4 d. ago The US right is coming for disabled people. Here’s why that threatens everyone

Trump’s administration is dismantling disability rights and education. History has shown this can be a warning sign for all civil libertiesTwelve days before Donald Trump took office, Charlie Kirk, media personality and rightwing activist, complained on his eponymous show about the presence of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at emergency press briefings for the Los Angeles fires. Another rightwing activist, Christopher Rufo, took his cue on X, calling interpreters “wild human gesticulators” who turned briefings into a “farce”. The rightwing theorist and Origins of Woke author Richard Hanania, quote-tweeting Rufo, declared ASL interpretation an “absurdity”.Around this time, Elon Musk was skulking around the platform, campaigning to bring back the R-word. Use of the slur tripled on X after his post. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Let's put it in language the Signal leakers will understand: what a bunch of pathetic sleazebags | Emma Brockes

The leaking of top-level military secrets was bad enough, but I’m obsessed with Maga’s fratboy lexiconThe Maga-fication of American political discourse, which started, arguably, with Donald Trump mocking a disabled reporter in 2015, peaked this week with news of Pete Hegseth referring to European countries in the leaked Signal chat as “PATHETIC”, and enjoyed a detour last Tuesday when Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and former running mate of Kamala Harris, appeared at a town hall in Wisconsin and called Elon Musk “a dipshit”. (This is not the first time he has referred to Musk this way. Right before the election last year, Walz told a crowd: “Look, Elon’s on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dipshit.”)Parking for a moment the perfection of the phrase “skipping like a dipshit” to capture Musk’s very particular style of movement and speech, the range of what can and can’t be said in politics has clearly, radically changed. When you look back on the phrase that caused Hi...

Politics

5 d. ago US tech stocks drop as fresh jolt of volatility hits Wall Street

Chipmaker Nvidia and Elon Musk’s Tesla slide, pushing Nasdaq lower for first time in four days

Events

1 week ago Musk and Doge’s USAid shutdown likely violated US constitution, judge rules

Judge halts efforts to fire USAid workers, a major setback in administration’s attempts to bulldoze federal governmentNever miss global breaking news. Download our free app to keep up with key stories in real time.A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Elon Musk and the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) likely violated the US constitution by shutting down USAid, ordering the Trump administration to reverse some of the actions it took to dismantle the agency.The decision by US district judge Theodore Chuang was sweeping in its scope and marked a major setback for the administration’s signature takedown in its effort to bulldoze through the federal government. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago How an obscure US government office has become a target of Elon Musk

Rightwing campaign propelled by tech billionaire accuses General Services Administration’s 18F of being a far-left cellNever miss global breaking news. Download our free app to keep up with key stories in real time.Federal employees in a little-known office dedicated to tech and consulting services were at work on the afternoon of 3 February when Elon Musk tweeted about their agency for the first time.“That group has been deleted,” Musk wrote. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘I feel conflicted when I see navy recruits’: Spiro Bolos’s best phone picture

One afternoon, as he passed a train station bench in Chicago, the street photographer spotted young men in uniform On his way to work at a north Chicago public high school, Spiro Bolos has been making a photo series of people on this train station bench. On the way to visit his partner one Sunday afternoon, he saw these young men. The US navy’s largest training camp is about an hour away; home to the force’s only boot camp and 20,000 sailors, marines, soldiers and Department of Defense civilians.Bolos thinks these men had been given a weekend pass to visit the city. He says they were looking at their phones and preparing their backpacks when he took this shot. As one stood up to stretch, Bolos captured their image. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump spends some quality time with Elon Musk's son X as the pair board Marine Force One together

The president was spotted walking side-by-side with the exuberant four-year-old on the White House 's South Lawn on Friday.

Politics

3 w. ago Trump spent more time talking about Elon Musk than the economy in his speech to Congress

ANALYSIS: President painted a picture of a country already reinvigorated by his return and on the verge of greatness once again, Richard Hall writes

Politics