targetedTexas officials have quietly restarted a controversial program to ask people on the voter rolls to prove their citizenship, sparking alarm that thousands of eligible voters could be wrongfully targeted.The Texas secretary of state’s office has identified just under 12,000 people it suspects of being non-citizens since September, when the program restarted (there are more than 17 million registered voters in Texas). About 2,327 voter registrations have been cancelled so far. The vast majority of cancellations were because voters failed to respond to a notice giving them 30 days to prove their citizenship. Continue reading...

President’s Covid address acknowledges pandemic fatigue and condemns those who are ‘peddling lies’ about the virus. Plus Larry David, the bald oracleHalf a billion free at-home coronavirus tests will be sent to the American public in the fight against Omicron, Joe Biden announced yesterday while pushing back against resistance to vaccine mandates by saying they are intended “not to control your life but to save your life”.The president, whose address was intended to rally the troops for the latest Covid battle, began with his signature empathy card. “I want to start by acknowledging how tired, worried and frustrated I know you are. I know how you’re feeling. For many of you, this will be the first or even the second Christmas where you look – across the table will be an empty kitchen chair there.”Should Americans celebrate Christmas as normal? Biden said unvaccinated people have good reason to be concerned, but those who have been vaccinated should celebrate Christmas as planned.Why did he get such a long sentence? The judge in the case has said he had to give Aguilera-Mederos the lengthy sentence based on minimum sentencing laws for the charges, prompting further criticism of the criminal justice system. Continue reading...

My husband died three years ago, but a credit card can conjure memories of him, blurring the line between ‘now’ and ‘then’Grief totems aren’t always easy to rationalise. Once a loved one has departed, their footprints can be found everywhere and they often linger in the most unexpected places. A toothbrush casually discarded by the sink. An airline boarding pass shoved into a tatty paperback novel. A few months after my husband died in 2018, I found his credit card during a routine search for my trainers, and with a reverence one might pay a precious artefact, I stroked my fingers over the braille of his name before placing it back inside his wallet.“I’ve got ghosts on my phone,” the Bafta-winning writer, director and actor Mark Gatiss mused in an interview with the Radio Times. “I know this isn’t unique to me but I’ve lost my mum, my sister, my brother-in-law and now my dad, and there is something very odd about being orphaned, even at 54.”Kat Lister is author of The Elements: A Widowhood Continue reading...

The US continues to lag in testing, leading many people to wait in line for hours amid increased demand due to the emergence of OmicronAs a history professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Kevin Bruyneel had been tested for Covid-19 more than 100 times and typically waited less than 15 minutes for the free tests.So Bruyneel was upset when he went to get a PCR test at a clinic Sunday in Brooklyn, New York, and waited more than an hour after his scheduled appointment and was billed at least $100 – though he could owe more depending on what his insurance covers. Continue reading...

US conservatives’ campaign to undermine the landmark ruling threatens progress in reproductive freedom in Latin AmericaAs the US supreme court prepares to decide a case that could deny women the right to abortion in much of the US, Latin American activists like me are holding our collective breaths.The continent has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, in spite of recent progressive reforms in the past decade in countries including Uruguay and Argentina. Continue reading...

For every retailer that closed a store in 2019, five more opened in 2021, according to research and advisory firm IHL GroupDespite a global pandemic, inflation being at a decades-high and supply chain issues around the country, Americans are still shopping this holiday season, and not just online.Retail sales have been soaring during the pandemic as stimulus payments, a low unemployment rate and savings from spending less on travel and going out have encouraged Americans to buy more things. In November 2021, Americans spent 18% more than they had in November 2020. Experts predicted that this holiday shopping season will be the highest on record. Continue reading...

We have bravely forged ahead despite many hurdles (many of our own making but that’s not the point)

Case is among highest profile to come from the US Department of Justice’s ‘China Initiative’, a controversial effort to curb suspected economic espionageA Harvard University professor charged with hiding his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program has been found guilty on all counts.Charles Lieber, 62, the former chair of Harvard’s department of chemistry and chemical biology, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of making false statements, and two counts of failing to file reports for a foreign bank account in China. Continue reading...

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was convicted of vehicular homicide and received a lengthy sentence that sparked calls for leniencyThe case of a young Colorado truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison over his role in a fatal collision has prompted widespread calls for leniency and fueled criticism of the US justice system.On Tuesday, the Colorado district attorney whose office prosecuted the case asked the court to reconsider the sentence of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, following the backlash over a punishment that’s been called unduly harsh. Continue reading...

In 2008, newly discovered DNA pointed toward the involvement of an ‘unexplained third party’ in the six-year-old’s murderTwenty-five years after JonBenét Ramsey was killed, police say DNA hasn’t been ruled out to help solve the case.The six-year-old was found dead in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home on 26 December 1996, bludgeoned and strangled, several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever charged in the case. Continue reading...

The president condemns those who are ‘peddling lies’ about the virus but promises that the vaccinated are well protectedA gingerbread White House is coated in pristine icing and decorated with tiny wreaths, surrounded by miniature fire, gas and police stations, a grocery store, post office, warehouse and school, complete with yellow bus.This twee vision of a virus-free world, produced by White House pastry chefs, formed an incongruous backdrop on Tuesday as Joe Biden strode into the state dining room to deliver something akin to a wartime address. Continue reading...

Jury resumes discussion in trial of officer who says she meant to use her Taser instead of her gun when she shot a Black motoristA jury resumed deliberations on Tuesday in the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer who says she meant to use her Taser instead of her gun when she shot and killed a Black motorist, Daunte Wright, in April this year.The jury met for about five hours on Monday following closing arguments in which prosecutors accused Kim Potter of a “blunder of epic proportions” in Wright’s death in a traffic stop – but said a mistake was no defense. Continue reading...

Half a million phones received emergency alerts thanks to system offering a few seconds to take coverIn the moments before a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck the northern California coast on Monday, roughly half a million phones began to buzz. An early-alert system managed by the US Geological Survey sent warnings out before the ground started to shake, giving residents in the sparsely populated area vital time to take cover.The earthquake brought significant shaking but minimal damage in Humboldt county, about 210 miles north-west of San Francisco, and officials said it was an excellent test of the alert-system. It was the largest magnitude quake that’s occurred since the system, known as ShakeAlert, was officially rolled out across the west coast. Continue reading...