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Abortion bans, anti-LGBTQ laws, book bans – the party sees hot button issues as a tried and test path to victory. Democrats ignore it at their peril, experts say“Sue-thy-neighbour” laws that ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in Texas and now Idaho. A “don’t say gay” bill censoring discussion of sexual orientation in schools in Florida. A ban on Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, by a school board in Tennessee.America’s national government might be under Democratic control but its red states are on the march with sweeping laws targeting abortion, LGBTQ+ people and the teaching of race in schools that threaten to turn back the clock to an era when a citizen’s rights depended on where they lived. Continue reading...

From a friend’s charming stories to a senator’s heartfelt backing, here are some non-enraging moments from the SenateThe confirmation hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson officially wrapped up this week after four days of extensive questioning, heated exchanges and other contentious moments.But Jackson, who was questioned by Republican senators on a variety of issues, was widely praised for her patient demeanor and thoughtful responses. Continue reading...

Property where LGBTQ+ rights champion Cleve Jones lives was purchased by a new owner last monthA prominent San Francisco LGBTQ+ rights activist is being uprooted from his home in the Castro neighborhood after the new owner of the property nearly doubled his rent to $5,200.Cleve Jones, 67, who moved to San Francisco in 1973 and first conceived of the Aids Memorial Quit, is reportedly moving out of his rent-controlled, one-bedroom apartment this week. The move comes after he was notified of a significant price increase from the property’s new owner, who claims that the apartment is not Jones’ primary residence. Continue reading...

Australia must figure out how to respond to an increasingly crowded Pacific, without increasing tensions in the regionA leaked draft security agreement being negotiated between China and Solomon Islands could have security implications for the whole Pacific. The draft document sets out a broad framework covering Chinese “police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces” deployments to Solomon Islands. The agreement also allows China, with the consent of Solomon Islands, to make ship visits, provide logistical support and have stopovers and transition in Solomon Islands.All Pacific countries have a stake in protecting the stability and security of the region. Pacific Islands Forum members, including Australia, agreed in the 2018 Boe Declaration to address regional security challenges collectively. A bilateral agreement such as the one proposed between China and Solomon Islands undermines that sentiment and shows a limited appreciation for security of the region as a whole by whomever was the leaked draft’s initial author. Continue reading...

Legislature was accused of gerrymandering after substituting its own new district maps for ones drafted by outside commissionA Maryland judge ruled on Friday that the state’s new congressional map is unconstitutional, the first map by a Democratic-controlled state legislature to be struck down by a court this redistricting cycle.So far courts have intervened to block maps they found to be GOP gerrymanders in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, infuriating Republicans and leading conservatives to push for the US supreme court to limit the power of state courts to overturn maps drawn by state legislatures. Continue reading...

School board ditches policy ‘rooted in racism’ that was widely ignored in practiceThe New Orleans school board has unanimously reversed a little known but century-old ban on jazz in schools in a city which played a huge role in developing jazz and where it is still played nightly at various venues.“I’m very glad that we can rescind this policy. I want to acknowledge it. It was rooted in racism,” the Orleans parish school board president, Olin Parker, said during the meeting on Thursday night. “And I also want to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our students and especially of our band directors, whose legacy continues from 1922 through present day.” Continue reading...

The footage suggests the international legion fighting alongside the Ukrainian military is playing an increasingly active role. The video clips show an American in combat gear posing in front of the burnt remains of what he said was a Russian tank. The videos were posted by James Vasquez, a US army veteran and building contractor from Connecticut, who according to his Twitter feed, arrived in Poland on 15 March, crossed into Ukraine the next day, bringing with him several surveillance drones. He was sent to the frontlines from Lviv on 18 March

Nebraska Republican Jeff Fortenberry found guilty in case involving illegal campaign contributions from foreign billionaireA Nebraska congressman has been found guilty of three felonies for lying to the FBI about illegal campaign contributions from a foreign billionaire.A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Jeff Fortenberry, a nine-term Republican, on Thursday of concealing information and two counts of providing false statements to authorities. Continue reading...

Kyiv knows concessions will not bring security: on the contrary, they will provoke a new Russian offensiveWestern analysts are trying to develop different scenarios for Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The “menu” is expansive: a protracted conflict with a gradual transition to low-intensity hostilities; a nuclear disaster; the use of chemical or biological weapons to bring victory in land operations; political compromise on the side of Ukraine and others.The only scenario that is not discussed is the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Everywhere there are some “buts”, as if the need to “sacrifice” something to Russia is considered unavoidable.Maria Zolkina is a political analyst at Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a Kyiv-based thinktank Continue reading...

Teen fell from the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened late last year at Icon ParkA 14-year-old boy fell to his death from a ride at an amusement park in Orlando, sheriff’s officials said.Sheriff’s officials and emergency crews responded to a call late Thursday at Icon Park, which is located in the city’s tourist district along International Drive. The boy fell from the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened late last year. Continue reading...

Republicans are becoming so hysterical because people like Judge Jackson pose a revolutionary threat to the status quo“Black Girl Magic” is on full display in the supreme court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Republicans are apoplectic. The juxtaposition of Jackson’s calm, confident, professionalism with the hostile, cynical and contemptuous questioning by senators such as Texas senator Ted Cruz is an object lesson for the entire world on the ongoing dynamics of systemic racism in the United States.Rather than do their constitutional duty of engage with a prospective supreme court justice on the pressing legal issues of the day, the Republican committee members have opted to throw racist red meat to their rabid white supporters who are gripped by fear of people of color. Cruz led the charge with his attacks on critical race theory, asking Jackson whether she agrees “that babies are racist” and trying to paint the judge as a dangerous person who would force white children to learn about racism.Steve Phillips is the founder of Democracy in Color and author of Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority. He is a Guardian US columnist

Governor Brad Little signed SB1309, banning all abortions after six weeks’ gestational age – and it is enforced not through state action, but private lawsuitsIf there was any doubt that Roe v Wade has been nullified, Idaho’s governor, Brad Little, put an end to it on Wednesday, when he signed SB1309, known officially as the Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act, into law. Like Texas’ SB8, Idaho’s new law bans all abortions after six weeks’ gestational age, in plain violation of Roe. But like SB8, the law may well be able to go into effect as scheduled next month, because it is enforced not through state action, but through private lawsuits.The supreme court is likely to overturn Roe this summer anyway, in the widely anticipated Dobbs v Jackson ruling. But almost all abortions have been illegal in Texas since September, when the court gave its blessing to SB8’s private enforcement provision and allowed the law to go into effect. Since the court gave the nod to SB8, other Republican-controlled states have rushed to pass copycat bills, eager to outlaw abortion within their borders even before the downfall of Roe in a few months. According to the reproductive rights research group the Guttmacher Institute, SB8 copycat bills have been introduced in 12 states, including Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee. But Idaho’s is the first to be signed into law.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

US increasing exports of seaborne liquefied natural gas to cut Europe’s dependence on Russia and starve war machine

In spite of advanced disease and the threat of Covid, judges’ mercy tends to stop short of aging dons and gangstersTommy “Shots” Gioeli was once a powerful and feared figure as he plotted hits as a reputed leader of the Colombo crime family. Now, at 69, Gioeli is imprisoned and sick, unsuccessfully pleading for mercy as two cancers attack his body.Like many other federal prisoners, Gioeli asked a judge to grant compassionate release, a term which effectively means early release from incarceration for factors such as illness or advanced age. Continue reading...

Everyone loves a Cinderella story in the NCAA tournament and the Peacocks are fulfilling their role nicely this yearA college basketball team strolled into the gym for a most unlikely practice on Tuesday – unlikely because the team was Saint Peter’s, the small school bound for the NCAA Sweet 16, and because nine television cameras and nine microphones awaited.Everyone loves a Cinderella story in the NCAA tournament, the knockout competition that ends the college basketball season and pits tiny schools like Saint Peter’s against behemoths with budgets in the tens of millions, like Duke and Kentucky. Perhaps even more so now that a horrid war is raging halfway across the world and Americans are still pretty much split into two snarling factions. The Saint Peter’s Peacocks offer a break, a getaway. All of America eats this stuff up. Continue reading...

US president will visit country where 2 million refugees have fled crisis on its border. Plus, why so many pets are being forced to dietGood morning.Joe Biden is due to see first-hand the scale of the Ukrainian refugee crisis today when he visits Poland, which has taken in more than 2 million people fleeing Russian forces across the border.What did Zelenskiy say about sanctions? “You blocked Nord Stream 2. We are grateful to you. And rightly so. But it was also a little late. Because if it had been in time, Russia would not have created a gas crisis. At least there was a chance,” he said.What’s happening on the ground? Russia is running out of precision-guided munitions and it is more likely to rely on so-called dumb bombs and artillery, a senior Pentagon official said last night, Reuters reported.What else is happening? US volunteers have reached the frontline of the war in Ukraine.Who else is listed as defendants in the suit? Among them are the ex-FBI officials James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page; the former British spy Christopher Steele, the author of a famous dossier on Trump’s links to Moscow; Jake Sullivan, now Biden’s national security adviser; and John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair.What does the lawsuit say Clinton and co did? Trump’s new lawsuit claims that in the run-up to the 2016 election “Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot – one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nation’s democracy”. Continue reading...

Protests during the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to the Caribbean highlight royalty’s pivotal role in the slave tradeIt wasn’t supposed to go like this. Usually, royal tours are full of cheering people lining the streets and gushy accounts of glamorous dresses. There has been some of that during the royal visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Caribbean. But there also have been protests, especially in Jamaica, where many people want the royal family to apologise for its role in institutionalising slavery on the island. To top it all off, it has also been reported this week that Jamaica has begun the process of removing the Queen as the head of state.Such a reckoning with Britain and its state is long overdue. Jamaica in the 18th century was described by Charles Leslie as a “constant mine, whence Britain draws prodigious riches”. It contributed greatly to the wealth of individuals thousands of miles away, such as William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London and the owner of well over 1,000 enslaved people, whose statue still graces Guildhall in London. But more significantly, it enriched Britain by filling the coffers of the Treasury with money from taxes levied on sugar and rum. Britain was the greatest slave trader in the Atlantic world during the 18th century, sending nearly 1 million captive Africans to Jamaica between 1655 and 1807, resulting in a population of enslaved people barely over 300,000, due to horrific mortality rates. Black people suffered greatly for white people’s enjoyment of sweet things.Trevor Burnard is the Wilberforce professor of slavery and emancipation and director at the Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull Continue reading...

Thousands have walked out as school districts face staffing shortages amid Covid disruptions and historically low payThousands of teachers around the United States are resuming a strike wave in education that swept the country in 2018 and 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.School districts across America are facing severe staffing shortages of teachers, substitute teachers and support staff amid Covid-19 disruptions and historically low pay, contributing to burnout and worsening working conditions. Continue reading...

Bannon is advancing a high-stakes defense as he battles a case that could mean up to a year in federal prison and thousands of dollars in fines if convictedAs the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack was negotiating with Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon to cooperate with its inquiry, the panel affirmed one of their rules: no third-party lawyers could attend witness depositions.

Try as I might to rise above it, I felt a visceral dislike for the men grilling Biden’s supreme court nominee, Ketanji Brown JacksonFor sheer drama, we will probably never match the spectacle of Judge Brett Kavanaugh snivelling through his supreme court confirmation hearings in 2018. But this week’s hearing by the Senate judiciary committee to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s pick for the supreme court, came a close second. There was Republican senator Josh Hawley asking Jackson if she was soft on child molesters. There was Lindsey Graham, going on a rant that, if not quite expletive-filled, took on a playground quality with language like “crap”, “ass” and “how would you feel if we did that to you?” And there was Ted Cruz, straight-facedly asking Jackson if she thinks babies are racist. Along with someone throwing a pie at Rupert Murdoch and Zoom meetings of the Handforth parish council, it was up there with the best histrionics of the committee room canon.Jackson herself was almost supernaturally composed, occasionally letting a pause extend a beat beyond normal to indicate the scale of the resources required to stay calm. The confirmation hearings at the supreme court have become a grandstanding opportunity for ambitious senators, rather than a useful extra-legal enquiry, and of course they are completely partisan. But while, four years ago, no one but the staunchest Republican could hear Kavanaugh’s inarticulate address and conclude he occupied his seat on merit alone, the visceral dislike many of us on the left felt towards, say, Amy Coney Barrett, seemed to me not entirely premised on her performance and track record.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist based in New York Continue reading...

In texts to Mark Meadows, the wife of supreme court justice Clarence Thomas pushed Trump’s ‘big lie’In the weeks following the 2020 election, the conservative activist Ginni Thomas – who is married to the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas – repeatedly implored Donald Trump’s chief of staff to help overturn the results, according to text messages obtained by the Washington Post and CBS News.In one of 29 messages seen by the news outlets, Thomas wrote to Mark Meadows on 10 November: “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! … You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.” Continue reading...

Jose Manuel Perez from California allegedly smuggled reptiles, including baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards, since 2016A Southern California man is accused of smuggling more than 1,700 reptiles – including baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards – into the US since 2016, authorities said Thursday.Jose Manuel Perez, also known as “Julio Rodriguez”, was taken into custody on 25 February at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico. Continue reading...

The governor has proposed giving drivers in the state $400 debit cards and giving transit agencies $750m to cover bus or train faresCalifornia residents could get free public transit rides and gas rebates under a proposal from the governor to help bring relief as fuel prices in the state reach record highs.Gavin Newsom’s plan is the latest floated by officials in California, where drivers are paying more for fuel than anywhere else in the country. Continue reading...

Biden administration will institute expedited processing – and sometimes removal – of asylum seekers to clear backlogWaves of migration through Mexico and Central America, and people who go missing, will increase in 2022 due to high levels of violence in the region, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.“In many countries, violence is wreaking more and more havoc, and that’s why there are more and more migrants,” ICRC representative Jordi Raich told Reuters in an interview Wednesday. “And it’s not a situation that is going to improve or slow down, not even in the years to come.“ Continue reading...

Kenichi Horie became the first person to make a non-stop solo crossing of the Pacific in 1962 and has made multiple crossingsAn 83-year old man is set to sail from San Francisco on Saturday and voyage alone across the Pacific Ocean to his home country, Japan.Kenichi Horie, also known as “Japan’s most famous yachtsman”, became the first person to make a non-stop solo crossing of the Pacific in 1962. On that trip, he was still a 23-year old amateur seaman. Horie set off from Osaka and sailed across the ocean for 94 days, surviving on canned food and rice before arriving in San Francisco. Continue reading...

Clinton, James Comey and others accused of orchestrating Russia conspiracy that makes Watergate ‘pale in comparison’Donald Trump has sued Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and other people and entities tied to the investigation of Russian election interference in 2016, claiming that in a bid to rig the election they orchestrated a conspiracy which made Watergate “pale in comparison”.The suit came a day after the release of a letter from a prosecutor in New York who said he believed Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations” in his business affairs, despite the district attorney in Manhattan choosing not to indict. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has said that Russia should be expelled from the G20 and that US and Nato would respond if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels following an emergency Nato summit, the US president also hinted that he might be meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Panel to meet next week after former senior White House advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino refused to appear for depositionsThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack will consider holding in criminal contempt of Congress next week two of Donald Trump’s most senior White House advisers, Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro, the panel announced on Thursday.The move to initiate contempt proceedings against the two Trump aides amounts to a biting rebuke of their refusal to cooperate with the inquiry, as the panel deploys its most punitive measures to reaffirm the consequences of noncompliance. Continue reading...

Los Angeles city council unanimously bestowed the designation to the 123-year-old site where many movie legends are buriedThe Hollywood Forever cemetery, the final resting place of stars such as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Burt Reynolds, is now a historic-cultural monument.The Los Angeles city council unanimously voted this week to grant the designation to the 123-year-old cemetery, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999. An architectural historian who prepared a report on the cemetery for the city found it “exemplifies significant contributions to the broad cultural, economic or social history”. Continue reading...

Jay-Z and Beyonce’s ultra-exclusive post-Oscars bash runs afoul of a worker boycott of the famed hotel, which laid off hundreds when the pandemic hitNestled at the foot of mansion-studded hills, just north of Los Angeles’ legendary Sunset Boulevard, the seven-story Chateau Marmont has been a mainstay of Hollywood socializing for nearly a century – including in recent years, the venue for Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s ultra-exclusive post-Oscars bash.But the storied Hollywood playground has become a rallying point for a growing labor movement, and this Sunday, scores of Chateau Marmont workers, alleging longstanding rights violations and discrimination by their employer, plan to protest outside the Academy Awards afterparty. That means the Carters and their star-studded guestlist will have to choose whether to cross a picket line to get in. Continue reading...

As a young Olympian I was asked to do ‘whatever it takes’ to win. Now I can see how sinister that wasShock news! The No 1 tennis player in the world has announced that there is more to her life than the number of times she wins a tennis championship. The collective state of astonishment at Ash Barty’s retirement at the age of 25 says as much about how we see athletes as it does about this extraordinary woman. How have we reached a point where it is surprising for a top athlete to have a healthy mindset? Where it stuns us that someone who has won at the highest level isn’t desperate to do it again as many times as possible? Where we ask why she is somehow unfairly depriving herself – and us – of something she owes us, as though she hasn’t yet served her time?Barty has been in tennis for 20 years (remarkable given that she has only been alive for 25 years), has won multiple grand slams including the memorable victory at her home slam in Melbourne in January. She has been world No 1 for over 100 weeks. But the questions after Melbourne focused not on this stunning victory, but how many more like it there would be in future. Sporting achievements are transient, each one diminished as the focus shifts inevitably to the next, and next, and next. But by finding lasting value in that magical scene in Melbourne, she could have found her biggest victory. When I joined the Olympic pathway some years ago, coaches asked me whether I was willing to do “whatever it takes”. In hindsight,I can see now how sinister that was. When you inevitably agree in the affirmative – the only option unless you wanted to walk out on your Olympic dream – it is like signing a pact with the devil. It means giving up defining success on your own terms or as anything less than coming first as often as possible, at any cost. Barty has made no such pact. She has explained clearly that she has nothing more to give. Why would anyone want her to keep pushing further at a point likely to lead only to mental and physical damage? Do onlookers want her to continue until she fails?Cath Bishop is an Olympic rower, former diplomat and author. She is an adviser to The True Athlete Project Continue reading...

World Rugby chief and US bid executives price bid at half-a-billion dollars and say Biden White House will express supportThe US is on course to be named in mid-May as host of the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup and the women’s event in 2033 with a bid priced at half a billion dollars and support from the Biden White House, executives including World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin said on Thursday.“We’re not talking to anybody else about Rugby World Cup hosting in 2031 and 2033,” Gilpin said. “It doesn’t mean it’s a done deal … but it means that we strategically believe we can deliver the right outcomes with this hosting plan.” Continue reading...

Ken Paxton called district’s Pride week ‘sex education’ and claimed without parental consent it is against lawThe attorney general of Texas has declared a school district’s celebration of LGBTQ+ students “sex education” and in violation of Texas law.For the past eight years, students in the Austin Independent school district have held a district-wide Pride week as a chance to celebrate LGBTQ+ students, staff and families in the district, according to the district’s website. Continue reading...

There has been a quiet understanding that we’re on the brink of a new cold war, potentially even a hot one – which requires that we join together to surviveI’m going to go out on a limb and suggest something that would have seemed utter nonsense as late as a month ago: I’m seeing the stirrings in Washington of a new era of … I’m not sure what to call it. “Unity” is way too strong. “Bipartisanship” is premature. “De-partisanship” is too clunky.But something new seems to be happening, and Vladimir Putin is responsible. Continue reading...

TV doctor and former football star, appointed to sports and health body by Trump, are both Republican Senate candidatesThe White House has asked two Trump-appointed members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition to resign from their posts or be fired.On Wednesday, the White House sent letters to Dr Mehmet Oz and former football star Herschel Walker – two Republican Senate candidates in Georgia and Pennsylvania, respectively – asking them to submit their resignations or face termination. Continue reading...

Claims dropped by 28,000 for week ending 19 March as at least a dozen states consider checks to ease burden of inflationThe number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to its lowest level in 52 years as the US job market continues to show strength in the midst of rising costs and the pandemic.Jobless claims fell by 28,000 to 187,000 for the week ending 19 March, the lowest since September of 1969, the labor department reported on Thursday. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs. Continue reading...

The bodies have become the engines of policymaking, behind Georgia’s voting restrictions and Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ billHello, and happy Thursday,Since late last year, I have been intensely focused on the frantic efforts by both major parties to put themselves in the best position to win US House races this fall. Continue reading...