The brains trust at Fox News recently debated whether the ‘childless left’ deserve the vote – which shows that choosing not to have kids if still very much stigmatized

Progressives had hoped for fewer Biden allies, more foreign service professionalsJoe Biden is sticking to tradition as he slowly fills the vacancies in the ranks of ambassadors across the world, focussing on mixing longtime career diplomatic officials with figures with strong ties to himself and the Democratic party.Among Biden’s expected picks is Caroline Kennedy, former US ambassador to Japan, daughter of the former president, and longtime Biden friend, ally and donor, to be ambassador to Australia. He has picked the Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, who was a prominent Biden surrogate on the presidential campaign trail, to be ambassador to India, despite a relative lack of foreign policy experience. And the president is also widely expected to name the former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel ambassador to Japan. Continue reading...

‘If they’re dumb enough not to get the vaccine, let them get sick,’ some thought. Now we know everyone would sufferAn email arrived from my cousin this week outlining how bad Covid cases are in her part of South Africa. Delta is surging, she wrote; their friends and neighbours were starting to die. Meanwhile, vaccination rates were terrible, with less than 5% of the population fully vaccinated. After filling me in on the rest of the family news, she assured me that she and her husband were on the waiting list for vaccines – for what it was worth. Her husband, she said, was “convinced they’re not safe”.This was information to me. Not that a member of my extended family differed from me in his thoughts about drug trials and government-agency approval, but more broadly: wow, I had no idea my cousin was married to a lunatic. Continue reading...

• IRS must give Trump tax returns to ways and means committee• Notes show Trump pressed DoJ officials to call election corrupt1.02am BSTThat’s it for me tonight. Thanks for sticking with us! Here’s what happened this afternoon:Related: ‘We went from heroes to zeroes’: US nurses strike over work conditions12.15am BSTThe US Department of Justice sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott today over his order to stop migrants from entering the state or being transported through it, unless by law enforcement officials.According to the lawsuit, filed in federal court in El Paso, only the federal government has jurisdiction over immigration, Reuters reports.The order, which Abbott signed on Wednesday, permits only ‘law enforcement officials’ to provide ground transport for migrants detained for illegally crossing the southern border. It also gives the state’s public safety department the authority to stop any vehicle suspected of carrying migrants and send it back to its point of origin.

Department says House panel has ‘sufficient reasons’ for requesting returns as Nancy Pelosi hails ‘victory for the rule of law’The US Department of Justice on Friday ordered the Internal Revenue Service to hand Donald Trump’s tax returns to a House committee, saying the panel had “invoked sufficient reasons” for requesting them.Related: Trump pressured DoJ officials to falsely claim election corrupt, memos show Continue reading...

Infections and hospitalizations are rising in the state as health officials fear not enough people are vaccinatedCalifornia’s public health agency this week recommended that people wear masks indoors regardless of their vaccination status, one of several steps taken across the state as part of an urgent effort to curb the rise of coronavirus infections.“The Delta variant has caused a sharp increase in hospitalizations and case rates across the state. We are recommending masking in indoor public places to slow the spread while we continue efforts to get more Californians vaccinated,” said Dr Tomás J Aragón, the state’s public health officer, in a statement on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Notes obtained by House oversight committee show Trump pressured officials to falsely claim the election was not legitimateDonald Trump pressured top justice department officials to falsely claim that the 2020 election was corrupt so he and his allies in Congress could subvert the results and return him to office, according to newly released memos.“Just say that the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me,” Trump told the former acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, memos turned over to the House oversight committee showed. The notes were taken by Donoghue, who documented a 27 December call with Trump and Rosen. Continue reading...

The attitude of Republican politicians to the committee shows exactly why it is neededThe investigation into the deadly insurrection of 6 January is not one but two processes. The first is an attempt to discover the truth about those events: not only what happened, but who, beyond the members of the mob, was responsible and in what ways. The second is the task of getting people to accept that truth – knowing that many will not.Senior Republicans initially acknowledged the horror of the events and the culpability of Donald Trump, whose big lie of a stolen election triggered the assault upon the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader – who is said to have telephoned the president urging him to call the rioters off as they tried to break through his office window – said that Mr Trump bore responsibility. He and others called for a 9/11-style independent commission. Continue reading...

The gymnast was considering quitting her sport in the run-up to the Olympics. But when Simone Biles stepped away she grabbed her chance to shineOn Thursday night in Tokyo, moments after Sunisa Lee was awarded the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition, the 18-year-old American called the experience “surreal.”And of course it was. Lee, like every other US gymnast for most of the past decade, was supposed to play second fiddle, at best, to Simone Biles in Tokyo. In 2016, Biles’s teammate Laurie Hernandez told reporters at the Olympics: “If you get silver, you’re the best, because Simone doesn’t count.” Continue reading...

Nothing is more dangerous than the illusion of action – which is all that the British government is offeringFuture generations will look back on the climate events of 2021 and say: “That was the year they ran out of excuses.”Heatwaves and flooding here in the UK, temperatures topping 50C in Pakistan, hundreds killed by a heatwave in British Columbia, deadly floods in Germany and China. All within a single month. Add to that the recent dire warning from the Met Office that the age of extreme weather has just begun. Continue reading...

The Republican party is encouraging Americans to make objectively selfish, harmful choices – then using the tools of government to shield them from accountability“It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions,” declared Ronald Reagan at the 1968 Republican National Convention.By the time he became president 12 years later, this idea – that individuals can be trusted to act wisely and should be held accountable when they don’t – was firmly entrenched in Republican rhetoric. Reagan even included “personal responsibility” in his list of America’s bedrock values, right up there with faith in God, honesty, and caring for others. Continue reading...

Athletes like Simone Biles must perform at the highest level while also carrying burdens specific to Black sportswomenThis week, Simone Biles unexpectedly withdrew from the team and individual all-around gymnastics events at the Tokyo Olympics. The 24-year-old told reporters she wanted to focus on her mental health after experiencing the “twisties” – a condition in which a gymnast loses his or her spatial awareness during a move – in practice. It is no surprise that Biles is under overwhelming stress. With speculation that the four-time Olympic champion has plans to retire after Tokyo, pressure to walk away on a triumphant note would have left any athlete anxious.But unlike most other athletes gearing up for the Olympics, Biles is held to impossible expectations. That is not only because she is the greatest in her sport, but also because she is a Black woman dominating an industry that has neglected and discriminated against athletes of her kind. A woman like Biles was never meant to be the greatest gymnast of all time, and because of that, she is held to higher standards and became a role model to the next generation of Black gymnasts and Black women. That is an incredible burden, even for someone who is not stepping onto the biggest stage in sports. Continue reading...

With the Delta variant spreading, Joe Biden announced new requirements for federal workers and urged local governments to do more to incentivize people to get vaccinatedGood morning.Joe Biden announced yesterday that all civilian federal workers must attest to being vaccinated against Covid-19 or face regular testing and physical distancing, masking and travel restrictions. Continue reading...

The American placed fifth in the 400m hurdles in Rio, but she’s poised to finish on the podium five years laterGiven its unique demands on technique, endurance, and speed, many consider the 400m hurdles one of the most challenging track and field events. After exploding out of the starting blocks, athletes must sprint 400m while propelling themselves up and over 10 hurdles positioned evenly around the track.At 21 years old, Sydney McLaughlin is already the fastest woman in the history of the event as she begins her Olympic campaign on Saturday morning in Tokyo. Continue reading...

The US pro league had a wild ride in season four but made it to the big show. Its commissioner knows it’s in the shop windowIn American sports parlance, as George Killebrew puts it, Major League Rugby is “98 & 0”. The championship game in Los Angeles on Sunday will make it 99 out of 99 for games played in a league which began its fourth year amid rampant uncertainty and Byzantine Covid protocol.Related: All Blacks will play US Eagles at Washington NFL stadium in October Continue reading...

Guest list includes Oprah Winfrey and George ClooneyLooks like former president Barack Obama is gearing up to throw the (outdoor) bash of the summer.The 44th president is reportedly pulling out all the stops when it comes to his upcoming birthday. Obama, who turns 60 on Wednesday, will be inviting dozens of friends to celebrate with him this weekend on his estate on Martha’s Vineyard. The guest list includes Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney, according to the Hill. Continue reading...

The Tokyo Games have shone a light on bullying, abuse and sexualisation, which are too often ignored in the pursuit of gloryNobody should have to go to work in their bra and knickers. So when the Norwegian women’s beach handball team were fined earlier this month for defiantly choosing to compete in shorts – rather than the buttock-revealingly skimpy bikini bottoms mandated by their sport’s governing body – it was the organisers of the European championships, not the squad, who ended up looking ridiculous. Why should female athletes have to be served up half-naked, for the benefit of leering audiences?But the rebellious Norwegians, it turns out, were merely the tip of a much bigger iceberg. Now the Tokyo Olympics are witnessing what looks very much like the beginnings of a movement, as sportswomen increasingly speak out about their experiences of sexualisation and exploitation. Continue reading...

Congress members Joyce Beatty and Hank Johnson were previously arrested for participating in separate demonstrationsSheila Jackson Lee, a Democratic representative of Texas, was arrested in Washington DC on Thursday while protesting lawmakers’ delay in passing legislation to protect voting rights, becoming the third member of the Congressional Black Caucus to be arrested for civil disobedience in recent weeks.Related: Voting curbs enacted in 18 US states this year despite none finding widespread fraud Continue reading...

Survey finds cases on the rise this year of US airline passengers who sometimes become violent – most often over a mask mandateNearly one in five flight attendants say they have gotten into a “physical incident” this year with a passenger, and their union is calling for criminal prosecution of people who act up on planes.Related: Airline passengers fined $20,000 as US agency cracks down on unruly fliers Continue reading...

Theodore McCarrick is the first cardinal in the US to ever be criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minorFormer cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked after a Vatican investigation confirmed he had sexually molested adults and children, has been charged with sexually abusing a teenage boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974, court records show.McCarrick is the first cardinal in the US to ever be criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minor, according to Mitchell Garabedian, a well-known lawyer for church sexual abuse victims who is representing the man alleging the abuse by McCarrick. Continue reading...

Caleb Ganzer was named one of Food & Wine’s best sommeliers in 2017One of New York City’s star sommeliers has been charged with allegedly setting fire to multiple outdoor dining structures in Manhattan in recent months after he was caught on CCTV.The 35-year-old sommelier, Caleb Ganzer, was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s sommeliers of the year in 2017. He most recently worked as a managing partner at La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, but in a statement the bar told the New York Times that he had been placed on a leave of absence. Continue reading...

US GDP grew 6.5% in the second quarter of 2021, but fears of a slowing recovery persistThe US economy has returned to its pre-pandemic level despite growing at a weaker rate than expected in the second quarter.Gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 6.5% annualised rate in the three months to the end of June, according to figures from the US Commerce Department on Thursday, as government financial support helped power a sharp rise in consumer spending. Continue reading...

Teachers, who worked in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to PCBs in fluorescent lightingThree schoolteachers in Washington state who sued the chemical company Monsanto over exposure to materials in fluorescent lights have been awarded $185m.The law firm that represented the teachers, Friedman Rubin, said a jury returned the verdict on Tuesday in King county superior court. The teachers, who worked at the Sky Valley education center in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the fluorescent lighting at the school. Continue reading...

Cyber Ninjas received $5.7m in donations, including $3.25m from the CEO of Overstock, who said the 2020 election was ‘rigged’The firm leading a widely criticized, Republican-backed audit of election ballots in Arizona has received $5.7m in donations, the majority from supporters of Donald Trump, it revealed on Wednesday.Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based company with no prior experience in election audits, said it had received $3.25m from Patrick Byrne, the CEO of the furniture sales company Overstock, who has falsely described the 2020 election as “rigged”, with more money pouring in from figures who have peddled lies about the legitimacy of the vote. Continue reading...

The reality show is highly problematic, and attracts viewer complaints of all stripes. But one TV show can’t – and won’t – get to the root of bigger issues plaguing societyFor just over a month now, Love Island (and therefore, Love Island discourse) has dominated the summer. Not since Take Me Out’s 2010s reign has a British reality dating show generated so much conversation, alternately heralded as the best thing on telly and condemned as the most controversial. As predictable as the fast fashion collaborations are the complaints, whether it be Tweeters drawing up petitions or viewers escalating their grumbles to Ofcom.It goes without saying that Love Island, like any other reality show, is problematic. To date, the most complained about episode is from season four, when fan favourite Dani Dyer sobbed as she learned that the ex-girlfriend of her love interest Jack Fincham had joined the show. Ofcom received more than 2,500 complaints and the show was accused of “emotional manipulation”. And this week, after two years of forgoing the infamous postcard that caused such distress, it was brought back to spice up what has been a largely uneventful series. Producers showed images of castmate Teddy Soares kissing another woman during a challenge, despite spending most of his time in Casa Amor pining after Faye Winters. Watching Faye put her walls up once again, faced with the misrepresentation of his behaviour, was infuriating rather than entertaining. Continue reading...

This astonishing athlete’s greatest triumph may be to make us confront the mental demands our culture puts on athletesSimone Biles has given us many groundbreaking performances. This week she has pushed the boundaries of sport once more. Not by expanding her already extraordinary technical expertise as a gymnast but by challenging the persistent, macho narrative around what Olympic success and sporting strength should look like.Biles follows tennis players Naomi Osaka at the French Open and Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon, who are unafraid to speak up in the global spotlight and place mental heath on the same level as physical health. Sadly, all have had their integrity, sporting prowess and character questioned. Michael Phelps revealed the extraordinary pressures and mental health struggles that he faced in a recent documentary called The Weight of Gold: the title says it all. Amid the stacks of gold medals and trophies, it’s hard to dismiss Phelps, Osaka or Biles as “weak losers” (unless you’re a certain brand of tabloid commentator). That means we have to think again. Surely we have had enough warning shots to realise the scale of the mental health crisis in sport – one that is also a mirror for wider society. It’s going to take more than a few extra wellbeing advisers to address the issue. Continue reading...

Even in the face of laws that suppress turnout, activists – and voters – have optionsDespite the fact that they’re expensive and useless, voter ID laws aren’t going anywhere, unless the Senate abolishes the filibuster and passes the For the People Act, or the supreme court decides to prioritize voter accessibility instead of lies about fraud. Continue reading...

National Tsunami Warning Center canceled the warnings when the biggest wave, just over a half foot, recorded in Old HarborA powerful earthquake which struck just off Alaska’s southern coast early Thursday caused prolonged shaking and prompted tsunami warnings that sent people scrambling for shelters.Residents reported only minor damage, but officials said that could change after sunrise and people get a better look. Continue reading...