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      Friday briefing: Five key takeaways as Harris closes the Democratic national convention

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      Good morning. For today’s newsletter, we’re bringing you coverage of Kamala Harris’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president courtesy of Rachel Leingang, in a preview of our newsletter covering the US election, The Stakes. You can sign up here.Hello from Chicago, where it’s like the Oscars, but for people with slightly less charisma.The last day of the Democratic national convention brought out A-list actors, iconic music artists, swing-state politicians and Harris family members – a better lineup, to be sure, than Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock, the stars at the Republican convention.But the real star of the show was Kamala Harris, who shared her personal biography, the threats Trump poses to the country and some of the policy ideas she wants to enact if she wins.Harris’s moment in the spotlight capped off a four-day convention that went as well as Democrats needed it to, leaving most of the party faithful energized to carry out the full-court press needed for the short timeframe from now until November.Today’s newsletter brings you five takeaways from the last day of the convention. Here are the headlines.Five big stories

      Education | The aftermath of the Covid pandemic has been squeezed out of GCSE results as students received grades more similar to pre-pandemic levels. But there were wide regional variations, with students in London powering ahead of pre-pandemic grades, while top grades in Wales and Northern Ireland came down with a bump compared with last year.

      Politics | Rachel Reeves has insisted there will be “no blank cheques” for public sector unions amid Conservative claims that the government’s attempt to end long-running strikes has made it a soft touch. Reeves said that the cost of not increasing pay for police officers, the armed forces and teachers would have been “very damaging”.

      Italy | The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead by search and rescue authorities after his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. A spokesperson for the Italian fire brigade said it could take days before the last missing person was found.

      Health | The UK’s health regulator has rejected a drug that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, saying its benefits are too small to justify the costs of the therapy. The drug is not a cure, but in clinical trials slowed cognitive decline by 27% in early Alzheimer’s patients.

      Media | Jermaine Jenas, a presenter on The One Show and pundit on Match of the Day, has been sacked by the BBC after complaints about his workplace conduct, allegedly involving text messages and other digital communication. The former footballer said he was seeking legal advice.
      In depth: ‘A precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the divisive battles of the past’View image in fullscreen1. The climax of Kamala Harris’s whirlwind monthHarris officially accepted the Democratic presidential nomination by nodding to the “for the people” oath she took, which has entered into speeches about her multiple times this week. Her only client, she said, has been “the people”, and those people come from all political backgrounds and walks of life.She said: “So, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey on behalf of Americans, like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.”“Our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward – not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris said.In the last few weeks of a whirlwind campaign, Harris has perfected the way she tells her own story and how she contrasts with Trump. She started with the lessons she learned from her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States from India at the age of 19, and wove her mother’s teachings throughout her speech.Her family members – her sister Maya Harris; niece Meena Harris; stepdaughter Ella Emhoff and goddaughter Helena Hudlin – all had some stage time to take about the Kamala they know.She then drew a clearer picture of her vision than she has to date: giving broad policy ideas on affordable housing, abortion protections, foreign policy and middle-class tax relief.She called Trump “an unserious man” but also a dangerous person who should not return to the White House. “Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”Trump responded to Harris’s speech in post after post on Truth Social, one of which said simply: “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?”2. Gun violence survivors call for changePeople who survived mass shootings or lost loved ones to gun violence spoke about the devastation they have faced – reiterating a theme throughout the convention of those who have survived horrible situations and think Harris will help address the causes of these problems.To emphasise the need for policy changes, the convention program brought out those most affected by draconian abortion bans or loose gun control laws.Four of the Central Park Five, the group of Black and Latino boys falsely convicted over the rape of a jogger in New York, whose prosecution Donald Trump promoted, spoke about the danger Trump poses.Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in an assassination attempt and now fights for gun control, spoke about her recovery, her husband Mark Kelly standing beside her.“Thank you. Joe Biden, thank you for everything. Joe is a great president,” Giffords said. “My friend Kamala will be a great president. She is tough. She has grit. Kamala can beat the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking.”3. Gaza protests end with no voice on stageI’ve spent most of the week following the uncommitted delegation, the anti-war movement that’s working to pressure Biden and Harris to end the war in Gaza. On Thursday, the DNC did not relent on the decision not to allow the group a speaking slot for a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage.The group was not asking for much – a couple of minutes for a swing-state Democrat to talk about their background and the call for a ceasefire. Ruwa Romman, a state representative from Georgia, gave the speech she would have given on stage outside the arena instead.The final denial came after months of activism and days of negotiations at the convention to amplify a call for a ceasefire and arms embargo in Gaza. And outside the convention perimeter, other activists held another protest, marching near the United Center with more militant messages.4. Celebrities on celebrities on celebrities …View image in fullscreenSwing-state governors and senators got key spots in the lead-up to Harris’s speech – several of whom were in the running to be the vice-presidential nominee – in a nod to the places Harris needs to win in November to keep Democrats in the White House.But those swing staters are only really celebrities in a place like this. The real celebrities showed up here, though, too.The Chicks were the third country artist to sing at the DNC despite the common belief that Republicans are the party of country music. Pink (above) sang alongside her daughter.Kerry Washington interviewed Harris’s nieces about how to pronounce Kamala, and Washington was joined by Tony Goldwyn, her Scandal co-star, on stage at one point.Basketball star Steph Curry said in a video that “the Oval Office suits her well”. And Eva Longoria, the actor and activist, praised Harris’s background: “She worked at McDonald’s, I worked at Wendy’s, and look at us now.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion5. … and one who didn’t make itThe persistent rumour all day Thursday was that Beyoncé, whose song Freedom is used by the Harris campaign in its ads, would show up at the convention.Just before Harris went on stage, Beyoncé’s team told media Queen Bey would not be in Chicago to perform. When you’re expecting Beyoncé to introduce the potential next president of the United States, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper is a rough consolation prize.What else we’ve been readingView image in fullscreen

      Forget Ocado vans or an endorsement from Kirstie and Phil: your proximity to a Gail’s is now a sure-fire way to check whether you’re in the heart of middle England. Heather Stewart has looked at how the increasingly prevalent bakery chain became England’s most unlikely political bellwether. Hannah J Davies, deputy editor, newsletters

      Diyora Shadijanova writes charmingly on how getting an allotment – acquired in a fit of lockdown envy – has led to a radical rethink of her relationship with food, and a new sense of “how fragile the natural systems that sustain us really are”. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team

      Shaad D’Souza meets Sabrina Carpenter, the Disney star turned Espresso hitmaker who says that her newfound chart success is just “the sprinkles on top of the sundae” for her. Hannah

      The Guardian newsletters team’s own Hannah J Davies met Tanya Smith, who stole $40m, evaded the FBI and broke out of prison, to talk about the release of her (surely action-packed) memoir. Charlie

      From the “Swedish lake district” to the Beacons Way in Wales (above), Guardian readers have recommended their favourite locations for active holidays in Europe. Hannah
      SportView image in fullscreenAthletics | Keely Hodgkinson’s season has been ended by injury less than three weeks after she became the Olympic 800m champion. The 22-year-old Briton, pictured above, whose victory in Paris was the most-watched event of the Games on terrestrial television in the UK, had been due to compete in September’s Diamond League meetings.Cricket | A fine unbeaten 72 from wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith meant England ended day two with a first innings lead of 23 runs and four wickets remaining. Asitha Fernando was the pick of the bowlers, asking questions throughout for figures of three for 68.Football | Substitute Noni Madueke sealed Enzo Maresca’s first win as Chelsea manager in the Blues’ 2-0 Conference League playoff first-leg win against Servette. A tense atmosphere at Stamford Bridge after controversy over Raheem Sterling’s future was lifted when Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring with a penalty.The front pagesView image in fullscreenOur Guardian print edition leads with “Concern over ‘attainment gap’ as GCSEs return to pre-Covid levels”. The Times has “Don’t lock up criminals till next month, courts urged”. “Fury as dementia drug denied to patients on NHS” – that’s the Daily Mail, while the Daily Express asks “Why is it only rich can get Alzheimer’s wonder drug?”. The same story is also the Daily Telegraph’s splash: “Alzheimer’s drug is blocked for use on NHS”. “Sacked” – the Daily Mirror reports on the “Jermaine Jenas shock” at the BBC, while the Sun leads with the same story. Top story in the i is “UK trade union chiefs split over how to get best pay deals out of chancellor” while at the other end of town in the Financial Times it’s “AstraZeneca threatens vaccine plant shift to US after Reeves weighs aid cut”. Today’s Metro brings us “Jab hope in fight against lung cancer”. A jab for the lungs certainly sounds better than a poke in the ribs.Something for the weekendOur critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right nowView image in fullscreenMusicNick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Wild God
      Joy, a song seemingly about Cave’s late son, Arthur, feels like Wild God’s mood in miniature: the album doesn’t stint on darkness, but suggests that life can still provide transcendent euphoria despite it all. Elsewhere, O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is) – about the passing of Cave’s former collaborator and partner, the late Anita Lane – is gorgeously melodic, decorated with a telephone recording of Lane giggling as she recalls their dissolute past. Alexis PetridisTVPachinko (Apple TV+)
      A historical epic, filmed in Korean and Japanese and following several generations of a family along two separate timelines? It sounds like a time investment you might never get around to making, but season two of Pachinko confirms that this show is worth the effort. An excellent drama powered by a rare emotional intelligence, a series as deft and heartfelt as this can never be a chore. Jack SealeFilmKneecap
      Irish-language hip-hop trio Kneecap caused much spluttering from the DUP in 2019 when, one day after William and Kate’s royal visit to Belfast’s Empire Music Hall, they showed up there raucously shouting “Brits out” on stage. A blazingly fierce presence, they’re now playing versions of themselves in this hyperactive, slightly Guy Ritchie-esque biopic, whose musical sequences have originality, comedy and freedom. Peter BradshawToday in FocusView image in fullscreenThe sex lives of strangers: creating ‘This is how we do it’A look at some of the brave couples who shared the joys and challenges of their sex lives in the Guardian columnCartoon of the day | Ella BaronView image in fullscreenThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badView image in fullscreenSphen and Magic’s heart-lifting same-sex love story first made headlines in 2018 when they got “engaged” and became foster parents. The fact that they were penguins and their child was an egg just added to the cuteness of their tale.The gay penguin power couple raised two chicks and became a universal symbol for LGBTQ+ equality. When Sphen died on Thursday, Magic cried out and the other gentoo penguins in the colony joined in, filling their aquarium in Sydney with song, in what staff called a “one in a million” moment. “It was a very beautiful moment, the air was just filled with their singing,” said penguin keeper Renee Howell. “It showed the impact [Sphen] had on his partner”.Bored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday.

      Quick crossword

      Cryptic crossword

      Wordiply More

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      Kamala Harris pledges to ‘chart a new way forward’ as she accepts nomination

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      Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday with a sweeping, pointed speech in which she vowed to prosecute the case against Donald Trump and carry the country to a brighter and fairer future.In an address that balanced optimism with scathing criticism of her opponent, Harris acknowledged her “unlikely” path to the nomination and extended her hand to voters of all political ideologies who believe in America’s promise. Harris would make history if elected – as the first woman, first Black woman and first Asian American woman to serve as president – but she instead focused on the history that the country could change in November.“Our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward – not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris told thousands of Democrats in Chicago.She then said to roaring applause: “On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.”The speech came just one month after Harris launched her campaign, following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. With the president’s endorsement, Harris was able to quickly consolidate Democrats’ support and secure the nomination. Harris has enjoyed a wave of enthusiasm since entering the race, as most polls now show her pulling slightly ahead of Trump in the key battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election.Throughout the speech, Harris implicitly and explicitly contrasted herself with her opponent, warning that Trump’s return to the White House would resurrect the “chaos and calamity” of his first presidential term. She condemned Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, blaming him for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and reminded voters of his many legal battles since leaving office.“Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution,” Harris said. “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States – not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”Harris then led the crowd, packed to full capacity in Chicago’s United Center, in a chant of “We’re not going back!” The chant has become a recurring feature of Harris’ campaign rallies in the past month.The speech represented Harris’ most significant opportunity yet to define herself in the eyes of voters. Although Harris served as vice-president under Biden for four years and as a US senator from California before that, polls suggest voters’ opinions of the new nominee are not set in stone. Trump has already tried to define Harris as a “radical” Democrat, mocking her as “Comrade Kamala,” but he has struggled to land successful attack lines against his new opponent.Addressing a national audience, Harris presented herself as a “realistic” and “practical” leader who would lean on her background as a prosecutor to govern based on common sense and equality. She credited her sense of justice to her mother, Shyamala Harris, a scientist who emigrated to the US from India when she was 19.“She was tough, courageous, a trailblazer in the fight for women’s health, and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle [Obama] mentioned the other night,” Harris said. “She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it.”In an election that has often been characterized as personality versus policy, Harris attempted to intertwine the two. After discussing her record as a prosecutor fighting for “women and children against predators who abused them,” she turned her attention to the women whose lives have been jeopardized due to a lack of abortion access.She shared stories of pregnant women getting sepsis and miscarrying in parking lots, and placed the blame for their pain squarely on Trump’s shoulders, as he nominated three of the justices who ruled to overturn Roe v Wade.“This is what’s happening in our country because of Donald Trump,” Harris said. “And understand he is not done as a part of his agenda. He and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress … Simply put, they are out of their minds.”View image in fullscreenHarris was at times light on the details when it came to policy, as when she pledged to build “an opportunity economy” and “end America’s housing shortage”. She was arguably most forceful when it came to discussing foreign policy, as she promised to “stand strong with Ukraine” and accused Trump of aligning himself with autocrats.“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un, who are rooting for Trump because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors,” Harris said. “As president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals – because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and where the United States of America belongs.”In one of the most highly anticipated portions of her speech, Harris outlined her stance on the war in Gaza. Harris condemned the Hamas attacks against Israel on 7 October and mourned the “many innocent lives lost” in Gaza since the start of the war, but she vowed to “always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” in an apparent rejection of recent calls for an arms embargo.“President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done,” Harris said. “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”The call for Palestinian self-determination was met with robust applause in the convention center, but it is unclear whether that rhetoric will appease ceasefire supporters, thousands of whom took to the streets of Chicago to protest the war this week.Harris will likely need those voters’ support in November, as the presidential race remains a toss-up despite her recent gains. The coming days will show if and how Harris’ speech might expand her lead. More

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      Democratic convention fails to meet uncommitted delegate deadline for Palestinian speaker

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      After a daylong sit-in, uncommitted delegates entered the United Center to take their seats among their state delegations on the Democratic national convention floor.The Democratic convention failed to make a 6pm CT deadline that the ceasefire delegates had set for a final decision on allowing a Palestinian American to speak from the main stage.At a press conference outside the convention, movement leaders said they do not plan to disrupt the events inside the convention Thursday. They did say they are calling for Kamala Harris or senior members of her team to meet with the uncommitted movement in Michigan to talk about a ceasefire and arms embargo. They set a 15 September deadline for a meeting.Abbas Alawieh, a leader of the uncommitted movement and an uncommitted delegate from Michigan, denounced the convention’s failure to listen to their demands.“The scandal is that there are forces within Democratic party leadership who do not want us to talk about Palestinian human rights,” he said. “They’re out of step with the majority of the Democratic base, the majority of Democratic voters who believe that Palestinian human rights are a priority.”Ruwa Romman, a Georgia state representative who wrote a speech for the convention to consider, read her speech to the crowd gathered outside. Earlier on Thursday, Mother Jones published the text, which began: “I’m honored to be the first Palestinian elected to public office in the great state of Georgia and the first Palestinian to ever speak at the Democratic national convention.”“Let’s commit to each other, to electing Vice-President Harris and defeating Donald Trump who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a slur,” she said in her speech. “Let’s fight for the policies long overdue – from restoring access to abortions to ensuring a living wage, to demanding an end to reckless war and a ceasefire in Gaza.”The group held an impromptu sit-in on Wednesday and Thursday after weeks of attempts to get a speaker on the main stage at the convention. The movement had first requested that Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a doctor who worked in Gaza, and a Palestinian American leader take the stage, and then streamlined the request to a Palestinian American leader.About a dozen of those in the movement stayed overnight on the pavement outside the United Center, catching whatever sleep they could. The police did not attempt to get them to leave.A group of delegates have fought using the Democratic party process to demand change internally, while protesters have also demonstrated across Chicago this week in separate actions.Outside the convention perimeter, anti-war protesters gathered for the second March on the Democratic convention after a week of demonstrations around the city that at times ended in arrests.Thousands of pro-Palestinian activists left Union Park in Chicago to march past the convention center, where Harris is expected to accept the Democratic nomination Thursday.Protesters holding flags and signs calling Harris “Killer Kamala” demanded an end to US military aid to Israel. Michael, who said his family was Palestinian and Irish, said that he was marching to “demand that the US stop funding genocide” and said that Harris “needs to listen to us and empathize with ordinary Palestinians”.“Right now, we’ve been locked out and exiled,” he said.The protesters chanted: “Antifada! Revolution!” “End the occupation!” “It is right to rebel! Democrats go to hell!” “Just like 1968! Nothing here to celebrate!”Hundreds of police officers, some in riot helmets, lined the protest route near the United Center.Protest organizers estimated Thursday’s March on the DNC drew about 11,000 demonstrators and that Monday’s march saw 20,000.“The final impression of this week is that a combined 30,000+ people from communities the Democrats claim to represent marched on the DNC to demand a stop to the genocide and an end to all US aid to Israel,” said Nadiah Alyafai, member of the US Palestinian Community Network.The Uncommitted National Movement launched in Michigan in the Democratic primaries as a way for voters who disapprove of the US policies on the Gaza war to register their discontent with the Biden administration. From Michigan, it spread across the states, with more than 700,000 people casting some version of an uncommitted vote.These voters won 30 uncommitted delegates to the convention. Those delegates have worked to build their power by convincing Harris delegates to sign on as “ceasefire delegates” who agree with demands of a ceasefire and arms embargo.Supporters, including members of Congress, union leaders and Democratic organizers, underscored the speaker request, saying the convention needed to change course.James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, was the last Arab American to speak from the main stage of the Democratic convention, in 1988. He told the Guardian the convention’s decision to deny a Palestinian American speaker an “an unforced error, a kind of a bonehead move that is going to cost them votes and didn’t need to”.“This is what’s called a real stupid, boneheaded mistake, to end up literally dumping on your own story that ought to be about the convention and Kamala Harris and hope and joy and all that. And instead, we’re talking about a dumb mistake made by consultants to exclude Palestinian voices,” Zogby said.According to Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist and member of the uncommitted movement, the Harris campaign senior staff made “a lot of different offers to get this to end, none of which had to do with getting a Palestinian American on stage”.“They gave us mid-level staff, they gave us senior staff. They gave us random senators, random members of the House. They were like, this member of the House is inside. They’ll meet with you,” Shahid said.Democratic party officials said “tonight is going to be vice-president Harris’s biggest speech of her life, and it needs to be about her. But we have given them two months, and we had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So we did not put them in this position,” Layla Elabed, a leader of the uncommitted movement, said. More

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      Democrats accused of ‘tragic mistake’ by ruling out Palestinian convention speech; Shapiro says ‘Trump is obsessed with me’ – live

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      Ro Khanna, the progressive California Democratic respresentative, said the party is making a “tragic mistake” by not allowing a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage of the Democratic national convention.As we reported earlier, the Uncommitted National Movement has continued its sit-in outside the convention after the anti-war group was denied its request for a Palestinian person to speak at the convention’s main stage. The group Muslim Women for Harris later announced that it was disbanding in response to the Harris-Walz campaign’s refusal of the group’s request.Khanna, who was an early supporter of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, has met with Arab American and Muslim leaders disaffected by the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war. He posted to X:Abraham Aiyash, the majority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, said leaders of the convention “cannot claim to want peace in Gaza but actively thwart the ability for Palestinians to speak their truth”.The Guardian’s David Smith ran into Cornel West, the independent presidential candidate, outside the Democratic national convention.What might he be doing here? Did West just come to take in the sights, or could it be a sign that he is following the lead of Robert F Kennedy Jr and will end his campaign, perhaps to Kamala Harris’s benefit?Donald Trump has defended blocking a bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year even though it had the support of Republican leaders in Congress.Following a speech in Arizona at the border with Mexico, where he accused the Biden-Harris administration of allowing millions of people to enter the US illegally, Trump was asked about his opposition to the legislation intended to curb immigration.The bill had the support of Republican leaders in Congress, including Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. But after Trump made his opposition known, McConnell walked away from his own legislation and other Republicans also abandoned it.Democrats have accused Trump of sabotaging the bill because he of wanting to keep immigration a live political issue. But Trump said he had opposed it for other reasons.“It wasn’t bipartisan. They had a couple of people on the other side. It was weak. It was ineffective, and it would have allowed, as you know, millions and millions of people to pour through and largely unvetted. It was a horrible bill. It was a weak bill. And they don’t need a bill. All Biden had to do is look to the border and say: ‘Close the border.’ He didn’t need a bill.“The bill was terrible. If it was good, I would have approved it.”At the time, Mitt Romney, the Republican senator and former presidential candidate, criticised Trump as more interested in political moves than addressing immigration.“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is … really appalling,” he said.I’m at the pro-Palestinian sit-in outside the United Center, where delegates and activists joined by representative Cori Bush are demanding that the Democratic leadership add a Palestinian American speaker to this night’s lineup to speak from the main stage.Abbas Alawieh, a delegate from Michigan and leader of the uncommitted movement, said that negotiations with the Democratic party are ongoing and called on the leadership to make a decision by 6pm.“When uncommitted came here, we didn’t just come for the four days, we came here to create a democratic pathway for the next four years,” said Lexis Zeidan, a co-chair of the uncommitted movement. “It’s not just about the speaker, it’s about Palestinian Americans deserving a voice in our society.”“Our deadline we’ve set again is six o’clock for a response,” she said, adding that if the party did not meet the deadline, the group would announce updates about “what comes next for this movement”.Alawieh and several others slept on the concrete last night outside the United Center as they increased pressure on the democratic leadership to address calls for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.“As a member of the United States Congress, where else should I be when people in our community and our country are just saying we want a voice on that stage?” said Bush. ”It’s important because what we’re seeing on that stage are the priorities of the Democratic party as we go toward November. We understand that what is said there is being used to mobilize the country to show up in November.”She asked for a speaker to give up a time slot to give a Palestinian American an opportunity to speak.Chicago has been revelling in its status as host city of the Democratic national convention.Among its pearls is the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, which opened in 1938 and is a treasure trove of autographs, letters, rare books, presidential memorabilia and reproductions of Lincoln and civil war photos.It currently has an exhibition of artifacts from Chicago’s first political nominating convention in 1860 – the one that set Lincoln on course for the White House.James Carville popped up for a tour of the bookshop on Thursday and posed for photos while holding a picture of William Sherman, a union army general during the civil war.In a discussion with shop owner Daniel Weinberg and former White House official Sidney Blumenthal, the veteran Democratic strategist observed: “If you listen to Fox, Chicago is this giant hellhole: homeless people, streets, they’re shooting everybody. It’s one of nicest goddamn, places I’ve ever been.“My only problem with Chicago as a convention site is that the United Centre is too far away. I don’t know there’s much you can do about it. At some point, Chicago should build a downtown arena like that but I think it’s just a marvellous city. You can get in and out of it.”Weinberg noted Mark Twain’s saying that history rhymes. Carville, who led Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, replied: “I think it more than rhymes. There’s a lot to be learned from European history – you’re not supposed to say that – but just the power alliances that live with us today.“Internal conflicts: the movies that we’re seeing, the books that are being written, January 6 – I’m sorry, that’s a little more than rhyming. Forty percent of the people in 10 different states want to secede. History, I can’t say it repeats itself but I think it repeats itself more than it rhymes.”Blumenthal, a Guardian columnist currently working on the fourth volume of a monumental Lincoln biography, rejoined: “What I’ve been saying is the deeper I get into the past, the closer I get to the present.”Donald Trump appears to have finally acknowledged that he lost the 2020 election during a speech on the border with Mexico.Trump was looking at a graph of immigration numbers toward the end of his presidency when he said: “This was a last week in office for me because of a horrible, horrible election where I got many millions more votes than I got the first time, but didn’t quite make it, just a little bit short.”Trump did not expand on the statement, which came in the middle of a wandering speech accusing Kamala Harris of permitting millions of undocumented immigrants into the US.Donald Trump has renewed his attacks on immigrants during a visit to the US border with Mexico by again falsely claiming that they are responsible for a disproportionate share of crime.Speaking next to the border fence in Cochise county, Arizona, the former president alleged that countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe are emptying their prisons of criminals and sending them across the US border.“Hardened criminals are pouring into our country. And then they always say the illegal immigrants don’t commit crimes like people that live here. It’s so wrong. They don’t report them, but it’s so wrong. They make our criminals look like babies,” he said.“These are the roughest people, and they’re the roughest people from all over the world. Their jails are being emptied from all over the world.”Trump then sought to pin the alleged flood of criminals into the US on to Harris because Biden appointed her to investigate the causes of rising migration from Central America.“Since Comrade Harris took over the border, there has been a 43% nationwide increase in violent crime and a 60% increase in rape,” he said.There is no evidence to back up these numbers but Trump claimed that is because the FBI is rigging the crime figures.It’s sound check time inside the Democratic national convention hall, and the handful of delegates and journalists in attendance are getting to see musician Pink run through her set.On that note, rumor has it there’ll be a surprise celebrity guest at some point this evening, but we can only speculate as to who that might be.Donald Trump has been speaking from the US-Mexico border near Sierra Vista, Arizona, where he criticized Kamala Harris’s record on immigration and border security and called her “the worst vice-president”.Kamala Harris joined the popular social media show Track Star, hosted by Jack Coyne.In almost every episode of Track Star, guests listen to a snippet of a song, name the artist, and win money ($5), going double or nothing with each round.On the episode published on Thursday, Harris correctly guessed songs by Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis and Too Short.She said one song everyone should listen to is Everybody Loves the Sunshine by Roy Ayers. “I grew up with all that music,” she said.Members of the Uncommitted National Movement, which won 30 delegates to the Democratic national convention, are calling for a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage of the convention.The Harris-Walz campaign notably invited the family of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin to speak on Wednesday, which the movement supported.As we reported earlier, one of the potential speakers offered is Ruwa Romman, a Georgia state representative who is Palestinian.Romman shared a copy of the speech she wanted to give with Mother Jones, adding that “if an elected official in a swing state who is Palestinian cannot make it on that stage, nobody else can.” Here’s an excerpt of her speech:
      Let’s commit to each other, to electing Vice President [Kamala] Harris and defeating Donald Trump, who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a slur. Let’s fight for the policies long overdue – from restoring access to abortions to ensuring a living wage, to demanding an end to reckless war and a ceasefire in Gaza. To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, yes, we can – yes, we can be a Democratic party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not for endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us – Black, brown and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us, like my grandfather taught me, together.
      Ro Khanna, the progressive California Democratic respresentative, said the party is making a “tragic mistake” by not allowing a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage of the Democratic national convention.As we reported earlier, the Uncommitted National Movement has continued its sit-in outside the convention after the anti-war group was denied its request for a Palestinian person to speak at the convention’s main stage. The group Muslim Women for Harris later announced that it was disbanding in response to the Harris-Walz campaign’s refusal of the group’s request.Khanna, who was an early supporter of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, has met with Arab American and Muslim leaders disaffected by the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war. He posted to X:Abraham Aiyash, the majority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, said leaders of the convention “cannot claim to want peace in Gaza but actively thwart the ability for Palestinians to speak their truth”.Patrick Gaspard, a former White House official and influential thinktank leader, urged local businesses in states such as Georgia to prepare themselves, saying:
      This is not just a Democrat versus Maga Republican thing. It is a profound American question. We have not seen anything like this before in our lives and so you can’t be waiting for that.
      On a positive note, he added:
      I will say I’m excited to see that Marc Elias, who is just a badass election lawyer that some of us worked with for a long time, is now officially sitting next to Bob Bauer [Joe Biden’s personal lawyer] inside the campaign and not outside of the campaign.
      Patrick Gaspard, who served in various positions in Barack Obama’s administration, noted that the Republican state legislature in Georgia just enacted a provision that gives “astonishing” levels of discretion to state officials to question the outcome of a vote count to delay certification.He warned of similar moves afoot in Nevada and North Carolina and also criticised Kevin Roberts, leader of the rightwing Heritage Foundation, for recent comments the country is in the midst of a “second American revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be”.Gaspard, president and chief executive of the Center for American Progress in Washington, said:
      That kind of rhetoric, the instrumentisation of those local elected offices and the stoking of these fires on social media – and Donald Trump himself will manipulate all of this – is going to lead to civil unrest and civil confrontation in a close contest that Kamala Harris is declared the winner in. I don’t think anybody is ready for that.
      Patrick Gaspard, a former White House official and influential thinktank leader, has warned that America faces “multiple January 6-like incidents” if Kamala Harris ekes out a narrow electoral college victory in swing states.“Following this election, which we will win in very close margins in those states, I’m 100% confident that Donald Trump and his cabal will say of course one, that the election was stolen and two, that people need to take back their country,” Gaspard told reporters at an event hosted by Bloomberg in Chicago.
      They’re going to support mobilisations in the streets that I think will lead us to have not just a January 6-type incident in the Capitol, but that could potentially lead to multiple January 6-like incidents in state capitols around the country – in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, in Nevada, in Arizona, in North Carolina.
      I just spoke with James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, and the last Arab American to speak from the main stage of the Democratic convention, in 1988.He called the DNC’s decision to deny a Palestinian American speaker an “an unforced error, a kind of a bonehead move that is going to cost them votes and didn’t need to”.Zogby said some of the potential speakers offered to the DNC included a Georgia state representative who is Palestinian, Ruwa Romman, and a Democratic organizer who has known Harris for years and has lost dozens of family members in Gaza, Hala Hijazi. He said:
      It was a no brainer, just a no brainer, and they couldn’t agree to that, and I don’t know why, and I don’t think there was any logic involved.
      This is what’s called a real stupid, boneheaded mistake, to end up literally dumping on your own story that ought to be about the convention and Kamala Harris and hope and joy and all that. And instead, we’re talking about a dumb mistake made by consultants to exclude Palestinian voices. More