List of All Articles with Tag 'us politics'

The Supreme Court's landmark ruling Thursday on affirmative action pitted its two Black justices against each other.

Former Vice President Mike Pence collected a $1.4 million advance for his memoir, which recounted the events of January 6, 2021, and his refusal to buckle to Donald Trump's demands to overturn the 2020 election results, new filings show.

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday met with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky during a visit to the country, a show of support for the European nation under attack from Russia as Republicans vying for their party's presidential nomination have been divided over America's role in the ongoing conflict.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as an express factor in admissions.

The Supreme Court says colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission, a landmark decision that overturns long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education.

The Biden administration announced new actions Thursday to help prevent and reduce veteran homelessness across the country, including $3.1 billion in funding to support efforts to quickly rehouse homeless Americans.

Donald Trump is now suing E Jean Carroll for defamation, one month after he was found liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store and then defaming her by denying the attack took place. The former president filed a counterclaim on Tuesday claiming that she defamed him when she stood by her rape accusation in an interview with CNN one day after the jury verdict. The counterclaim was in response to the first of two lawsuits the magazine columnist brought against Mr Trump. In a civil trial in the second lawsuit last month, a jury awarded Ms Carroll $5m in damages. Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani has confirmed that he recently spoke to federal investigators as part of their probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Mr Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, was part of Mr Trump’s legal team who made false claims of election fraud. In other news relating to the former president’s legal troubles, Mr Trump’s new defence regarding the recording of him talking about classified military plans at his Bedminster golf club in 2021 was that it was “bravado” and there were no secret papers present among his other documents. Read More Kevin McCarthy knows he crossed the line with Donald Trump Trump's GOP support dips slightly after his indictment over classified documents, AP-NORC poll finds ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden

President Joe Biden often explains his simple theory of winning elections with his dad's fabled kitchen table wisdom: "Don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative."

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily halted the enforcement of part of Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors in the state.

The CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the parent company of Bud Light, said the beer should be about bringing people together after it faced months of backlash following its brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In an appearance Wednesday on the programme CBS This Morning, CEO Brendan Whitworth said the company has become entangled in “divisive” conversations it should not be a part of. “I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer, and the conversation has become divisive,” Mr Whitworth said. “And Bud Light really doesn’t belong there. Bud Light should be all about bringing people together.” At the moment, that is not what’s happening. Bud Light last month lost its spot at the top of the beer sales charts to Modelo as some conservative customers continue to boycott the beer following the advertisements featuring Ms Mulvaney. Mr Whitworth declined to answer directly when asked whether the campaign featuring Ms Mulvaney was a mistake. “There’s a big social conversation taking place right now, and big brands are right in the middle of it and it’s not just our industry or Bud Light,” Mr Whitworth said. “It’s happening in retail, happening in fast food. And so for us what we need to understand — deeply understand and appreciate — is the consumer and what they want, what they care about, and what they expect from big brands.” Despite being given ample opportunity to do so, Mr Whitworth did not directly defend the corporation’s decision to partner with a trans influencer or to support the trans community more broadly at a time when that community is facing a barrage of legislation targeting its rights in states across the country. “Bud Light has supported LGBTQ since 1998, so that’s 25 years,” Mr Whitworth said. “And as we’ve said from the beginning, we’ll continue to support the communities and organisations we’ve supported for decades. But as we move forward, we want to focus on what we do best: which is brewing great beer for everyone.” The controversy over corporations’ politics is not limited to Bud Light. Disney, Target, Nike and a number of other brands have also been the target of the right’s ire in recent years for taking stances on social issues at odds with conservatives. Target recently announced its decision to remove some Pride month merchandise from its stores after facing criticism from conservatives for its relative support of the LGBTQ+ community. The Starbucks Workers Union, meanwhile, accused Starbucks of restricting Pride decorations from certain stores. Read More I came out as a teen in the 90s — there’s still a long road ahead for LGBT+ youth Starbucks workers at 150 stores to strike over alleged ban on Pride decor

Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday morning that he supports eliminating multiple federal government agencies including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Mr DeSantis, who has struggled to gain traction since launching his presidential campaign in the spring, didn’t hestitate when the network’s Martha MacCallum asked him if he is in favour of eliminating any government agencies. “So we would do Education, we would do Commerce, we would do Energy, and we would do the IRS,” Mr DeSantis said. “And so if Congress will work with me on doing that, we will be able to reduce the size and scope of government.” A number of Republican presidential candidates over the years have said they would like to eliminate various federal agencies, without any success. As Mr DeSantis indicated, it is Congress that establishes departments and agencies and Congress that would have to vote to eliminate them. But Mr DeSantis said that if Congress doesn’t allow him to cut agencies like the IRS — a move that could plunge the country’s tax collection system into chaos and hamper federal oversight — he is prepared to use those agencies to advance his political aims. “What I’m also going to do, Martha, is be prepared, if Congress won’t go that far, I’m going to use those agencies to push back against woke ideology and against the leftism that we see creeping into all institutions of American life,” Mr DeSantis said. Mr DeSantis, who talks frequently about “woke ideology” on the campaign trail, pointed to his record in Florida as an example of how he would like to use federal agencies as president. “For instance, with the Department of Education, we reversed all the transgender sports stuff — women’s sports should be protected,” Mr DeSantis said. “We reversed policies trying to inject the curriculum into our schools. That will all be gone. We will make sure we have an accreditation system for higher ed, which is not trying to foment more things like DEI and CRT. So we will be prepared to do both. Either way, it will be a win for conservatives.” Under Mr DeSantis’ leadership, Florida has curtailed free speech in schools, radically changed its tenure system, and passed abortion and gender-affirming care bans. Mr DeSantis himself has sparred with Disney over its social stances and endorsed violence against immigrants. All that has not made Mr DeSantis a particularly popular national figure. An average of recent polls from FiveThirtyEight shows that just over 36 per cent of Americans view Mr DeSantis favourably, while more than 45 per cent view him unfavourably. He’s currently trailing former President Donald Trump by a wide margin in the Republican primary race. Read More DeSantis proposes Disney trial schedule that puts start date in 2025, after elections DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages Watch as LA immigrant groups hold solidarity rally in protest of Florida law DeSantis proposes Disney trial schedule that puts start date in 2025, after elections DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages

Joe Biden suffers from sleep apnea, and has begun use of a medicial CPAP device at night to treat the condition, the White House said on Wednesday. Sleep apnea, which is a relatively common sleep disorder, refers to the condition that inhibits oxygen intake during sleep, often causing snoring. A CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device is sometimes used in more aggressive cases to ensure proper oxygen flow overnight. The president’s press team made the revelation shortly after reporters noticed a set of indentations on Mr Biden’s face as he spoke to the press line — the indentations were a residual souvenir of the mask worn over one’s face while sleeping during use of a CPAP device. “Since 2008, the president has disclosed his history with sleep apnea in thorough medical reports. He used a CPAP machine last night, which is common for people with that history,” a White House spokesman said on Wednesday. Though many of the president’s supporters chafed at media reports disclosing the president’s use of the device, it’s commonly accepted that any medical condition which affects the US commander-in-chief takes on an importance which other politicians are often spared. Though sleep apnea is not a condition which could reasonably be considered likely to affect the presidency in any way, Mr Biden’s use of the device was nevertheless instantly picked up on by experts who were eager for a presidential light to be shown on sleep disorders. In fact, the White House’s statement only shortly followed an educated guess floated by the National Sleep Foundation, which this morning blasted out a press release to DC-area reporters in which a medical expert on sleep hypothesised that Mr Biden had CPAP-device indentations on his face. "It looks like the sort of indentation one would expect from a CPAP mask. If you look at photos of popular CPAP mask styles you can see how the strap would leave a similar mark as the one we see on President Biden. Sleep apnea is very common and the risk increases with age. As the oldest U.S. President ever, it would not be surprising if President Biden was being treated for sleep apnea,” said Dr Joseph Krainin, a sleep expert with SleepApnea.org and the National Sleep Foundation. Dr Krainin added: “We also know that President Biden has a history of a ruptured brain aneurysm which could predispose him to a certain type of sleep apnea where his brain forgets to breath during sleep." Mr Biden’s health has been closely watched by reporters since he took office in 2021, and with particularly renewed interest in 2023 following the official launch of his 2024 campaign for reelection. The president has attended a handful of campaign events since that announcement so far, but is due to see that ramp up as the election nears. In 2020, Mr Biden won election to office following a campaign season where many events changed from live to virtual venues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden What next for Biden’s billion dollar broadband expansion? Kevin McCarthy knows he crossed the line with Donald Trump Biden touts his economic record in fiery speech: ‘Guess what – Bidenomics is working’ US public debt is projected to reach 181% of American economic activity in 30 years Biden urged to declare climate emergency as millions under heat wave warnings and air quality alerts — live