Courteney Ross’s testimony showed how police departments fail in their duty to protect those who battle addiction
Of all the accounts of George Floyd’s life and death heard in a Minneapolis courtroom this week, perhaps the least expected was his girlfriend’s description of their shared struggle with opioid addiction.
Courteney Ross’s wrenching testimony gave a very human glimpse into the remorseless search for a fix and a mutual fight to shake off drug dependency.
Continue reading...The venture capitalist and author of Hillbilly Elegy hopes to take his place in a Republican party rebranding itself as the working-class party
As a prospective conservative candidate for the US Senate from Ohio, author JD Vance can claim a rarely authentic connection to the white working-class voters who helped make Donald Trump president.
In his bestselling 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance told the tale of his escape from generations of poverty and addiction in the shadow of Appalachia, thanks to a fiercely loving grandmother and a stroke or two of lonesome luck. (The Netflix film adaptation was less well received than the book.)
Continue reading...Dominion has filed defamation lawsuits against several Trump allies for pushing election ‘radioactive falsehoods’ – could it triumph?
When Donald Trump and his allies pushed the “big lie” of voter fraud and a stolen election, it seemed nothing could stop them spreading disinformation with impunity.
Related: Trump 'money bomb' scheme raised millions from unwitting donors – report
Continue reading...The president’s son recounts his struggles and his father’s love with honesty – yet still seems blind to glaring political realities
Robert Hunter Biden is not a rock star. Instead, the sole surviving son of Joe Biden – senator, vice-president, president – is a lawyer by training and a princeling by happenstance. Regardless, life on the edge comes with consequences.
Related: Lucky review: how Biden beat Trump – and doubters like Obama and Hillary
Continue reading...Artist’s longtime New York attorney Murray Richman said DMX had been on life support but was later breathing on his own
The American rapper DMX was hospitalised on Saturday evening after falling ill, his New York-based lawyer Murray Richman said.
“He had a heart attack. He’s quite ill,” Richman said.
Continue reading...Details from more than 500 million Facebook users have been found available on a website for hackers.
Related: UK watchdog to investigate Facebook takeover of Giphy
Continue reading...Practice that used pre-checked boxes and obscure design on fundraising emails condemned as ‘unethical and inappropriate’
Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign used pre-checked boxes and obscure design on fundraising emails to wring millions of dollars out of unwitting supporters, detonating a “money bomb” which allowed the Republican to compete against Joe Biden in the last months of the race.
Related: Trump and Carlson lead backlash as MLB pulls All-Star Game from Georgia
Continue reading...North Atlantic right whales gave birth over the winter in greater numbers than scientists have seen since 2015, an encouraging sign for researchers who became alarmed three years ago when the critically endangered species produced no known offspring at all.
Related: The new humpback? Calf sighting sparks hope for imperilled right whale
Continue reading...The maker of the rapper Lil Nas X’s controversial “Satan shoes” responded to a lawsuit from Nike by claiming the sneakers were works of art.
Related: Satan shoes? Sure. But Lil Nas X is not leading American kids to devil-worship | Akin Olla
Continue reading...Nancy Pelosi calls officer who died ‘a martyr for democracy’ as attack on Friday afternoon stirs memories of Capitol insurrection
Washington woke on Saturday shaken by another deadly attack at the US Capitol, an incident which left a police officer and a suspect dead and stirred memories of 6 January, when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the building in an attempt to overturn the election.
Related: US Capitol: one officer and suspect dead after car rams into barrier
Continue reading...The Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz appears increasingly politically isolated amid a spiralling scandal over a federal sex-trafficking investigation. Even for Donald Trump, one Republican political operative said, “a 10ft pole is not long enough”.
Federal prosecutors are reportedly examining whether Gaetz and a political ally facing sex trafficking allegations may have paid underage girls or offered them gifts in exchange for sex.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands flood Santa Monica Pier as authorities send mixed messages about coronavirus safety
Authorities across southern California are scrambling to contain large holiday crowds on beaches, boardwalks, and piers this weekend, anxious about a possible new surge in Covid-19 cases.
But they face a restive public eager to party in the sun after more than a year of lockdowns, and appear to have few tools at their disposal to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing.
Continue reading...Anti-Asian racism is on the rise around the world. The Pulitzer-winning author reflects on his own experiences as a Vietnamese American – and the dark history that continues to fuel the current hate
On 16 March eight people were killed in Atlanta, Georgia, by a 21-year-old white man: all but one were women, and six were Asian. The shootings take their place in a much longer story of anti-Asian violence. The Covid pandemic has given us a particular insight into this phenomenon: verbal and physical assaults against Asians have accelerated in the US over the last year, with 3,800 documented incidents involving spitting, knifings, beatings, acid attacks – and murder. The majority of the victims have been women.
Though the Atlanta killings took place in Asian massage parlours, the shooter has said he did not target the women because of their race. Instead, he claimed to be a sex addict bent on “removing temptation”. Regardless of his denial – whether it is a lie or self-deception – it is obvious that he targeted these women because they were Asian. “Racism and sexism intersect,” says Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociology professor. This intersection has been a driving force in western attitudes towards Asia and Asian women, who are routinely hypersexualised and objectified in popular culture.
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Robert Contee of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department has just said at the briefing outside the US Capitol that the attack by a man driving a car at Capitol Police officers “does not appear to be terrorism related”.
Acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, just described the now-deceased suspect in the attack as having got out of the vehicle after ramming her officers and crashing into a barrier and then he “ran aggressively” at them, brandishing a knife.
Robert J Contee III, the acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of DC, said the attack “does not appear to be terrorism related”.
The MPD acting chief also said the suspect does not seem to have been previously known to law enforcement.
Continue reading...Richard Zimmerman gives testimony and tells court ‘if your knee is on someone’s neck – that could kill them’
A Minneapolis homicide detective has described Derek Chauvin’s decision to press his knee into George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as a totally unnecessary use of “deadly force”.
Related: Video of George Floyd's killing retraumatizes many as trial unfolds
Continue reading...Joe Biden has encouraged Americans to ‘buckle down’ as coronavirus cases rise but he was optimistic on the state of the economy and celebrated the latest jobs report.
The US economy added 916,000 jobs last month according to the report which Biden credited to the resiliency of the American people and his administration’s new economic vision
Continue reading...Verona restaurant and pizzeria owner Alessandro Bazzoni sanctioned in crackdown on blacklisted Venezuelan crude oil
An Italian restaurant owner accidentally put on a US sanctions blacklist before Donald Trump left the presidency has described the last couple of months as a “nightmare”.
In a case of mistaken identity, Alessandro Bazzoni, who owns a restaurant and pizzeria in the northern Italian city of Verona, had sanctions slapped against his company as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on blacklisted Venezuelan crude oil.
Continue reading...After starring in Will & Grace and American Horror Story, his life took a twist in lockdown and he became an Instagram superstar at 65. He discusses fame, fun and sharing a cell with Robert Downey Jr
For a man of such diminutive stature – 4ft 11in in shoes – Leslie Jordan loves a tall tale. A cursory question at the start of our interview about where he is calling from, for example, results in this glorious flight of fancy: “I got on a bus in 1982, from the hills of Tennessee. I had $1,200 sewn into my underpants by my mother and I arrived in LA and found West Hollywood, which is where I currently live.”
Such vivid storytelling – delivered in a honey-thick southern drawl, accentuated perfectly by a knowing campness – is part of the reason for Jordan’s unexpected career boost at 65. A jobbing actor best known for his role in American Horror Story and his Emmy-winning turn as Beverly Leslie, the acid-tongued rival of Megan Mullally’s Karen in Will & Grace, Jordan spent most of 2020 becoming an accidental internet sensation, racking up 5.6 million Instagram followers – including the likes of Rihanna and Lily Allen – thanks to his charmingly chaotic videos.
Continue reading...Republican congressman reportedly under investigation over alleged cash and gifts given to women contacted online
One of Donald Trump’s loudest cheerleaders in the US Congress is under federal investigation over allegations that he paid for sex with women recruited online, according to a media report.
Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida, is one of the former president’s most ardent supporters and frequently appeared on TV to promote his lies about a stolen election.
Continue reading...Virtual talks between parties to JCPOA produce agreement to meet in person next week
Tehran and Washington are on the right track to come back into compliance with the Iran nuclear deal but progress will not be easy, Russia has said following virtual talks.
In a positive sign, the parties have agreed to meet formally in person in Vienna on Tuesday.
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