Findings from Fox News poll point to deep domestic divisions as well as splits over Biden’s handling of Ukraine crisisMore Republicans have a negative view of Joe Biden than of Vladimir Putin and more Democrats have a negative view of Donald Trump than of the Russian leader, according to a new poll.The findings point to deep domestic divisions as well as disagreement over Biden’s handling of the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading...
Our capital pulls its punches when it comes to penalising Russia’s richest, but Putin shows no such mercy to UkraineIf I look out of the window as I’m writing this, I can see the grand, stuccoed Russian embassy in London, which some years ago mounted a large screen on the wall outside, on which it likes to broadcast its frequently obnoxious Twitter feed to passersby. If I look at the television screen in the room in which I’m sitting, I can see a despairing Ukrainian woman throwing her broken windows from her apartment building in the aftermath of a shelling. So yes: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.This afternoon, when I walk down to the opticians, I will pass some large, unconvincingly spontaneous graffiti that recently appeared on someone else’s wall. It reads: “There is no Russian interference in elections.” (Kids, eh?) Next, I will pass two vast houses that I know to be owned by oligarchs – one of whom is Roman Abramovich – and two others that are heavily rumoured to be. Some of these properties are on a street that also hosts various ambassadorial residences, and they are therefore protected obligingly around the clock by multiple armed British police officers. Continue reading...
Beijing will tread carefully, and weigh up whether its strategic alliance with Moscow is worth the cost of this reckless invasionPresident Vladimir Putin’s full military escalation in Ukraine has unsettled his seemingly best friend in international affairs, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who has invested in the bilateral relationship personally and politically. Beijing’s axis with Moscow was recently strengthened during the 2022 Winter Olympics, with their joint declaration to proclaim “their cooperation with no limit”. The western foreign affairs community then rushed to conclude that Moscow and Beijing were forming – if one had not already been formed – a “strategic alliance” aimed at destabilising the liberal, rules-based world order. Some in the west assume Beijing will inevitably support Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.However, cooperation would have to come with some substantial limits to avoid undermining Beijing’s own priorities and interests in the eyes of Chinese foreign policy planners. For various reasons, the Kremlin’s latest military exercise is both a conundrum and a source of equally unexpected opportunities for Beijing. Continue reading...
Letter to National Archives requests files found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago that should have been turned over when Trump left officeThe investigation into whether Donald Trump broke federal records laws when he took White House documents home after leaving office took another step forward on Friday when a congressional oversight committee requested the materials from the National Archives.The letter to the archivist, from the House committee on oversight and reform, requests the content of the documents taken by Trump to Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Florida. They also asked for any records that the former US president attempted to destroy, and communications on the issue by Trump’s White House aides. Continue reading...
The Harvard graduate, 51, has been a judge of the DC circuit court of appeals since replacing Merrick GarlandJoe Biden’s nominee for the supreme court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, is a 51-year-old Harvard graduate who has been a judge of the United States court of appeals for the DC circuit since June, having replaced now-attorney general Merrick Garland.Jackson would becomethe first Black woman to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation. She will be the current court’s second Black justice, alongside conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, as well as the third Black justice in its history. Continue reading...
Settlements represent largest of opioid-related cases in epidemic that has killed more than 500,000 Americans over two decadesDrugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors finalized nationwide settlements over their role in the opioid addiction crisis Friday, an announcement that clears the way for $26bn to flow to nearly every state and local government in the US.Taken together, the settlements are the largest to date among the many opioid-related cases that have been playing out across the country. They’re expected to provide a significant boost to efforts aimed at reversing the crisis in places that have been devastated by it, including many parts of rural America. Continue reading...
The UN refugee agency predicts that 4m people may flee Ukraine if the situation continues to worsen. Plus, big oil is all talk and no action on clean energy
The likes of LeBron James and Gwen Berry are accused of useless posturing. But many families of those killed by police find comfort in their supportFor Black History Month, I conducted a panel discussion with Athletes For Hope and sponsored by Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition.The panel consisted of family members of victims of police violence, whom I had spoken with for my recent book, Police Brutality And White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Tradition. They included Emerald Garner, whose father Eric was choked to death by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo; Michelle Monterrosa, whose brother Sean was killed in Vallejo, California by Detective Jarrett Tonn, who fired shots from an unmarked vehicle; and Ashley Carr, sister of Atatiana Jefferson who was shot dead by officer Aaron Dene in her home in Texas as she looked after her nephew. Also on the panel was hammer thrower Gwen Berry, who created a stir last year when she turned away from the flag during the anthem at the US Olympic trials. Continue reading...
While Republican ‘hawks’ condemned the aggression, CPAC speakers lauded the Russian president’s ‘genius’Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed a schism in the Republican party between “hawks” who condemn Vladimir Putin and “America first” followers who express admiration for the strongman.But what has united the two wings so far is an opportunity to score political points by casting Joe Biden as weak and paying the price of failure in Afghanistan. Continue reading...
by Tom Dart, Graham Ruthven, Terrance F Ross and Mega on (#5WGC9)
The new season kicks off this weekend. Our panel of writers deliver their verdicts on the MVP, champions and the young players to watchDouglas Costa. “I’ll bring the flash that LA expects,” the 31-year-old winger declares in a curiously dark and menacing video announcing his transfer to the Galaxy. Carnival has never looked so sinister. Unlike that studio, MLS stadiums should be lit when one of the world’s best dribblers graces the field. A serial winner with Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayern Munich and Juventus, Costa has 31 Brazil caps and ought to supply Javier Hernández with plenty of chances. TD Continue reading...
The Ukrainian diaspora has mounted several efforts in light of Russia’s invasion to raise resources for their compatriotsMembers of the Ukrainian diaspora across the United States have been responding with grief, rage and solidarity with their compatriots as Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of their country.Ukrainian-Americans from New York City to Sacramento have been expressing their growing anxiousness towards the escalating conflict, singing prayers, launching fundraisers and organizing solidarity rallies. Continue reading...
The Russian president’s dangerous sense of victimhood draws on 20th-century ideas of his country’s frustrated potential“They have only one objective: to prevent the development of Russia. They are going to do it in the same way as they did it before, without furnishing even a single pretext, doing it just because we exist.”These were Vladimir Putin’s words on 21 February, in his now notorious speech on Ukraine. They repeat the argument already formulated in his speech on Crimea in March 2014: “The politics of the containment of Russia, which continued throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, continues today. There is a constant attempt to push us back into a corner because we have an independent position, because we stand up for ourselves.” Putin’s vision of Russian history is one of an emergence continually blocked by enemies.Michel Eltchaninoff is editor-in-chief of Philosophie magazine and a specialist in the history of Russian thought. He is the author of Inside the Mind of Vladimir Putin. This article was translated by Julian ComanGuardian Newsroom: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Join a panel of journalists, hosted by Michael Safi, for a livestreamed event on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. On Thursday 3 March, 8pm GMT | 9pm CET | 12pm PST | 3pm EST. Book tickets here Continue reading...
Trio of former Minneapolis officers found guilty of violating the civil rights of Floyd, murdered by Derek Chauvin in May 2020A jury has convicted three former Minneapolis police officers of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.Floyd, a Black man, was killed by white police officer Derek Chauvin. His video-taped death triggered widespread outrage and sparked anti-police brutality protests that spread across the US and the world. Continue reading...
The Crumbleys are accused of making the gun available to their teen son and not intervening when he showed signs of distressA judge has ordered the parents of a 15-year-old boy charged with killing four students at his Michigan high school to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges.Rochester Hills district court judge Julie Nicholson said following Thursday’s preliminary examination for Jennifer and James Crumbley that she found enough evidence to send their case to circuit court. Continue reading...
Judge says Scotty David, who may have failed to disclose childhood abuse during jury selection, must return for court hearingA juror in Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal trial who might not have disclosed childhood sexual abuse during jury selection for the high-profile case will now be questioned publicly as Maxwell’s team seeks a retrial, court papers released on Thursday said.One newly released document also includes the written questionnaire that Juror No 50 completed during the selection process. In response to the question “Have you or a friend ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?” the juror marked the “no” box. Continue reading...
'Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences,' said US president Joe Biden during an address at the White House. Biden described Russian president Vladimir Putin as an assailant who launched 'a war without a cause' and a misguided dream of recreating the Soviet Union. His comments come after Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders on three sides after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. 'Putin's aggression against Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly,' Biden said
Florida governor lambasted Biden, media and ‘wokeism’ while claiming his state is a ‘bastion of freedom’ that defeated ‘Faucism’Ron DeSantis, the right-wing Republican governor of Florida, has fueled speculation about a future US presidential run with a high profile speech lambasting Joe Biden, the media and what he termed “wokeism”.DeSantis, who is both an ally and possible rival to Donald Trump, delivered the attack at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the biggest annual gathering of grassroots conservatives in the US. Continue reading...
Spy chiefs had been worried by troop movement near Ukraine’s border for some months – and their warnings proved accurateIt was in early November that US president Joe Biden took the rare step to dispatch CIA director Bill Burns to Moscow. The spy chief’s message – in part – was to warn his Kremlin counterparts that the West was concerned about unusual troop movements it was seeing near Ukraine’s border.British officials were anxious, too. “We keep on coming back to crises over Ukraine,” one said later that month. “President Biden does not send Bill Burns to Moscow unless he is very worried about something. And so, you know, without being able to go into the full details, there is enough substance to this to make us concerned.” Continue reading...
It will take years for the consequences of 24 February to play out, but there is still much the west can do to help UkrainiansWhy do we always make the same mistake? Oh, that’s only trouble in the Balkans, we say – and then an assassination in Sarajevo sparks the first world war. Oh, Adolf Hitler’s threat to Czechoslovakia is “a quarrel in a faraway country, between people of whom we know nothing” – and then we find ourselves in the second world war. Oh, Joseph Stalin’s takeover of distant Poland after 1945 is none of our business – and soon enough we have the cold war. Now we have done it again, not waking up until it is too late to the full implications of Vladimir Putin’s seizure of Crimea in 2014. And so, on Thursday 24 February 2022, we stand here again, clothed in nothing but the shreds of our lost illusions.At such moments we need courage and resolution but also wisdom. That includes care in our use of words. This is not the third world war. It is, however, already something much more serious than the Soviet invasions of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The five wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s were terrible, but the larger international dangers that flowed from them were not on this scale. There were brave resistance fighters in Budapest in 1956, but in Ukraine today we have an entire independent, sovereign state with a large army and a people who declare themselves determined to resist. If they don’t resist, at scale, this will be an occupation. If they do, this could be the largest war in Europe since 1945.Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The US and allies must be clear-eyed about this: what might the economic and political ripple effects of the war be?We must do what we can to contain Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. But we also need to be clear-eyed about it, and face the costs. Economics can’t be separated from politics, and neither can be separated from history. Here are eight sobering realities:1. Will the economic sanctions now being put into effect stop Putin from seeking to take over all of Ukraine? No. They will complicate Russia’s global financial transactions but they will not cripple the Russian economy. After Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, the US and its allies imposed economic sanctions which slowed the Russian economy temporarily, but Russia soon rebounded. Since then, Russia has taken steps to lessen its reliance on foreign debt and investment, which means that similar sanctions will have less effect. In addition, the rise of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets allow Russia to bypass bank transfers, which are the control points for sanctions. Bottom line: the sanctions already imposed or threatened could reduce Russia’s gross domestic product, but only by a few percentage points. Continue reading...
Brett Hankison, the former officer, faces up to five years in prison for endangering Taylor’s neighbors by firing through a side doorNearly two years after Breonna Taylor was killed by police, the only Kentucky officer charged criminally in the botched raid went on trial Wednesday for shooting into Taylor’s neighbors’ apartment.Brett Hankison, now a former officer, fired 10 shots through a side door. None of those bullets hit Taylor, but prosecutors said they endangered the couple and child who lived next door. He’s charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, and faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the low-level felony. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Prosecutors argued Pamela Moses ‘tricked the probation department’ into giving her documents – but a new email adds to evidence undercutting that claimHello Fight to vote Readers,I have an update in my reporting on the case of Pamela Moses, the 44-year-old Black Lives Matter Activist in Memphis who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. The case has attracted significant national attention because many see Moses’ sentence as too severe and a clear example of disparities in the US criminal justice system. Continue reading...
Younger Russians condemn all violence against Ukraine. But protest is impossible: we feel like hostages in our own countryThis morning everything has changed. Here in Russia, over images of tanks rolling into Ukraine, broadcasters tell us that our actions are a response to Ukrainian military aggression.I spoke to my father recently about the conflict in Ukraine. Any situation that involves aggression, injustice or war worries me. My father, though, was angry and sharp. He believed everything the authorities were doing was right. According to him, Ukraine was built with Soviet money, and it belongs to Russia. If it is occupied, the Ukrainian people are simply being saved from their government. And Russia’s borders will be more secure.Join a panel of journalists, hosted by Michael Safi, for a livestreamed event on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. On Thursday 3 March, 8pm GMT | 9pm CET | 12pm PST | 3pm EST. Book tickets here Continue reading...
Facebook is struggling to retain users, fending off regulation, trying to pivot to VR, and paying a massive wage premium to attract the workers it needs to make any of this happen. The company is on the ropesI’ve been praying for Facebook’s collapse ever since it attained liftoff. In a 2007 article, I predicted that “your creepy ex-co-workers will kill Facebook” by demanding to know why you won’t “friend” them, prompting an exodus to the next platform. That was the social network cycle back then: a new network opens, and you and the people you genuinely like enjoy a rollicking group chat until all the people you have to pretend to like show up.That’s the double-edged sword of products that rely on “network effects” – the economists’ term for a product that gets better when more people use it. Sure, you might join Facebook because your friends are all there (and more people might sign up because you’re there), but that also means that every time your friends leave Facebook, it’s a reason for you to leave, too.Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, including the forthcoming book Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly and fairness in the creative arts labor market. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame Continue reading...
The Russian leader listens to China’s Xi Jinping and a circle of rich cronies. Only they may be able to prevent huge bloodshedAll Europe must have awoken this morning and heard the news with horror. Sometimes history refuses to die. The fate of 44 million Ukrainians at the mercy of Russia and its vast army is appalling to contemplate. Indeed, so wild and mendacious are the utterances of Vladimir Putin in the past 24 hours that they suggest a dictator deranged and out of control. It is precisely the danger that was forecast by strategic theorists at the dawn of the nuclear age.As of this morning, Putin’s declared intention is to “demilitarise” Ukraine and assert Russia’s de facto sovereignty over the Donbas east of the country. The latter is chiefly an exaggeration of what Russia has done covertly since 2014. The former is hard to see other than as formal conquest. This is no longer some border dispute or separatist uprising, but the concerted assault of a great power on a substantial neighbour.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
by Aliya Uteuova with photographs by Danielle Amy on (#5WFBA)
Energy-efficient passive design is catching on in New York and other cities as climate concerns riseThe first night Stephanie Silva spent at her new Brooklyn apartment was uncommonly quiet. So was the following morning and the next day. The 32-year-old native New Yorker had forgotten the last time she was able to mute the city of 8.2 million.“It’s like a sanctuary,” Silva says, but as soon as she opens the street-facing windows, the bustling outside noise fills her living room. Once she closed the windows again, the difference was instantly noticeable. “Since moving here my anxiety went out the window,” Silva says, referring to the 10-floor affordable apartment in Ocean Hill, part of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. But what sets this 67-unit building apart from the rest of the housing in the city is its “passive” element. Continue reading...
The league’s newest team are aiming high as they approach their first season. But there have been growing pains along the wayA pleasant North Carolina day in December 2019 began with Commissioner Don Garber appearing in Charlotte to officially award the city an MLS franchise. Also at the event was David Tepper, the billionaire owner of the newly minted Charlotte FC and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. The day ended with Tepper surrounded by crazed Charlotte FC fans – literally day one fans – at a brewery where it wasn’t easy to identify who among the crowd was the man cutting the $325m expansion fee check.Charlotte FC were little more than a theoretical concept on that day. Eight months ago, the team had no coach. Three months ago, they had only a handful of players. Five weeks ago, the coaching staff and players met together for the first time. Continue reading...
Unlike their male counterparts, female players are rarely protected by headgear. Now many within the sports are pressing for a change in the rulesBecca Losch wore goggles and a mouthguard. She did exercises to strengthen her knee ligaments. Yet the prospect of a head injury barely crossed her mind.In 2012, while a student at a New Jersey high school, she was hit in the back of the head by a lacrosse ball during a warm-up drill before a game. She does not remember falling to the ground, being helped up by teammates and carrying on. Continue reading...
The Arizona Democrat supports a filibuster that could kill legislation to counter assaults on voting rightsIndigenous leaders who mobilized Arizona voters to help elect Senator Kyrsten Sinema say the centrist Democratic lawmaker can no longer count on their support, as communities feel betrayed.Sinema was elected in 2018, halfway through Trump’s term, amid growing alarm at the rollback of voting rights and environmental protectionsthat disproportionately impact tribal communities. She entered the senate after six years in congress, having beaten her Republican opponent with 50% of the vote, thanks in part to the large turnout among Indigenous Americans in Arizona. Continue reading...
I could not accept the idea of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but here I am as the airstrikes begin and Russia invades usA famous Russian independent journalist called me for a quote after Russia launched airstrikes all over Ukraine. We have never met but she started begging for forgiveness for what her country is doing and may do to mine. Both of us are experienced reporters and used to covering hard stories, conflicts. We talked, and we cried.So it begins. 5am. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and all along the 2,000km-long Russian-Ukrainian border.Nataliya Gumenyuk is a Ukrainian journalist specialising in foreign affairs and conflict reporting and author of Lost Island: Tales from the Occupied Crimea Continue reading...
Gun safety advocates condemn proposal introduced in state legislature as ‘blatant attempt to legalize armed vigilantism’Gun safety advocates have condemned Tennessee legislation which would designate some gun owners as police, allowing civilians to carry firearms in locations usually reserved for law enforcement.The proposed law, introduced in the Tennessee house and senate this month, “expands the definition of ‘law enforcement officer’” to include civilians who hold an enhanced handgun-carry permit – earned by taking an eight-hour handgun safety course and paying a $100 fee. Continue reading...
It’s time for the US and its allies to show their steel in the face of Putin’s aggression. We have learned that nothing else will workThe Syria crisis continues unnoticed. It holds key lessons for the west about Putin yet it has gone virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue in the Russian-sponsored dictatorship, even as some misguided leaders want to usher Bashar al-Assad, the architect of these crimes, back into acceptable society.We can rest assured that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, unlike Assad, is not welcoming Putin with open arms. But in responding to the Ukraine emergency, there are lessons the west can and should learn from the situation in Syria.Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a chemical weapons expert, fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and an adviser to the Union of Syrian Medical Charities Continue reading...
Surveys by the Public Religion Research Institute reveal QAnon believers increased to 17% in September from 14% in MarchThe QAnon conspiracy myth movement continues to thrive in the US and has even strengthened more than a year after Donald Trump left the White House, according to the largest ever study of its followers.Some 22% of Americans believe that a “storm” is coming, 18% think violence might be necessary to save the country and 16% hold that the government, media and financial worlds are controlled by Satan-worshipping pedophiles, according to four surveys carried out last year by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank. Continue reading...
Justice department said it would drop ‘China Initiative’ label, in part out of recognition of threats from other countriesThe US justice department is scrapping the name of a Trump-era initiative that was intended to crack down on economic espionage by China but has been criticised as unfairly targeting Chinese professors at American colleges because of their ethnicity.The decision to abandon the “China Initiative” and to impose a higher bar for prosecution of professors was announced on Wednesday by the department’s top national security official. Continue reading...
The crime lab stopped the practice after the district attorney’s office complained against the ‘deeply disturbing’ practiceThe San Francisco police department is no longer using DNA from sexual assault survivors and other victims to investigate unrelated crimes, officials said Wednesday.The department’s crime lab stopped the practice shortly after receiving a complaint from the district attorney’s office and formally changed its operating procedure Friday, Matt Dorsey, spokesman for San Francisco police chief Bill Scott, said Wednesday. Continue reading...
A video of a local television reporter in Ohio being surprised at work by his mother has gone viral. The ABC 6 reporter Myles Harris was about to record a news report when he noticed his mother driving past. 'Hold on,' he told the cameraman. His mother pulled up with a 'hi baby'. An exasperated Harris told her 'I’m trying to work right now!' before he and the cameraman bursted into laughter
The move marks the fourth time in the last decade that farmers in California didn’t receive water from the Central Valley ProjectOfficials are preparing for yet another critical water year in California as the state – along with most of the American west – remains mired in drought.The federal government said Wednesday that it won’t deliver water to farmers in California’s agricultural belt, which produces roughly a quarter of the nation’s food, due to the extreme water shortages that are expected to deepen if the direly dry conditions continue through March. Continue reading...
Rights groups argue the attorney general’s opinions, which have no legal bearing, will spread fear and misinformationTrans rights groups have expressed outrage and fear after the Texas state attorney general Ken Paxton called gender-affirming surgeries and medical care “child abuse” and state governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas department of family and protective services (DFPS) to conduct an investigation into such practices.Abbott said: “There is no doubt that these procedures are ‘abuse’ under Texas law, and thus must be halted. [DFPS] has a responsibility to act accordingly. I’ll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.” Continue reading...
Ex-president’s daughter may voluntarily appear for an interview, according to congressional committeeIvanka Trump is in talks with the January 6 House select committee about potentially cooperating with the panel, according to multiple US media reports.“Ivanka Trump is in discussions with the Committee to voluntarily appear for an interview,” a spokesperson for the daughter of former President Donald Trump said in a statement on Wednesday, CNN reported. Continue reading...
Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz of the Manhattan district attorney’s office quit amid signs that the move on Trump is stallingOne of the most aggressive criminal investigations against Donald Trump appears to be running into the sand after the two leading prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office investigating the former president’s finances resigned.The inquiry by Manhattan prosecutors into the operations of Trump and the Trump Organization has been among the most dangerous of the many legal perils facing him. The investigation, which began in August 2018 under the former district attorney Cyrus Vance and continued under incumbent Alvin Bragg, has dug ever deeper into alleged discrepancies in the value of the family’s assets in an effort to show a pattern of fraudulent behavior. Continue reading...
Authorities imprisoned Bethany K Farber for 13 days before realizing they had the wrong suspect wanted for crimes in TexasA California woman is suing the Los Angeles police department after she was imprisoned for nearly two weeks before officers determined they had the wrong suspect. Authorities reportedly mistook Bethany K Farber for a woman with the same name who was wanted in Texas.Farber said she was traveling to Mexico in April 2021 when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at Los Angeles international airport detained her, eventually informing her that there was a warrant out for her arrest in Texas. The aesthetician was arrested and booked into jail, where she was held for 13 days without bail. Continue reading...
Report shows rate of maternal deaths among Black people is almost triple the figure for white peoplePregnancy-related deaths among US mothers climbed higher in the pandemic’s first year, continuing a decades-long trend that disproportionately affects Black people, according to a government report released on Wednesday.Overall in 2020, there were almost 24 deaths per 100,000 births, or 861 deaths total, numbers that reflect mothers dying during pregnancy, childbirth or the year after. The rate was 20 per 100,000 in 2019. Continue reading...
With the spotlight on Ukraine, the heat is temporarily off for The Suspect, who could even flirt with some fresh fibs at PMQsBoris Johnson is in his happy place. The Russian invasion of Ukraine couldn’t have come at a better time. At a stroke, people have stopped asking him awkward questions about the cost of living and the price of fuel. Better still, both Labour and – more importantly – Tory MPs have also suspended hostilities on Partygate. At a time of imminent war in eastern Europe, a united front must be maintained at home. Just in case Vladimir Putin happens to be watching and starts taking our threats seriously. Not that there’s much sign of that so far. But we can live in hope.So, for The Suspect, the heat is off temporarily. He can swan around doing his Churchill tribute act – “We shall fight them on the tennis courts. We shall fight them in the Tory party fundraising auctions. We shall never give up” – safe in the knowledge that right now it’s hard for him to screw things up too badly. No one is coming after him and there is no vote of no confidence imminent. Because however many lies he happens to tell, they are nothing to those being told by Vladimir Putin. And his corruption is amateur hour when compared with the delusional venality of the Russian president. Though it’s obviously something to which he can aspire. Continue reading...
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