Some Texas Democrats dismayed their colleagues returned to make a quorum, but others hope their protest has drawn attention to voting rightsA last-ditch effort to stall Texas Republicans from passing sweeping voting legislation effectively ended on Thursday evening after enough Democrats returned to the state capitol in Austin to allow lawmakers to proceed on legislation. Continue reading...
Owning a pet is a long-term relationship, and things change. But the love enduresI left having children pretty much as late as it was biologically possible to do, and I quickly grew to recognise, if not entirely understand, a certain look – let’s say, boredom mixed with condescension topped off with wry amusement – sported by my friends, who had their children at far more sensible ages, when I would go on and on (and on) to them about the miracle-slash-insanity of raising babies. No one before me had ever noticed how crazy all this parenting stuff was, I believed, while looking uncomprehendingly at the smirks on my friends’ faces as their kids did their GCSEs. Well, I comprehend them now. Because this is how I feel when people go on and on (and on) about the new dogs that they got during lockdown.More than 3.2 million people in the UK got a pet during lockdown, and they have been especially popular among the under-35s. This is generally reported in a tone of either shock (what are those crazy kids doing, tying themselves down to a pet so early!) or scorn (silly snowflakes, they can’t handle a dog!). But I get it. I took my time about having kids, but I was precocious about dog ownership, having decided at the age of 31 that what was missing from carefree single life in Manhattan was an extremely high-maintenance terrier, who I could never leave alone in my tiny apartment because he would literally eat it. I once came home from breakfast in my local diner to find that he had eaten half my sofa, even though the sofa was 6ft long and my dog was the size of a jacket potato. And because I was so derangedly in love with him, I found this adorable, and proceeded to bring him with me everywhere. “Obviously you don’t mind,” I’d say, swanning into friends’ apartments with my yapping terrier, and they looked at me as if I’d come in with a rat I’d found on the subway. Continue reading...
The old system in Afghanistan has been overthrown, and now there is fear for what the future will bringI was on my way to the mountains of Nuristan in eastern Afghanistan when, on 8 August, the Taliban accelerated their offensive that would, a mere week later, sweep them into the presidential palace in Kabul. During the four days I spent in the mountains, the Taliban captured 10 out of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals in addition to the two they had already taken over on 6 and 7 August.This happened often without a fight, resembling the fall of districts that took place in a first wave of Taliban advances between May and July. Footage on TV channels on 11 August showed police and army vehicles leaving the northern towns of Fayzabad and Pul-i Khumri in the darkness of night, only illuminated by ghostly headlights. The Nuristanis who hosted me and followed this news on TV had come to an arrangement with the Taliban. They had only recently overtaken the last tiny islands of government control in their remote home districts of Kamdesh and Barg-e Matal, but the Nuristanis were not jubilant. They were quiet. And concerned. It looked bad for the Afghan republic. The Nuristanis and a taxi driver in Kunar began to refer to the situation as an “enqelob” – revolution – a term that I hadn’t heard Afghans use before. Continue reading...
The president’s pushing of a US-centric agenda has dismayed many but his defenders say it is ‘progressive nationalism’For Donald Trump, the former US president, beating the drum of “America first” was something of an obsession. “The future doesn’t belong to the globalists,” he once told the UN. “The future belongs to patriots.”Last year, he was rejected by voters in favour of Joe Biden, a committed internationalist who vowed: “America is back.” Yet the past week has shaken the faith of old allies and led some to question whether a strain of the “America first” mantra lives on. Continue reading...
In 1915 the president, Woodrow Wilson, screened the movie Birth of a Nation at the White House – a film that depicts Black men as brutal people who desire white women. Meanwhile white supremacist groups were writing school curriculums and news media were painting Black men as animalistic beings who attacked white women. This set the scene for a week of racial violence targeting Black Americans in 1919, during which two American cities were left in chaos. In Chicago it started with a Black man drowning after white people throw stones at him at a beach for infringing on their space. It led to a confrontation between Black and white citizens, and escalated into white mobs going into Black communities to burn down homes and kill Black people. In Washington DC it started with a minor argument that turned into rape allegations against two Black men, which prompted white mobs to attack Black people in restaurants, trolleys and in their communities. Dozens of Black people were killed during these riots, and few were held accountable. Continue reading...
by Bayeté Ross Smith. Essay by Jimmie Briggs on (#5NKDV)
Anti-Black racism in school curriculums, newspapers and film set the scene for a week of racial violence in Chicago and Washington DCHundreds of miles apart, two of the worst instances of racially motivated attacks in American history occurred within days of each other during the 1919 Red Summer. Continue reading...
by Associated Press in Plymouth, Massachusetts on (#5NK0K)
‘Extremely worrisome’ storm expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, US National Hurricane Center saysNew Englanders bracing for their first hurricane in 30 years began hauling boats out of the water and taking other precautions on Friday as Tropical Storm Henri barreled toward the north-east coast.Related: Grizzly Flats: the California town leveled by the Caldor fire – in pictures Continue reading...
• Obama’s former chief of staff also served as Chicago mayor• Emanuel joins long list of ambassadors awaiting confirmationJoe Biden plans to nominate Rahm Emanuel, a former US lawmaker who served as chief of staff to President Barack Obama and as mayor of Chicago, to be ambassador to Japan, the White House said in a statement on Friday.White House officials lauded Emanuel’s experience and long years of public service in announcing the nomination. Continue reading...
Sheryl Sandberg, Charlize Theron and Diane von Furstenburg among dozens who signed open letterDozens of women’s rights advocates and high-profile figures, including the poet Amanda Gorman, are calling on the Biden administration to protect and support Afghan women and girls.In an open letter titled “Do Not Abandon Afghan Women and Girls”, Gorman, alongside the Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, actors Charlize Theron and Kate Winslet, and others, urged the administration to honor its commitment. Continue reading...
The country has been lulled into a false sense of security but the only way we’ll get through this is if we are constantly vigilantMy Kiwi friends ask, somewhat jokingly, how I’m finding my first New Zealand level 4. I answer, also somewhat jokingly, that I’m a veteran at this, having lived in London and Dublin for most of the pandemic, and had gone through several hard lockdowns.That’s why it was unfortunate, the day before New Zealand went into one, it felt like Groundhog Day to me. Continue reading...
President Joe Biden, rejecting criticism of his handling of the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan, has warned that the operation to evacuate thousands through Kabul airport carries risks, but promised Americans in the country that 'we will get you home'.'Make no mistake, this evacuation mission is dangerous. It involves risks to our armed forces and it's being conducted under difficult circumstances. I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or that it will be without risk of loss. But as commander in chief, I can assure you that I will mobilise every resource necessary,' Biden said.The United States is desperately trying to evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan by a 31 August deadline, although Biden said this week that US troops at Kabul airport providing security for the evacuation could stay longer if necessary. Continue reading...
Tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who collaborated with US and Nato forces remain stranded in Kabul, as governments grappled with an overwhelming backlog of visas and Taliban checkpoints that were preventing people safely reaching the airport. US troops and Taliban fighters have opened fire into the air to disperse crowds held up outside the airport as they attempt to escape the country
Activists say website’s change will threaten livelihoods and force those working remotely online into ‘riskier street-based sex work’American sex workers say subscription website OnlyFans’ decision to ban “sexually explicit” content will threaten their livelihoods, drive more of the industry underground, and ultimately endanger lives.Related: OnlyFans to ban adult material after pressure from payment processors Continue reading...
Incompetent, negligent, isolated, increasingly disliked – Raab may just be the perfect ambassador for ‘global Britain’Is it possible to appear muscular while making a phone call? It is certainly the look that furiously committed political man Dominic Raab seems to have gone for, in an official picture released by his department as he attempts to retcon acting like a foreign secretary while Kabul fell.The photo of oneself on the phone was a favourite of George W Bush, though I can never remember seeing one of his that didn’t feel worthy of the caption: “Look Daddy! They let me use a phone!” Still, let’s have a look at Raab’s take on the genre. Grasping his chair with one hand and surrounded by flags, he is leaning so ferociously into the call that he can only have honed his game demanding to know why hotel housekeeping had failed to make his towel into a swan that morning. “I couldn’t give a toss that you were busy, and no, a turtle was not ‘fine’! You can’t just phone in any quarter-arsed terrycloth origami and claim to be offering a five-star guest experience. I think you should consider your position. [PAUSE] I’m so sorry, Secretary Blinken. I just reflexively dialled 1.” Continue reading...
Congress members say those who aided US military are in grave danger, plus OnlyFans announces it will ban adult materialGood morning.Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to “move heaven and earth” to speed up visas for those who helped the US during the two decades of war in Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans including translators and drivers worked with American forces find themselves in limbo with an unclear timeline on when their visa applications will be processed and serious questions about their safety while they wait as protests erupt across Afghanistan. Continue reading...
Our group is named, perhaps wistfully, for the reasonably priced bottle of Italian red table wine we used to drink together in our 20sMy WhatsApp chain, started six years ago with three girlfriends, has been my lifeline during this bizarre year. OK fine, it was my lifeline pre-pandemic, too, because I am the mother of three children under five-and-a-half, which means my in-person social life has been naturally curtailed for ages. (And you may reasonably ask, can you really call it a “social life” if the vast majority of one’s non-work time involves reading Clifford for President five times in succession to a listener who insists on wearing her diaper as a hat?)But as any fellow group texter knows, our chains got an extreme hit of adrenaline during the pandemic. One study found that WhatsApp saw a 40% increase in usage, and another that 78% of consumers reported texting to be their most frequent pandemic smartphone activity. Continue reading...
Native Americans make up half of farmers eligible for USDA loan forgiveness while only a few thousand Black farmers are. But it’s likely no one will get relief soonBlack farmers throughout the south call Cornelius Blanding daily to ask when the money might come from the US Department of Agriculture. Updates aren’t coming any other way.Blanding and his staff at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives do their best to stay on top of a federal debt relief program that should have started to pay farmers in June. They field calls and answer questions with limited information from the USDA, knowing only that a small percentage of Black farmers, and an even smaller percentage of the cooperatives’ membership, are eligible. Continue reading...
Soccer in the US is often seen as a preserve of the suburbs. But a new team in New York City is looking to upend stereotypesIn most of the world, from the favelas of Brazil to the working-class streets of London and Lagos, soccer is seen as the people’s game. A sport where all you need to play is a ball and a flat piece of ground.In the US however, it is often seen as the pastime for the kids of well-heeled suburbanites, who can afford expensive coaching and the hefty fees required to join junior teams. Thus, we see soccer in the United States as it is today: serving mostly the white, wealthy and well-connected. As Zlatan Ibrahimovic said during his brief time with LA Galaxy, “…not everyone has the money needed and the sport should be something for everyone, because it unites races and people.” Continue reading...
British MPs have turned on Boris Johnson – but what tidy end did they expect from this imperialist experiment?Britain’s MPs this week uttered one long howl of anguish over Afghanistan. Their immediate targets were Joe Biden and Boris Johnson, politicians who just happened to be on the watch when Kabul’s pack of cards collapsed. But their real concern was that a collective 20-year experiment in “exporting western values” to Afghanistan had fallen into chaos. MPs wanted someone other than themselves to blame. A politician is never so angry as when proved wrong.Related: Even the crisis in Afghanistan can't break the spell of Britain's delusional foreign policy | Owen Jones Continue reading...
Members of Congress warn that those who aided US military are in grave danger as they wait for evacuations and paperworkFor the two decades the US waged war in Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of Afghans worked with American forces at great risk to themselves and their families. A small fraction of those translators, drivers and other workers were promised pathways to special visas to leave the country and relocate to the US in return for their service.But now, after a hasty US military departure and an even faster takeover by the Taliban, thousands of applicants to these programs and other refugees find themselves in limbo with an unclear timeline on when their applications will be processed and serious questions about their safety while they wait. Continue reading...
by Presented by Jonathan Freedland, with Alexis Grene on (#5NJ43)
A week after Andrew Cuomo resigned as the governor of the state of New York, Jonathan Freedland revisits a conversation he had with Alexis Grenell back in March. The pair discuss how Cuomo rose to the top, and then fell spectacularly from grace. Continue reading...
State Republicans have scheduled a voting bill hearing for Saturday as the house was able to restore the quorumAfter a 38-day walkout, Texas Democrats who fled the state capitol to block Republican efforts to pass harsh new voting restrictions returned to the floor of the state house of representatives.The house now has the required two-thirds of members necessary for a quorum to conduct legislative business, and Republicans have already scheduled a hearing on the voting bill for Saturday. The standoff reached a tipping point last week after Republicans authorized law enforcement to find and arrest their missing Democratic colleagues and lead them back to the capitol. Continue reading...
Our leaders made the mistake of ignoring it was the Afghans’ country and they knew it better than we didI was one of the thousands of Australians who were deployed to Afghanistan – me, as an Australian federal police officer – over the last 20 years. Despite all the good we achieved while there, I now feel as though we failed; failed the good people of Afghanistan, especially those who risked everything by helping us.Last week one of the translators I worked alongside reached out to me in desperation. He wanted my support to help him and his family flee Afghanistan for the safety of Australia. I didn’t hesitate because it was my moral obligation to help this man who’d unselfishly aided me, and many others, at great risk to his own personal safety. While I’m pleased the Australian government has started some evacuation flights, I trust their understanding of moral obligation means they’ll continue to get out of that country as many of our proven friends as possible. Continue reading...
Deaths of couple, their daughter and their dog remain unexplained, says sheriff’s officeInvestigators were searching for clues in the unexplained deaths of a California couple, their baby and the family dog in a remote area of the Sierra national forest.John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their one-year-old daughter, Muji, and their dog were found dead on a hiking trail in Mariposa county. A family friend had reported them missing Monday evening. Continue reading...
President defends shots as millions worldwide are unvaccinated: US has ‘provided more to the rest of the world than all the rest of the world combined’Joe Biden has said that he and first lady Jill Biden plan on getting a booster shot and is comfortable doing so while millions around the world remain unvaccinated – because America has “provided more to the rest of the world than all the rest of the world combined”.Related: California fire destroys mobile homes as 11,000 firefighters battle blazes Continue reading...
Elizabeth Johnson Jr, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1693, could be cleared thanks to an eighth-grade civics classMore than three centuries after a Massachusetts woman was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death, she’s finally on the verge of being exonerated – thanks to a curious eighth-grade civics class.State senator Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat from Methuen, has introduced legislation to clear the name of Elizabeth Johnson Jr, who was condemned in 1693 at the height of the Salem witch trials but never executed. Continue reading...
Cheap money, the Delta variant and China’s sluggish performance add up to tough times aheadFinancial markets these days react to any whiff of tighter monetary policy in the US, so a little drama on Thursday was par for the course after the US Federal Reserve’s minutes suggested the winding-down of the huge pandemic stimulus programme could start soon. The Fed will still be buying assets in the autumn, but maybe not at the rate of $120bn (£89bn) a month. Commodities fell and shares globally took a hit. The FTSE 100 index dropped 1.5%.Context is needed, of course. The Footsie had risen by 25% in a straight line, more or less, since the arrival of vaccines last November. If one goes back further to the start of the pandemic, the S&P 500, the main US index, has roughly doubled from its low point. So the odd percentage decline hardly shows up on a medium-term view. Continue reading...
Largest increases among those in their 30s and under 18 as US urges world leaders not to attend UN meeting in personHospitalizations of people under the age of 50 with Covid-19 are now at the highest levels seen in the US since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest government data shows.The largest increases in hospitalizations was among those in their 30s and the under-18s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The previous peak in coronavirus patients under 50 needing to be hospitalized was in January this year. Continue reading...
Despite pandemic, election ‘report card’ shows record high turnout, embrace of mail and early voting and relatively few ballot rejectionsHappy Thursday, Continue reading...
Coalition of civil rights groups documents federal prosecutions of activists after the murder of George Floyd last yearThe federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation and beyond last summer after the Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, according to a new report.Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of protesters over the past year continued a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms. Continue reading...
by Fatima Bhutto , Stephen Wertheim, Moira Donegan, H on (#5NGXT)
Our panel weighs in on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and its aftermathIn the spring of 1996, Owais Tohid, a well-known Pakistani journalist, travelled around Afghanistan speaking to Taliban fighters and commanders. The west didn’t understand them, they told him again and again. “Americans have the clocks,” a young Talib quoted Mullah Omar, “but we have the time.” Continue reading...
President pledges to ‘get all Americans out’. Plus: saving ozone layer gave humanity a chance• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning,Joe Biden has said US troops may remain in Afghanistan beyond the 31 August deadline, as he pledged to “stay until we get all [American citizens] out”. Continue reading...
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