Evelyn Reynolds

President and defense secretary try to link worst terrorist attack in US history to current unpopular warUS politics live – latest updatesDonald Trump and Pete Hegseth used remarks at the memorial ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11 to defend the US-Israel war on Iran – and suggest the controversial conflict was part of the legacy of the worst terrorist attack in US history.While such ceremonies on September 11 typically focus on the victims of the 2001 attacks, the US president and his defense secretary each pointed to the war they launched on Iran more than six months ago, with no end in sight. Continue reading… More

Café Niederegger | Reading’s Bayeux tapestry | Trump’s renaming spree | The Amerigo RoundIn her piece on Lübeck (‘Fabulous museums and no queues’: five of the best under-the-radar city breaks in Europe, 6 September), Rachel Dixon didn’t mention the German city’s sweetest treat, the Café Niederegger. Many will know the city’s name from Niederegger marzipan as much as Thomas Mann. Their museum on the floor above the cafe includes a lifesize marzipan statue of the writer, whom they claim was also a fan.Elizabeth CardLeeds• It is surprising that Reading Museum has not used the publicity surrounding the arrival of the Bayeux tapestry in the UK to blow its own trumpet more loudly. Its superb copy of the Bayeux tapestry, produced by 35 women in just over a year, finishing in 1886, is free to view.Joyce QuarrieLeytonstone, London Continue reading… More

Over the past quarter-century, the US supreme court has repeatedly failed to protect first amendment rights. We are suffering the consequencesCongress ratified the first amendment in 1791 but the supreme court didn’t breathe life into it until after the first world war, when prosecutions of antiwar protesters led the justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis – and then, fortunately, other justices as well – to realize that US democracy would be undermined, not strengthened, by allowing the government to suppress disfavored political opinions.Repression during the cold war led the court to better protect the freedom of association, and government efforts to cover up official ineptitude and criminality during the Vietnam war spurred the court to better protect the freedom of the press. It took time, but in each of these instances the court responded to wartime repression by developing new legal doctrine that more robustly protected first amendment freedoms. Continue reading… More

Donald Trump has thrown a convention to amp up the Republican base ahead of the midterm elections, but not everyone is thrilled about it. Dozens of officials running for re-election have stayed away, choosing instead to campaign locally. Are they worried about Trump’s current unpopularity weighing down their ticket? Continue reading… More

The US president is ever more wayward – and has little interest in defending Europe. The constitution may hold him to account, but we can’t waitIf Americans vote for a Republican majority in both houses of Congress in November, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.” But they must not spend it in Canada or China or anywhere else outside the US. So said Donald Trump in Texas on Wednesday in advance of the forthcoming midterm elections. He further told voters to “Pretend that I’m on the ballot”. It was a climactic moment in an almost two-hour rant.Trump does not have the required trillion dollars in his pocket, and it would be illegal to disperse such a sum without congressional approval. In any case, JD Vance now appears to have rowed back on the promise.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading… More

The world’s most powerful country responded to the worst terrorist attack in its history by inflicting terror of its own – around the world, and at homeAs clear as that cloudless September morning, Jenna Jacobs McPartland remembers the moment everything changed. “I was cleaning the bathroom and watching the Today show in the background and nine months pregnant,” the 52-year-old recalls by phone. “I think they were showing ‘Today throws a wedding’ when the news broke in.”A plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. McPartland did not know that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was attending a conference at its Windows on the World restaurant. “I called his office to say, ‘Hey, turn on the TV. Do you guys know what’s going on?’ His assistant said, ‘Oh my God, Jenna, he’s there.’ The whole world disappeared and there was this sort of hollow collapsing feeling.” Continue reading… More

The president demonised Democrats in an attempt to wangle votes in midterms despite backlash over Iran warWith his approval rating at a historic low, Donald Trump has brought down the curtain on the Republicans’ first ever midterm convention by pleading with supporters to do him “the biggest favour” and “pretend” they are voting for him in November’s US elections.The president is facing a growing backlash over rising prices and the war in Iran. Sweeping losses for the Republican party could effectively turn Trump into a lame duck for his final two years in the White House. Continue reading… More

Donald Trump has thrown a convention to amp up the Republican base ahead of the midterm elections, but not everyone is thrilled about it. Dozens of officials running for re-election have stayed away, choosing instead to campaign locally. Are they worried about Trump’s current unpopularity weighing down their ticket?This week Jenna Amatulli is in for Jonathan Freedland and speaks to Guardian US politics correspondent Rachel LeingangWatch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly YouTube channelSend your questions and feedback to [email protected] to The Guardian Investigates podcast and listen to season 2 of Black Box Continue reading… More