Lieutenant governor Janice McGeachin is building a coalition including white nationalist and far-right militia backing, in what she tells supporters is ‘the fight of our lives’As the far right in America seeks to increase its political influence, including by seeking elected office, one figure is emerging as potentially its most powerful figure: Idaho’s lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin.McGeachin is running for governor of the state and building a coalition including white nationalist and far-right militia backing, in what she tells her supporters is “the fight of our lives”. Continue reading...
The idea that the American way of life is under threat from a variety of ‘others’ is wildly overblown but widely believedEvery evening, Fox News tells a story about America.It’s a story about how traditional American values are being undermined by radical leftists – how marginalized populations actually account for a huge portion of the country, and that they want to take America from white Christians. These radicals are atheists, Muslims, Jews. They are people of color, vegans, coastal city dwellers and, of course, Democrats. Continue reading...
Independent lab found the chemical in more than a quarter of items it tested – sometimes at levels considered ‘life threatening’Independent testing has found hundreds of popular personal care items in the US to be contaminated with benzene, a highly carcinogenic chemical, prompting several big brands to voluntarily recall dozens of products in recent months.The lab, Valisure, last year detected benzene in hand sanitizers, sunscreens, deodorant, dry shampoos, conditioners, antiperspirants, deodorants, body sprays and anti-fungal treatments. The contamination has been most frequently detected in aerosol or spray products, some at levels the Food and Drug Administration characterized as “life-threatening”. Continue reading...
The actor formed an ownership group that includes athletes and Hollywood stars to found a different type of team. The club has already sold 14,000 season ticketsThere are few better places to hold a preseason training camp than at Malibu’s Pepperdine University, whose football pitch seems to hover over the shimmering Pacific Ocean. It makes a memorable opening scene for Angel City FC.A typical American expansion team’s start is often rocky: Fighting for decent players, for fans, for attention, for a shred of dignity following lopsided defeats. But Angel City FC, who debut in the National Women’s Soccer League this year, are far from typical. Although they don’t play their first match until Saturday in the NWSL Challenge Cup, things already look quite different around here. Continue reading...
by Daniel Boffey in Brussels, Dan Sabbagh and agencie on (#5X82P)
Leaders will hold first phone call since the invasion of Ukraine on Friday, amid speculation that Beijing could provide financial or military support to Moscow
Joe Biden labelled Vladimir Putin 'a murderous dictator,' and 'a pure thug' during an address for St Patrick's day. Biden said Putin was paying the price for his aggression, while detailing his planned call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The call comes at western countries look to put pressure on China not to support Russia following its invasion of Ukraine
Tennessee national guard says officers ‘safe and accounted for’ after Russian media falsely identified them as slain mercenariesThree current and former members of the Tennessee national guard, who were falsely identified in a Russian media report as mercenaries killed in Ukraine, are in fact alive and well, the Tennessee national guard said on Thursday.Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Ukraine prior to Russia’s invasion of the country as part of a broader effort to avoid a direct confrontation with the nuclear-armed adversary. Continue reading...
U2 singer’s poem, read at the annual Friends of Ireland lunch, encompasses Irish mythology and the Russia-Ukraine warNancy Pelosi, the House speaker and one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, has marked St Patrick’s Day by reading aloud a poem by Bono that encompassed both Irish mythology and the crisis in Ukraine.Pelosi was attending the annual Friends of Ireland lunch in Washington DC on Thursday, when she said she had been sent some verse.Oh, St Patrick he drove out the snakes
Congressional Progressive Caucus urges president to bypass legislative logjam and give Democrats record to campaign onThe leftwing Congressional Progressive Caucus unveiled its highly anticipated list of suggested executive orders on Thursday, outlining a strategy for Joe Biden to advance Democrats’ policy priorities in the US while much of his legislative agenda has stalled on Capitol Hill.The move reflects pressure from the left of the Democratic party to try to keep Biden pushing an ambitious program of action, despite setbacks and as November’s midterm elections are widely expected to favor a resurgent Republican party. Continue reading...
Former California governor, 74, calls on Putin to stop attack on Ukraine and says ‘this is not the Russian people’s war’Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday told the Russian people that they are being fed misinformation about their country’s assault on Ukraine and appealed to President Vladimir Putin to stop the attack.The Hollywood star said in the nine-minute video on Twitter that the Kremlin was intentionally lying to Russians by saying the invasion was intended to “denazify” Ukraine. Russia describes its actions as a “special operation”. Continue reading...
Louis Sojo claims that his captain racially harassed him and said he was ‘not a real cop’ after he paid for an alleged shoplifter’s foodA New York police officer who made headlines after buying food for an alleged shoplifter is now suing the department and his captain over racial harassment and slurs following his good deed.In July 2019, Louis Sojo and a few other officers were asked to confront a woman who was suspected of shoplifting at a Whole Foods grocery store in New York City. Sojo found food containers in the woman’s bag, filled with food from the store’s hot food bar. Continue reading...
Newly released clip from two years ago shows Edward Bronstein being forced to a mat with at least five officers holding him downA southern California man died nearly two years ago as he screamed “I can’t breathe” while multiple officers restrained him as they tried to take a blood sample, according to records and a video.Edward Bronstein, 38, was taken into custody by California highway patrol (CHP) officers on 31 March 2020 following a traffic stop. Bronstein died less than two months before George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis as he, too, repeatedly told officers “I can’t breathe.” Continue reading...
America and Europe’s response to the war is already unprecedented in military, economic and political terms – what should they do now?The United States and its allies need to strike a balance between making Putin’s appalling invasion in Ukraine as costly as possible, while avoiding uncontrolled escalation that could lead to a much broader and more dangerous war. So far, the White House has managed to walk this tightrope, but it’s almost certain to grow harder the longer the war goes on, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s impassioned address to the US Congress on Wednesday demonstrated.Naturally, for the Ukrainian president, the more involved Nato gets, the better. Ukraine’s chances of repelling the Russian invaders on the battlefield may be slim, but with luck and the world’s support, there’s still hope that he will survive long enough that Putin has no alternative but to negotiate an end to war that leaves Ukraine’s sovereignty intact. Right now, this seems like the best of any realistic outcome.Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow and director of the Carnegie Endowment’s American statecraft program Continue reading...
Rate decreased from 14.2% in 2018 to less than 5.6% in 2021 thanks to child tax credit and funding for food, among other expansionsThe child poverty rate in the US has improved dramatically because of expansions of the social safety net during the Covid-19 pandemic, but experts are warning that allowing such measures to expire may reverse these historic gains.While the pandemic put pressure on the wellbeing of millions of children, new measures greatly improved child welfare. The child poverty rate decreased from 14.2% in 2018 to less than 5.6% in 2021, and the rate of severe poverty was cut nearly in half, according to projections. Continue reading...
There are often no words for what we endure. Yet after the pandemic, more people are trying to find a language of lossWidow is an awful word. It conjures up such drab and lonely images; and besides, it defines a woman by what she has lost and what she no longer is. But at least there is a word for having lost your husband. For the other heart-stopping losses that come to many in midlife, and some even earlier – the death of your parents, or of a sibling, or a child, or perhaps a best friend – there isn’t even a word. Yet these are life stages in their own right too, and deserving of closer understanding. For some reason, which may or may not be connected to the raw and unpeeled state of our emotions after a pandemic, a small window now seems to be opening on to an underexplored world.The writer Clover Stroud’s The Red of My Blood, a memoir about trying to make sense of the death of her 46-year-old sister, Nell, from cancer, was published recently to a chorus of recognition and relief from some bereaved readers. After the funeral and the flurry of condolence letters, and the awkwardness of people just not knowing what to stay, there is still the long haul ahead of reconstructing a good life without someone who used to be central to it. And that’s what this book is about. Clover is a working mother of five: she might be dazed with grief but there is still pasta to be cooked, school runs to be done. In the spaces in between, however, she is constantly puzzling over the seeming impossibility of Nell being gone. How can she simply stop existing? The book revolves around Clover’s constant search for her sister, looking for her in photographs and in places they went as children and in the last things she touched when she was still alive. When you lose someone you love, they are suddenly everywhere but nowhere. Decades on, I still remember that irrational lurch of recognition at the face in the crowd that surely has to be them – except, of course, when you get closer it isn’t, and can’t ever be again.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Exclusive: first experience based on hit film franchise will open next month at Gardaland in ItalyThe $2bn Hollywood film franchise Jumanji is coming to the real world in a global deal to open themed attractions, rides, hotel rooms and retail outlets across Europe and North America.The deal struck between Sony Pictures Entertainment and UK-headquartered Merlin Entertainments will involve the development of Jumanji-themed “lands” at theme parks to bring to life the films that have starred Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Karen Gillan. Continue reading...
The 9/11 Tribute Museum is closing its doors permanently after running up too much debt during the pandemicThe 9/11 Tribute Museum in New York will be shuttering its doors permanently after running up too much debt during the Covid-19 pandemic.The museum is the smaller and far well less known of the two museums built in honor of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. Continue reading...
Moses was freed last month after being sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. Our talk was revelatoryHello, and happy Thursday,Last week, I spoke on the phone with Pamela Moses, the Black Lives Matter activist who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. It was the first interview Moses has given since being released, and I found it revelatory. Continue reading...
Officials confirmed the monetary settlement with families of those wounded or killed in the 2018 high school shooting in FloridaFederal officials have confirmed that the US Department of Justice has reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the families of most of those killed or wounded in the 2018 Florida high school massacre, over the FBI’s failure to stop the gunman even though it had received information he intended to attack.Attorneys for 16 of the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland and some of those wounded previously announced in November that they had reached a monetary settlement with the government over the FBI’s failure to investigate a tip it received about a month before the massacre. The 17th family chose not to sue. Continue reading...
Two executives questioned whether trips to Israel could make US officers ‘more likely to use force’Senior leaders of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the US-based non-profit organization known for combatting antisemitism and tracking extremism, debated whether to end a controversial program that connects American law enforcement officers with police leaders and members of the military in Israel, a 2020 internal document reveals.The ADL, which works closely with US police on trainings related to bias and hate crimes, has for years run a program that sends delegations from US law enforcement departments to Israel to “study first-hand Israel’s tactics and strategies to combat terrorism”. The trips have long faced criticism from US civil rights groups, who argue that the trainings could encourage US police to further militarize their forces and exacerbate police violence. Continue reading...
Disney and its CEO, Bob Chapek, spoke out against the bill in an internal staff email but refused to publicly condemn itDisney staff members this week and next are staging walkouts over Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.The Parental Rights in Education bill, which critics have dubbed as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, was recently passed by Florida Republicans but has not yet been signed into law. The controversial bill bans all discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools. Continue reading...
The Coyotes’ relationship with Glendale provides a grim and vivid tale about how things can go south for taxpayer subsidized sports venturesDivorces are often messy and almost always emotional. When Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew tried to leave for Austin a few years ago claiming business problems, a lawsuit stopped them in their tracks. The Los Angeles Rams recently won the Super Bowl, and this past December St Louis – their former home city – received $790m as part of a settlement related to their relocation.Relations sour quickly when a pro sports team up and leaves. Or threatens to. Or the numbers don’t add up. And things between Glendale and the Arizona Coyotes had been on the skids for years when a missed rental payment brought the disorder to national attention at the end of last year. Still, beyond the headlines, the Coyotes and Glendale divorce provides a grim and vivid tale about how things can go south for taxpayer subsidized sports ventures.1996 – the Winnipeg Jets relocate to Phoenix, Arizona.2003 – the Phoenix Coyotes relocate to nearby Glendale and the Gila River Arena.2005 – Jerry Moyes buys the team.2009 – Moyes places the team in bankruptcy. The NHL takes over and signs a short-term lease extension with the City of Glendale.2010 – An ownership bid to buy the team is derailed by the threat of litigation.2013 – After the league threatens to relocate the team, Glendale signs a 15-year lease to support a new ownership group: Renaissance Sports & Entertainment. In 2014, they change their name from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Arizona Coyotes.2015 – Glendale voids the long-term lease after an alleged violation of conflict of interest laws.2016 – the Arizona Coyotes announce plans to move to the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, a 25-minute drive from Glendale, and build a new arena there. The university subsequently backs out of the deal.2016 – Glendale enters into a contract for sports entertainment firm AEG to manage the Gila River Arena. Continue reading...
by Tyrell Feaster, Hunter Felt, Bryan Armen Graham an on (#5X6TB)
Will this finally be Gonzaga’s year to cut down the nets? Who is this season’s Cinderella team? Our writers break down the bracket for the NCAA tournamentNope. Yeah, we know the Zags have an amazing record, a glittering statistical profile and a number of players that will go very high in the draft, but where have we heard that before? Gonzaga have landed in arguably the hardest region in the tournament and might be in for a few fights to the death just to reach the Final Four. Tyrell Feaster Continue reading...
I faced Russia’s wrath for my TV series, Occupied. The Kremlin knows art can tell the truth about war – and it fears thatIn 2015, the first season of Occupied was broadcast on Norwegian television. The series depicts a Russian occupation of Norway, something that is tacitly accepted by the EU and the United States as a way to restart oil production facilities that had been shut down by the green Norwegian government.My aim for the show was to focus on the moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people in an extreme situation – to parallel what our parents and grandparents experienced during the German occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945. The manoeuvring between a smaller country, a powerful neighbour and the rest of the world’s ruling nations, balancing political principles against economic considerations and their own security, was the backdrop.Jo Nesbø is a bestselling Norwegian novelist, screenwriter and musician. This article was translated from the Norwegian by Alice Menzies Continue reading...
Analysis finds nearly 23,000 mail-in ballots were discarded as part of tough new Republican effort to reshape American electionsTexas threw out mail votes at an abnormally high rate during the US’s first primary election of 2022, rejecting nearly 23,000 ballots outright under tougher voting rules that are part of a broad campaign by Republicans to reshape American elections, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.Roughly 13% of mail ballots returned in the 1 March primary were discarded and uncounted across 187 counties in Texas. While historical primary comparisons are lacking, the double-digit rejection rate would be far beyond what is typical in a general election, when experts say anything above 2% is usually cause for attention. Continue reading...
Report on Dominion voting machines produced after 2020 election was not the work of volunteer in Trump’s post-election legal teamWeeks after the 2020 election, at least one Trump White House aide was named as secretly producing a report that alleged Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden because of Dominion Voting Systems – research that formed the basis of the former president’s wider efforts to overturn the election.The Dominion report, subtitled “OVERVIEW 12/2/20 – History, Executives, Vote Manipulation Ability and Design, Foreign Ties”, was initially prepared so that it could be sent to legislatures in states where the Trump White House was trying to have Biden’s win reversed. Continue reading...
The Black, low- and middle-income residents who make up Gordon Plaza and Press Park have fought for decades to be relocatedA group of New Orleans residents whose homes were built on a toxic landfill decades ago have won a $75.3m court judgement against the city, its housing authority and the local school board.State district Judge Nicole Sheppard’s ruling said 5,000 residents are entitled to that total amount for emotional distress and property damage involving the former Agriculture Street landfill, according to the Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. Continue reading...
The former Empire actor will be freed after posting a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, meaning he agrees to come to court as requiredJussie Smollett was ordered released from jail Wednesday by an appeals court that agreed with his lawyers that he should be released pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack.The ruling came after a Cook county judge sentenced Smollett last week to immediately begin serving 150 days in jail for his conviction on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police. In an outburst immediately after the sentence was handed down, the former star of the TV show Empire proclaimed his innocence and said, “I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.” Continue reading...
Joe Biden told reporters that Vladimir Putin was 'a war criminal' after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After first appearing not to have properly heard the reporter's question, Biden asked for it to be repeated. The reporter asked again, 'Is Putin a war criminal, sir?' to which Biden replied, 'Oh, I think he is a war criminal'
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pleaded with American lawmakers to do more to protect his country from Russia's invasion in an address to the US Congress on Wednesday.Zelenskiy urged President Joe Biden to be the world's 'leader of peace'. He invoked American history, asking members of both houses to remember the Pearl Harbor bombings and the 9/11 attacks
Prosecutors have launched a series of criminal cases including one involving an alleged attempt to smear a congressional candidateUS prosecutors have accused Chinese government agents of trying to spy on and intimidate dissidents living in the United States, including a congressional candidate, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York.The US justice department convened a Washington news conference to detail the accusations in a series of criminal cases. Continue reading...
Sharon Lee Gallegos, found partially buried in a wash in 1960, was allegedly abducted from her grandmother’s New Mexico houseA little girl whose burned remains were found over 60 years ago in the Arizona desert has finally been identified.The Yavapai county sheriff’s office said Tuesday the girl had been identified as four-year-old Sharon Lee Gallegos of New Mexico. Continue reading...
Prosecutors say Scott Charmoli of Wisconsin routinely drilled or broke his clients’ teeth on purpose, raking in millions from schemeA Wisconsin dentist was found guilty of healthcare fraud and other charges after he intentionally damaged his patients’ teeth to boost profits, raking in millions from his scheme.Scott Charmoli, 61, was convicted of five counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of making false claims about his clients’ treatment last Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Continue reading...
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