First Thing: Trump’s USPS cuts are ‘a crisis for US democracy’ – The Guardian
Good morning,
Nancy Pelosi has recalled the House of Representatives from its summer recess early, to vote on a bill to prevent the United States Postal Service downgrading its operations or service from early-2020 levels, in response to what the Democratic House speaker called the sabotage of the mail system by the Trump administration. Donald Trump admitted last week that he was blocking funding to the USPS in a bid to disrupt mail-in voting at Novembers presidential election.
Postal workers told the Guardian that changes implemented by the new postmaster general, the Trump loyalist Louis DeJoy, were already causing major delays. Barack Obama has condemned Trumps explicit kneecapping of the mail, while on Sunday, Bernie Sanders added his voice to the widespread warnings, calling the situation a crisis for American democracy in an interview with NBC:
What you are witnessing is a president of the United States who is doing everything he can to suppress the vote, make it harder for people to engage in mail-in balloting at a time when people will be putting their lives on the line by having to go out to a polling station and vote.
The Covid-19 death toll in the US is now more than 170,000. Teachers in states currently hit hard by the coronavirus, such as Georgia and Florida, remain fearful of plans to press ahead with the reopening of schools. But Jared Kushner has no such concerns: the presidents son-in-law said on Sunday that his own children would absolutely be returning to school, despite the risks.
Students at Johns Hopkins will not be on campus in the fall but, as Kari Paul reports, the Baltimore university is inviting them to collaborate in reconstructing an accurate replica of the campus within the popular videogame Minecraft.
The pandemic has highlighted the homelessness that already exists in Austin, Texas, reports Alexandra Villarreal. But as Lupe Arreola and Amee Chew argue, a coming tsunami of evictions could cause a homeless crisis on a whole new scale:
Cancelling rent and mortgage payments is the most effective solution to the mounting debt and mass displacement threatening working-class communities, communities of color and low-income households during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Democrats may not be descending en masse on Milwaukee as originally planned, but the theme of their nominating convention this week nonetheless remains: unity. The partys four-day virtual convention, rebranded as the Convention Across America, will showcase the breadth of support enjoyed by the Biden-Harris ticket with two hours of online programming a night from Monday, featuring such disparate speakers as Bernie Sanders and the former GOP presidential candidate John Kasich.
Sanders has praised Kamala Harris as incredibly smart and tough. The progressive Vermont senator acknowledged that not all his supporters were enthusiastic about the moderate Joe Biden, but insisted there is an overwhelming understanding that Donald Trump must be defeated.
The nation known as Europes last dictatorship has seen the largest pro-democracy protests in its history. On Sunday, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to demand the fall of the countrys authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarus opposition, which was defeated in the disputed presidential election a week ago, has called for a general strike from Monday.
The protest coalition has broadened with remarkable speed over the past week, Shaun Walker reports from Minsk, from a small segment of politically active opponents to encompass teachers, doctors and factory workers, many of whom have announced strikes.
Lukashenko has repeatedly begged Vladimir Putin to intervene to salvage his 26-year rule, demanding Russia provide military assistance to the embattled Minsk regime. But the Russian president has so far stopped short of publicly endorsing his ally.
New Zealand has delayed its general election by a month following the coronavirus outbreak in Auckland, its biggest city. The vote will now take place on 17 October, then prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced on Monday.
The temperature in Death Valley California hit 54.4C or 129.9F on Sunday afternoon, which some extreme weather experts believe could be the hottest reading ever reliably recorded on the planet.
Japan has suffered its worst economic contraction in the modern era. The countrys GDP shrank by a record 7.8% from April to June, which equates to an annualised rate of 27.8% the steepest decline since such data became available in 1980.
Israel and the UAE have opened a telephone line between the two countries, in an early sign that the historic diplomatic deal brokered by the US and unveiled last week is taking root.
The unstoppable rise of American chicken
A century ago, Americans considered chicken an alternative to pork or beef. Now they consume it more than any other meat, and the average grocery store chicken has doubled in size. Sarah Mock charts the rise of industrial chicken farming in the US.
Why Fantastic Beasts is a PR disaster
JK Rowlings views on trans rights alienated fans. Ezra Miller was filmed apparently choking a female admirer. And Johnny Depps troubled private life became extremely public. With its creator and stars seemingly cursed, Steve Rose wonders why Warner Bros is persisting with the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
Last week, a wind-storm tore through 10m acres of midwest cropland from Nebraska to Indiana, potentially halving Iowas maize yield for the year. Extreme weather is the new normal, writes Art Cullen, and it poses serious risks to our food supply.
This drought, which could rival or exceed the medieval drought that occurred about AD1200, could last 30 to 50 years, according to research from the Goddard Space Institute. It will become difficult to grow corn in southern Iowa, and impossible in western Kansas.
A piece of a Lego figures arm, believed lost for at least two years, has turned up in the nostril of its owner, seven-year-old Sameer Anwar. The New Zealand boys family said the Lego, which Sameer shoved up his nose aged five, recently reappeared when he took a big sniff of a plate of freshly baked cupcakes.
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If youre not already signed up, subscribe now.
See the original post:
First Thing: Trump's USPS cuts are 'a crisis for US democracy' - The Guardian
- Judges, witnesses, prosecutors increasingly warn of threats to democracy in 2024 elections as Jan. 6 prosecutions continue - CBS News - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Do We Face the Gravest Threat to Our Democracy Since the Cold War? - The Nation - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- If You Can Keep It: NBC, Social Media, And Preserving Democracy : 1A - NPR - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- In divided America, anything goes in the name of protecting democracy" - GZERO Media - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- A Simple US Step Can Help Protect Another Imprisoned Democracy Activist in Russia - Just Security - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- If You Can Keep It: NBC, social media, and preserving democracy - the1a.org - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- How 'Do Your Own Research' Might Have Doomed Democracy - GQ - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Once at Democracy's Center, Nonprofits Now Stand on the Outside - The Chronicle of Philanthropy - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Letters to the editor: Democracy and freedom are on the ballot; a peaceful week without students; how we react to adversity - Boulder Daily Camera - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- 3/27/24 - Is Democracy In The U.S. Working? It's A Toss-Up, But Voters Don't See It Ending In Their Lifetimes ... - Quinnipiac University Poll - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- 'Duty to democracy': Kansas newspaper files lawsuit after police raided the newsroom - Yahoo! Voices - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Bitcoin Magazine Partners with the CIA to Export Democracy Around the World - Bitcoin Magazine - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Will RFK Jr. and Other Third-Party Candidates Help Doom Democracy? Mother Jones - Mother Jones - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- 'Our democracy is at stake': Biden weighs in on the 2024 election - MSNBC - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- India slams U.S. and Germany over Kejriwal arrest criticism - The Washington Post - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Trump's Courts Can't Stop the Battle to Restore Democracy - Shepherd Express - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Instagram and Threads are limiting political content. This is terrible for democracy - The Conversation Indonesia - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- GOP billionaires vs. democracy: they know what theyre getting into this time - MSNBC - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Bill Maher grills Esper for not backing Biden after calling Trump a 'threat to democracy': A 'binary' choice - Fox News - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- The Worst of What Humanity Is Capable Of: Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan on What She Saw in Gaza - Democracy Now! - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- South Carolina Will Use Gerrymandered Congressional Map in 2024, District Court Rules - Democracy Docket - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Challenges and Perspectives of Political Parties on Democracy and Elections in Myanmar Stimson Center - Stimson Center - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- In a historic election year, women are the force for democratic renewal - The Hill - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- 'Duty to democracy': Kansas newspaper files lawsuit after police raided the newsroom - Today's News-Herald - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Dems' lawfare war on Trump is its own threat to democracy - New York Post - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- China Has a Cyber Army, But Why Bother Subverting Democracy? - JAPAN Forward - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Ruben Gallego's Battle Against Kari Lake Could Decide the Fate of the SenateAnd Our Democracy Mother Jones - Mother Jones - April 1st, 2024 [April 1st, 2024]
- Myanmars military junta losing ground to pro-democracy resistance, resorting to greater brutality - Firstpost - March 28th, 2024 [March 28th, 2024]
- Labour tells China it will act on interference in UK democracy - The Guardian - March 28th, 2024 [March 28th, 2024]
- Appointment of UN Rapporteur discussed at Democracy Summit in Seoul - Democracy Without Borders - March 28th, 2024 [March 28th, 2024]
- How to become a confident pluralist: Harvard professor and democracy advocate spills - The Daily Universe - Universe.byu.edu - March 28th, 2024 [March 28th, 2024]
- UNICEF: Paper Thin Children Dying in Gaza of Malnutrition and Dehydration - Democracy Now! - March 28th, 2024 [March 28th, 2024]
- U.N. Special Rapporteur Outlines How Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza - Democracy Now! - March 28th, 2024 [March 28th, 2024]
- Democrats ripped for trying to 'kill democracy' with effort to protect Biden, silence third-party candidates - Fox News - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Democrats are campaigning on protecting democracy. In N.J., what that means is complicated. - NBC News - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- US democracy's unaddressed flaws undermine Biden's stand as democracy's defender but Trump keeps favoring ... - The Conversation United States - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Social media is making kids sad and its bad news for democracy - The Guardian - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Opinion | The One Idea That Could Save American Democracy - The New York Times - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Democracy Teetering in African Countries Once Ruled by France - The New York Times - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- The Third Summit for Democracy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken At the Opening Ceremony of the Third Summit for Democracy - United States Department ... - Department of State - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Where Are Hong Kong's Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now? - The New York Times - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- In Vermont, 'Town Meeting' is democracy embodied. What can the rest of the country learn from it? - The Associated Press - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Sharon McNeil: Healing political division is necessary to safeguard democracy - Monroe Evening News - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Pakistan After the Elections: Examining the Future of Democracy in Pakistan and the US-Pakistan Relationship ... - House Foreign Affairs Committee - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Biden ally warns Democrats against relying on threat to democracy message - The Guardian US - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- 'The January 6 insurrection was a wake-up call' - Roanoke Times - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Democracy Report: Wave of democratic backsliding is a global threat - The Washington Post - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- The Disinformation Age: The Collapse Of Liberal Democracy In The United States Book Review - Eurasia Review - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Biden and the party of 'democracy' are terrified of third-party candidates and voter choice - New York Post - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- I watched Hungary's democracy dissolve into authoritarianism as a member of parliament and I see troubling ... - PennLive - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- The 5th Circuit Is Rehearing Voting Decisions at an Alarming Rate - Democracy Docket - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- More UK sanctions expected over China democracy and security fears - Yahoo News UK - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Colombia's Democracy is Under Threat. Here's Why the World Should Care - Newsweek - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Letter: America is at a crossroads, at risk of losing democracy - The Republic - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Letter: Democracy is weak in Iowa due to partisan state politics - The Dispatch Argus - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Xinhua Headlines: Why U.S.-backed "Summit for Democracy" only triggers division, confrontation - Xinhua - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- OUR VIEW: Democracy Could Use Some Help. This One Adjustment Could Be Just What We Need - Times-News - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Sudan Could Soon Become the World's Worst Hunger Crisis - Democracy Now! - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Dokken: Hunting access discussion an exercise in grassroots democracy - Grand Forks Herald - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- America's 'news deserts' and what it means for democracy podcast - The Guardian - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Pro-Israel but anti-Netanyahu: Democratic Party leaders try to find the middle ground - The Conversation Indonesia - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Canada announces over $30 million in initiatives during third Summit for Democracy - Prime Minister of Canada - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Democracy is teetering: at ground zero for Trumps big lie in Arizona - The Guardian US - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Opinion | Biden-Netanyahu clash reveals limits of U.S. democracy rhetoric - The Washington Post - The Washington Post - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Trump nearly derailed democracy once here's what to watch out for in reelection campaign - The Conversation Indonesia - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Indonesia's Corrupted Democracy | Margaret Scott - The New York Review of Books - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Trump predicts the end of U.S. democracy if he loses 2024 election - Yahoo! Voices - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Pakistan After the Elections: Examining the Future of Democracy in Pakistan and the US-Pakistan Relationship ... - House GOP Foreign Affairs Committee - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- What People Think Would Improve Democracy in 24 Countries - Pew Research Center - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Dark concerns over upcoming vote in world's largest democracy Harvard Gazette - Harvard Gazette - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Navalny's killing highlights the need for HE to help preserve democracy - Times Higher Education - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Commentary: Can St. Patrick and green beer save American democracy? - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Blinken set to arrive in S. Korea to attend democracy summit - The Korea Herald - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Letter: Threats to our cars, and also our democracy - Chico Enterprise-Record - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Framework Convention - Council of Europe - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Opinion | Democratic ads to help Bernie Moreno win Ohio GOP Senate primary reek of hypocrisy - The Washington Post - The Washington Post - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Combating Threats to Election Workers Ahead of the 2024 Election - Democracy Docket - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Mehdi Hasan on Genocide in Gaza, the Silencing of Palestinian Voices in U.S. Media & Why He Left MSNBC - Democracy Now! - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]
- Ignorance and democracy: Capitalism's long war against higher education - Salon - March 16th, 2024 [March 16th, 2024]