Hundreds of people joined Oath Keepers or renewed membership after many of group’s members participated in riotHacked materials from the website of the rightwing militia group the Oath Keepers show that hundreds of people either joined or renewed their membership after many of the group’s members participated in the attack on the Capitol on 6 January.They included people who joined under their military ranks, including combat veterans, retired servicepersons, at least one serving national guardsman, several members of the clergy and others involved in security contracting and the firearms industry. Continue reading...

The Presbyterian coach started embracing analytics during his high school career. But not everyone is a fan of his methodsTwo weeks ago the Presbyterian College football team was on the road against Campbell University when the game reached a critical juncture. Already down 14-zip with less than five minutes left in the first quarter, the Blue Hose had just taken a sack on third-and-long that pinned them on their own four-yard line. Making matters worse, the play clock expired on quarterback Ren Hefley and backed up Presbyterian even farther – to the two-yard line.Most any other football coach in America wouldn’t have to think twice about what to do next: kick the ball away. But Kevin Kelley is different, he made his name by boldly keeping his offense on the field on fourth down instead of punting or trying for field goals. This time, his decision to actually punt was an agonizing one that felt like a psychic defeat. “They were just manhandling us,” says the 52-year-old coach, who was still smarting about his call when the Guardian caught up with him this week. “The chances of us converting on fourth down were not looking good.” Continue reading...

Democratic lawmakers including Missouri representative Cori Bush shared personal stories behind their decisions to have abortions during a House oversight committee meeting about reproductive rights on Thursday.Representatives Barbara Lee of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington also shared their stories during the committee hearing

The left wants to achieve far-reaching structural change – the sort of political reframing that requires coalition building. Are polarizing words throwing them off course?

Some hospitals have experienced staff shortages after new rules went into effect – but the mandate appears to be workingErie County Medical Center, a hospital in the western New York city of Buffalo, just recorded its highest single-day patient count ever – 553 patients in a facility licensed for 573 beds – but not because of an influx of Covid-19 cases.Instead, hospital leaders said the caseload is the result of a New York state vaccine mandate – the first statewide “vaccinate or terminate” mandate to be implemented in the nation. Continue reading...

Congress passed a bill to fund the government into December. But questions remain over the debt ceiling and Biden’s agendaThe US government went into Thursday embroiled in a game of three-dimensional chess with time running out and trillions of dollars at stake.The first dimension was a must-do: fund the government by midnight to avoid it shutting down. In a typical shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees stop getting paid and many stop working; some services are suspended and numerous national attractions and national parks temporarily close. Continue reading...

Bill passed by Senate and House will extend funding until 3 December as Democrats continue to wrangle over Biden’s economic agenda

Pelosi says talks moving ‘in positive direction’ as series of legislative and fiscal deadlines loom for Biden’s $1tn public works measureWith the fate of Joe Biden’s domestic agenda on the line, Democrats searched furiously for a path forward after negotiations over a once-in-a-generation expansion of the social safety net neared collapse and a vote on a smaller public works measure appeared increasingly unlikely.With almost no margin for error and little time left to break an impasse that threatens to imperil its passage – and possibly the entirety of the president’s program – Democrats charged ahead on Thursday, even as a crucial Democratic holdout called for shrinking the $3.5tn plan in half. But assurances of progress offered little comfort to nervous Democrats on Capitol Hill, where a series of legislative and fiscal deadlines loom. Continue reading...

‘I don’t know the procedures, so I did it my own way,’ says 26-year-old US Army veteran, after the reptile ‘hissed’ at his daughterNot all heroes wear capes – some wear slides and socks. A US army veteran who has gone viral online for trapping a large Florida alligator in wheelie bin says he “used the front like a hippo mouth”, to scare the reptile into submission.When 26-year-old Eugene Bozzi’s daughter told him “Hey, this big alligator just hissed at me!”, he thought it must be a baby, the New York Post reports. When he saw that it was 1.8 metres long, he was daunted but not deterred. Continue reading...

Activity is ‘not criminally actionable’, Virginia officers say, as family reports neighbor plays slurs and monkey noisesA Black family from Virginia who say their neighbor has been playing recordings of racial slurs and monkey noises since their arrival received no recourse after police deemed their neighbors’ actions “not criminally actionable”, reports CNN.Five years ago, the Martinez family moved into their dream home in a quiet cul-de-sac of Virginia Beach, about two hours outside of the state’s capital. Continue reading...

Video appears to show officer firing at fleeing car in incident fueling calls for removal of armed officers from schoolsAn 18-year-old woman is on life support after a school safety officer shot her near a high school in Long Beach, California, this week, sparking outrage and renewing calls for armed officers to be removed from schools.The victim, identified by her family as Manuela Rodriguez, was shot while in a moving vehicle on Monday afternoon. The Long Beach police department (LBPD) said an officer for the school district was driving when he observed an altercation between Rodriguez and a 15-year-old girl taking place down the street from Millikan high school and attempted to intervene. Continue reading...

The five multi-award-winning artists will perform on the same stage together for the first time at next year’s half-time showDr Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Snoop Dogg will headline this season’s Super Bowl LVI half-time show.The acts, who have won 43 Grammys between them, will perform on the same stage for the first time in Inglewood, California, in February at the new SoFi stadium. It will be the first time that Los Angeles has hosted the Super Bowl in 30 years. Continue reading...

Memoir reveals Trump once discussed strength of kangaroos in meeting with UK PM – one of the few European leaders he likedBoris Johnson once devoted a considerable part of a meeting with Donald Trump to discussing how strong kangaroos are, as the British prime minister struck up a robust relationship with a fellow “pudgy white guy with crazy hair”.In contrast, the then US president considered his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, “a wuss”. Continue reading...

Three Democrats – Bush, Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal – spoke before House oversight committee hearing on reproductive rightsDemocratic lawmakers shared the personal stories behind their past decisions to have abortions during a House oversight committee meeting about reproductive rights on Thursday.Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Barbara Lee of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington testified during the committee hearing and also shared details about their abortions earlier during an exclusive interview with MSNBC on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Wealthy entrepreneurs and media moguls also named on membership list for influential Council for National PolicyA leaked document has revealed the membership list of the secretive Council for National Policy (CNP), showing how it provides opportunities for elite Republicans, wealthy entrepreneurs, media proprietors and pillars of the US conservative movement to rub shoulders with anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists.The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors rightwing hate groups, describes the CNP as “a shadowy and intensely secretive group [which] has operated behind the scenes” in its efforts to “build the conservative movement”.Frank Gaffney, founder and executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy (CSP)Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of Act For America (AFA)Michael P Farris, president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice InstituteTony Perkins, president of the Family Research CouncilMatthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty CounselTim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association Continue reading...

On track to be Netflix’s biggest success to date, the blood-spattered thriller taps into our post-lockdown anxieties about returning to the rat raceIf you are one of the many millions of people around the world living in a city taking tentative steps out of lockdown, you may be like me in that among my jumble of feelings – excitement, relief, joy – is also a surprising degree of anxiety.And perhaps if you are also one of the many millions around the world who has now watched the latest Netflix hit Squid Game, the show and its blood-splattered, horror-tinged violence may have provided a thrilling catharsis. Continue reading...

For years, Fort Bend county was a Republican bastion, but recently it has become more politically competitive as local organizers work against gerrymandering

The sham audit actually increased Biden’s vote. But Arizona Republicans’ goal was never to overturn the last election – it was to lay the groundwork for overturning the next one“Humiliation.” “Embarrassment.” “Trump a Bigger Loser than First Thought.”Last week, the Arizona Republicans’ sham election “audit” ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Launched in April to help Donald Trump legitimize his false claims of voter fraud, the review of Phoenix-area ballots was – even by its own low standards – an incompetent mess. For months, would-be sleuths chased bizarre conspiracy theories, wasted taxpayer dollars and compromised private voter information. When the results were finally announced last week, they revealed that Joe Biden had not only won Arizona, but had in fact won it by an even larger margin than previously reported.David Litt is an American political speechwriter and New York Times bestselling author of Thanks Obama, and Democracy In One Book Or Less. He edits How Democracy Lives, a newsletter on democracy reform Continue reading...

The new German chancellor will come from one of the old parties. But the policies will be shaped by the youngSunday’s election in Germany ended an astonishing campaign run, unprecedented in the country’s postwar history. Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party experienced a landslide defeat, not only losing about a quarter of its vote share, a number of important constituencies – including the one that Merkel herself held – but also ending up in third place in three of the eastern states of Germany, behind the Social Democrats and the rightwing, populist AfD.Since 2015, the Christian Democrats have gone from being the dominant force in German politics, almost invincible and the only remaining dominant party or Volkspartei, to a party in disarray, with major internal power struggles, depleted of policy ideas and rocked by corruption scandals, with CDU politicians found to have made personal gains from the pandemic through controversial mask deals.Anke Hassel is professor of public policy and co-director of the Jacques Delors Centre at the Hertie School, Berlin Continue reading...

The star follows in the footsteps of Jemele Hill, Cari Champion and Beadle as outspoken women who are no longer at the broadcasterOnly Katie Nolan could take an unpleasant topic like the trolling of female sports journalists and turn it into a hilarious skit that makes your lungs ache from laughter. Nolan’s “secret society of women in sports media” also made me, a woman in sports media, want to punch a wall and left me feeling empowered to rebel against systemic misogyny. That’s the Katie Nolan effect. You feel things.When ESPN hired Nolan in late 2017, it was a no brainer. The uber-talented Nolan had quickly risen from a Boston bartender making YouTube videos in her spare time to being such an undeniable star that Fox created its own show for her, Garbage Time. The show was eventually canceled due to low ratings (aided by a less than ideal time slot) but not before winning a Sports Emmy and earning Nolan cult status her blend of hilarious bits and searing takes on sports’ most uncomfortable issues, such as her takedown of the NFL for allowing Greg Hardy back in the league. Fox knew they had a special talent but instead of finding Nolan a new role they let her sit under contract for seven months before ESPN evidently swooped in. Continue reading...

Mohammad El Halabi has been detained for five years without trial, accused of diverting $50m in aid funds to Hamas

The US president faces a crucial 24 hours over his social policy plans; plus, leak reveals top Republicans in group with extremists

Concern grows as guns appear in homicides, school shootings and domestic terror incidentsCities across California are ramping up efforts to try to stop the flow of so-called ghost guns into their jurisdictions, as the do-it-yourself weapons appear with increasing frequency at homicide scenes, traffic stops, and community gun buybacks.As state and federal laws meant to bring ghost guns into compliance with traditional firearm laws await implementation, local officials and prosecutors across California are increasingly resorting to bans and lawsuits to regulate the weapons in their cities. Continue reading...

Violence against healthcare workers from patients and families has increased during the pandemicIn 2019, Laura Paul, a registered nurse, was seeing a sedated patient in the intensive care unit at Cox Medical Center Branson in south-west Missouri when “he went from out cold to swinging in a matter of seconds,” she said.Paul, a house supervisor who moves among different units of the hospital, tried to dodge the patient’s attack and screamed for help. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also features Fury and Wilder beef, long-distance field goals and javelin greatness1) On this day in 1980, the great Martina Hingis was born. In 1997, she became the youngest person to win a singles grand slam by beating Mary Pierce in Melbourne. Here she is winning Wimbledon later that year plus a tribute to her doubles prowess. Hingis won 20 slams in doubles, including the women’s and mixed titles at Wimbledon in 2015 after coming out of retirement. Finally, here’s a lovely one-on-one interview she did with Chris Evert.2) You might not see a better goal this season than the one scored by Desire Asante for Golden Kicks against Mobile Phone People in a Ghanaian Division 2 play-off game. And you might not see a cheekier goal than this from Ipswich, to earn a last-minute point at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Continue reading...

If Olaf Scholz becomes chancellor after his narrow victory, progressives across the continent will be trying to imitate himGermany’s general election signals far more than just the end of the Angela Merkel era. Although it will eventually produce yet another centrist coalition government, this should not be dismissed as simply the same old same-old. For the new government will represent several steps into the unknown. There will be significant lessons and lasting political consequences – for Germany above all, but also for the continent of which, in spite of everything, Britain remains part.Even without Merkel at the helm, Germany remains Europe’s economic powerhouse and principal regional player. That will not change. Yet, with no party exceeding 26% of the votes after last Sunday’s contest, German voters have ushered in a new and more fragmented political order. For the first time they face government by a three-party coalition, not the more familiar two. Continue reading...

I feel like I’m living in a re-enactment of Cold Mountain, but the mountain’s been swapped out for a suburban LGA. And yet I’m among the lucky onesIt’s been 16 weeks since I found myself trapped in Sydney, just in time for the coronavirus lockdown. It’s 16 weeks since I last saw my partner.As we parted, there wasn’t too much of the Casablanca about our farewell at Wagga Wagga train station – no hats, no mist, not even the soundtrack throb of a string section. There was just business with luggage, a cuddle and the shared hope that Sydney’s lockdown would be over in a few days and we’d be reunited. Continue reading...

The singer's fans erupt into cheers outside a Los Angeles court after a judge suspended her father, Jamie Spears, from his role as the controller of her business affairs. ‘The current situation is not tenable. It reflects a toxic environment which requires the suspension of Jamie Spears effective today,’ Los Angeles superior court Judge Brenda Penny said. The decision marks a huge victory for Britney Spears, who has been struggling for years to get free of the legal arrangement. Her attorney Mathew Rosengart thanks fans after the ruling. ‘Today is a great day, it's a great day for Britney Spears and it's a great day for justice,’ Rosengart says

North Korean leader said Biden offer of dialogue is ‘a facade’ and blamed the US for ‘hostile policy’Kim Jong-un has condemned a US offer of dialogue as a “facade”, state media reported, but said he had ordered officials to restore communication lines with South Korea to “promote peace”.Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, the North Korean leader accused the US of continuing a “hostile policy” against his nuclear-armed country, despite the Biden administration’s offers of negotiations without preconditions. Continue reading...

Keller wore his Team USA jacket when he entered the Capitol building where he shouted vulgarities at Democratic party leadersKlete Keller, a former Olympic swimmer who won two gold medals for the United States, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to his participation in the January riot at the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.Keller admitted to obstructing an official proceeding, after prosecutors agreed to drop six other criminal charges they brought against him in February. Continue reading...

Eleven people connected to Women for America First subpoenaed, including Trump 2016 campaign spokesperson Katrina PiersonThe House select committee investigating the Capitol attack on Wednesday issued a second tranche of subpoenas to individuals connected to the rally immediately preceding the 6 January riot, where Donald Trump incited his supporters to commit insurrection.The new subpoenas for people involved in the march and rally reflects the select committee’s far-reaching mandate to examine whether the attack on the Capitol was planned in advance, according to a source familiar with the matter. Continue reading...

The collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces can be traced to a 2020 agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration that promised a complete US troop withdrawal, senior Pentagon officials have told Congress.Gen Frank McKenzie, the head of central command, told the House 'the signing of the Doha agreement had a really pernicious effect on the government of Afghanistan and on its military'. He identified a troop reduction ordered by Joe Biden as the 'second nail in the coffin'.

The Doha agreement, signed in February 2020, set a date for the US to fully withdraw troops by May 2021The collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces can be traced to a 2020 agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration that promised a complete US troop withdrawal, senior Pentagon officials have told Congress.Gen Frank McKenzie, the head of central command, told the House armed services committee that once the US troop presence was pushed below 2,500 as part of President Joe Biden’s decision in April to complete a total withdrawal by September, the unraveling of the US-backed Afghan government accelerated. Continue reading...

The Low End Theory has never reaped the plaudits or the profits of Nirvana’s Nevermind, but it is a beautyThirty years ago this week, one of the best and most influential albums of all time was released – and it is not the one you are thinking of. While Nirvana’s Nevermind has garnered the headlines and BBC airtime, there is another album of exactly the same vintage that also defined a genre.The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest has shaped the history of hip-hop like few other records before or since. It was the first album ever bought by Kanye West (“Tribe made Kanye,” he has said). Listening to it inspired Dr Dre to make The Chronic. It launched the career of Busta Rhymes, who pops up on the traditional posse cut at the end of the album and proceeds to let off a series of verbal fireworks (“Raarr, rarr / like a dungeon dragon,” indeed). Of its producer, Q-Tip, Pharrell Williams has said: “We’re all his sons. Myself, [producer] J Dilla, Kanye, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Tribe albums.” Add to that list Outkast, The Roots, Gangstarr … Continue reading...

Biden cancels trip as Democrats seek unity over two key bills, with vote on infrastructure measure due on ThursdayDemocrats are on the verge of a make-or-break moment that will determine the fate of Joe Biden’s ambitious economic agenda, as they rush to bridge the internal divisions threatening to derail passage of the sweeping $3.5tn social policy package and a smaller infrastructure bill.Failure would be disastrous for the president and his party’s political prospects in the midterm elections next year, but success was far from certain with less than 48 hours left before a consequential vote in the House on Thursday. Continue reading...

When Black people go missing, police and mainstream outlets do very little, if anything, to recover themWhen the late Gwen Ifill used the phrase “Missing White Woman Syndrome” at a 2004 journalism conference, she was responding to news anchor Suzanne Malveaux’s concern that US media outlets had failed to cover international genocides early on, including Rwanda and Kosovo. Malvaeux told the diverse crowd: “In 1994, during Rwanda, we were looking at Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.” The two figure skaters had received more coverage than a million genocide victims and survivors. Ifill playfully interrupted her, mocking newsroom executives: “If it’s a missing white woman, you’re going to cover that, every day.” The room welcomed her interjection with resounding applause.But rather than being celebrated as part of Malveaux’s criticism of US-centric media, “Missing White Woman Syndrome” has found a life of its own. Commentators widely use it now to describe the disparity in media coverage that missing young, conventionally attractive white women receive over missing Black and brown people. Continue reading...

The company said it would start the process of firing 593 employees who decided not to get vaccinatedUnited Airlines has said nearly 600 US-based employees are facing termination after failing to comply with the carrier’s vaccination policy.In early August, the company became the first US airline to require Covid-19 vaccinations for all domestic employees, requiring proof of vaccination by Monday. Continue reading...

Sports psychologists might not like it, but Steve Stricker’s ‘cut the fluff’ mentality let his team enjoy themselves, and winThe way Justin Thomas tells it, Dustin Johnson’s one frustration was that he didn’t win even more points in the Ryder Cup. “Poor guy went out there, tried to get six points, but all he could do was five,” Thomas joked. Of course there are only five points available, but Johnson is a man who once missed a key putt by six feet because he was holding the green-reading book upside down, and who blew a one-shot lead at the US PGA in 2010 because he didn’t realise he was standing in a bunker.One anonymous fellow pro was repeatedly quoted describing Johnson and his brother as “dumb and dumber”. Over the years, as Johnson peeled off all those weeks at the top of the world rankings, his victories at the US Open and the Masters, and his clean sweep of all five matches in the Ryder Cup last week, you started to wonder who the joke was on. Continue reading...

The former president hopes to block the release of White House records; plus, judge to rule on Britney Spears’ conservatorship

For decades, Kelly hid his predatory behavior in plain sight – and people did nothingAfter a six-week trial, R&B megastar R Kelly has been convicted of nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking and now faces decades in jail. Over the course of the trial, several of Kelly’s victims recounted harrowing testimony of the abuse they suffered at the singer’s hands, starting when many of them were just teenagers.Although a guilty verdict is the best possible outcome in this horrific situation, I can’t help but think about all the other adults who failed these Black girls along the way, and how long it took the justice system to deliver this reckoning. For over two decades, serious allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate contact with minors have followed the Grammy award-winning singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly. Why did no one do anything about it? The answer is simple and twofold: first, Kelly was a superstar; second, society simply doesn’t value Black girls’ lives. Continue reading...

The state has the country’s lowest case rate. But in the vaccine-resistant Central Valley and rural north, healthcare workers are pushed to the limitCalifornia has the lowest coronavirus case rate in the country. But within the state, the agricultural Central Valley and rural north remain overwhelmed.Resistance to vaccines and public health mandates, combined with the advance of the Delta variant, have triggered an explosion of cases that are pushing already strained public health systems to the brink. In some counties, the case rate per 100,000 people is three or more times that of the state. Continue reading...

Decarceration advocates urge lawmakers to consider sentencing reform instead as prisons have seen high rates of Covid outbreaksThe southern US state of Alabama, which has the highest death rate from Covid-19 in America, is planning to use Covid relief funds to help construct three large prisons and renovate several others.State lawmakers began a special session on Monday to discuss the $1.3bn construction project, which would use up to $400m from American Rescue Plan funds allocated to the state – nearly 20% of Alabama’s federal pandemic relief money. Continue reading...

The political and demographic future of America will look like what Fort Bend county looks like now, demographers believe – but Republicans could halt thatA few nights a week, Mohammad Aziz meets his friend Syed Ali in the parking lot of a strip mall in Sugar Land, the suburban city just south-west of Houston. Syed runs Nash Up Chick, a food truck dishing out Nashville-style hot chicken just off Highway 6. The men, both immigrants from Pakistan, sit in plastic chairs and pass the time in the soupy Texas heat, chatting in a mix of English and Urdu. Continue reading...

After years of underachievement, the team Al Davis built may be good enough to stray into ‘love-to-hate’ territory once againAl Davis died 10 years ago next week, and his beloved NFL team now plays its home games a nine-hour drive from Oakland. But the Raiders are not ready to move away from his go-deep, “Just Win, Baby” legacy – and they may not ever be. Ten years on, they still wear tiny black shield-shaped stickers with AL on those lustrous silver helmets.His 66-year-old son, Mark, who has owned and run the Raiders since his father’s death, angered the legion of loyal fans in Oakland by bolting to Las Vegas before last season, even though he said he tried to get a new stadium built in Oakland even after the city jacked up the rent on the old one. Continue reading...