United States | News & Politics

The raging wildfires that have blazed around Los Angeles for two days, killing at least five people, destroying almost 2,000 homes and buildings, and forcing the evacuation of more than 130,000 people, have spread to the hills above Hollywood Boulevard.

As firefighters battled five separate blazes, the White House announced that Joe Biden had cancelled Thursday’s visit to Italy – the final overseas trip of his presidency – to focus on directing the federal response to the fires.

The emergency began on Tuesday afternoon, when a powerful windstorm fanned the flames of a fire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, prompting thousands to flee.

President-elect Donald Trump shared a blistering critique of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by economics professor Jeffrey Sachs that blasts the leader for having dragged the United States into “phony wars” in Iraq and Syria.

In the clip, which splices together portions of the academic’s remarks to the soundtrack of sci-fi film Interstellar, Sachs can be heard calling out previous Washington administrations for using “lies and deceit” to manufacture citizen backing for overseas conflicts before rounding on Netanyahu’s influence on U.S. foreign policy.

Former NBA star Dwight Howard recently shared a revealing anecdote about a 2014 tweet that almost killed the NBA champion's career. In the interview, Howard describes a 2014 visit to a Houston movie theatre where he was approached by a group of Palestinian fans. They expressed their admiration and asked to watch the film with him. Known for his frequent interactions with fans, Howard says he agreed warmly.

After the movie, while taking photos with the group, the fans spoke about the struggles in their homeland and asked him to raise awareness. Moved by their plea, the former NBA star reflected on the importance of using his platform. Shortly after, he tweeted “Free Palestine” - a gesture to shed light on his fans’ experiences.

Following the tweet, he says that within minutes, he started receiving calls from the NBA commissioner, agents, and people working with his foundation. “You’ve got to erase this tweet. You’ve got to take this down. You’re going to get in trouble,” Howard was told. According to his account, Howard said he couldn't understand what he had done wrong.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/24551088

By Lulu Garcia-Navarro Jan. 4, 2025

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT [Bias alert - #NYT usually favors Israel]

[his answers on #Gaza are incredible for hypocrisy and total indifference to the rights of Palestinians]

https://archive.ph/aPAbi

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/24550668

By Jennifer Schuessler
Published Jan. 6, 2025
Updated Jan. 7, 2025, 10:14 a.m. ET

https://archive.ph/MGVHC

Thread from Ro Khanna announcing Democrats completely fucked the recent vote for the NLRB, leading to loss of a Democratic majority that could have continued for 2 years into the Trump admin.

Due to an unforced error by Democrats, we lost the National Labor Relations Board majority two years earlier than expected. This is a huge setback for the hundreds of thousands of workers across this country organizing for a better contract. Let me explain.

The NLRB is America's leading labor law enforcement agency. In the last 3 years, union petitions have doubled because we have a strong NLRB that supports workers who choose to form unions, ensures that corporations allow free and fair union elections, and protects union workers

The term of our previous NLRB Chair, Lauren McFerran, just expired on December 15th. She was eligible for reconfirmation alongside a Republican, who'd be paired with her. This would've secured a 3-2 Democratic majority on the NLRB for the first two years of Trump's second term. @BernieSanders did the right thing. He cleared her nomination on August 6, but the Dems fumbled it.

On the morning of the 11th, Senate Democrats had a chance to move McFarren's nomination vote through – which would've led to a secondary vote to confirm. Senator Vance, Roberts, and Manchin were absent that morning. But we delayed the vote (for what I'm hearing described as "no reason") until Vance and Manchin returned, deadlocking the vote at 49-49.

We then failed to get word to Vice President Harris quickly enough to come and deliver the tie-breaking vote. In the 90 minutes that transpired, Senator Manchin returned first, swinging the vote in the other direction and ceding the NLRB to MAGA control two years earlier than necessary. These procedural blunders have massive implications for the American people, who deserve better from their elected officials. American workers deserve an explanation.

It will hurt the young folks organizing at Starbucks and the workers organizing at Amazon. It’s inexcusable and inexplicable that we did not prioritize confirming the NLRB appointees like we do federal judges and have ceded the Board two years before we needed to.