Author: TheGuardian

On January 6, the Republicans’ transition to the party of the Confederacy will be complete. A day after Georgia’s runoff elections, at least a dozen lawmakers in the Senate and more than half of the party’s House membership will seek to overturn the results of the 2020 election and disenfranchise the majority of American voters. A coup attempt in all but name, this is how democracy dies. Sadly, a statement issued on January 2 by seven sitting senators and four senators-elect dispelled any doubts about the nexus between the end of the Civil War, more than 150 years ago,...

Donald Trump could lose more than just the presidency this January. Twitter has confirmed that when Trump leaves office, he will no longer receive special treatment as a “newsworthy individual.” Twitter’s policy around newsworthiness protects certain people – such as elected officials with more than 250,000 followers – from having their accounts suspended or banned for rule infractions that would otherwise lead to severe penalties. That policy is what has led to the company muting, but not removing, at least 12 tweets from the US president over the past week that cast doubt on the democratic process. But, Twitter...

Wisconsinites turning to comforting family traditions during the holiday season have been warned by state health department to avoid one in particular: cannibal sandwiches. The sandwiches – also known as “tiger meat” and, for the fancier-minded – “steak tartare,” consist of ground raw meat, typically beef, on a slice of bread, topped with raw onions. In a tweet acknowledging the dish is a family tradition for some, the Wisconsin health department said: “Eating raw meat is NEVER recommended because of the bacteria it can contain. Ground beef should always be cooked to 160F!” In a longer post about food...

Shortly after Biden was declared president-elect, he announced that he would reach a hand across the aisle. “We must stop,” he said, “treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies. We are Americans.” This is the Biden playbook at work, honed through years of compromises made with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell: appealing to the Republican elite in office, while trying to appeal to moderate Republicans on the ground. Having stretched out its hand to the Republicans, the center of the Democratic party then turned to its real enemy – the left that it blames for its...

Some of the mayhem that will follow Donald Trump losing the presidential election is already known. America exited the Paris climate agreement. The coronavirus pandemic that has already claimed almost a quarter of a million lives in America will worsen. Trump has hinted he will attempt to fire Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert in infectious diseases. But Trump’s defeat also sets the clock ticking on the remaining weeks that some analysts believe could be the most dangerous period in American history, the time before the 20 January inauguration of Joe Biden during which a vengeful president can...