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    BBC vows to defend itself in $10bn Donald Trump lawsuit

    President claims broadcaster ‘intentionally, maliciously and deceptively’ edited 6 January speech before Capitol attackThe BBC has vowed to defend itself against the $10bn lawsuit that the US president, Donald Trump filed against it.In a complaint filed on Monday evening, Trump sought $5bn in damages each on two counts, alleging that the BBC defamed him, and that it violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Continue reading… More

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    Trump files up to $10bn lawsuit against BBC over edit of Capitol speech – as it happened

    This live blog is now closed. You can find more of our US politics coverage hereDonald Trump sues BBC for up to $10bn over edit of January 6 speechCNBC reported last week that Trump could sign an executive order “as soon as Monday” that would allow for reclassification of marijuana, citing a person familiar with the matter.Trump first floated the idea that he was “looking at reclassification” in August, and the Washington Post (paywall) was first to report last week that he’s planning to direct agencies to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, similar to some common prescription painkillers. Continue reading… More

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    Democrat on ousting Republican in Pennsylvania’s ’swingiest’ county: ‘Partnering with ICE is a losing proposition’

    Danny Ceisler’s defeat in sheriff’s race of incumbent who had signed an agreement to work with ICE sends a message on US’s contentious debate around immigration policyOnly 40 miles north of Philadelphia, Bucks county has gained a reputation as the “swingiest” county in the swing state of Pennsylvania and one of the most pivotal political bellwethers in the country.Party registration in the county is almost evenly split among Democrats and Republicans. Joe Biden won it in 2020, Donald Trump triumphed there in 2024. November’s elections there were local – but a hot race for county sheriff drew much wider attention as a microcosm for America’s contentious debate around immigration policy – and the result signaled a shake-up in how the county approaches enforcement. Continue reading… More

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    Looming federal cuts could devastate Alaska’s fight against overdose deaths

    Law enforcement and public health experts worry that potential cuts to resources that save lives and stop the flow of drugs into the state could raise overdose deathsThe Trump administration’s proposed cuts in federal funding for law enforcement and public health agencies could have a devastating impact on Alaska, which a Guardian analysis found has struggled to curtail overdose deaths even amid a general decline in national overdose fatalities.Law enforcement and public health experts are sounding the alarm as the Trump administration has prioritized waging its “war on drugs” outside US shores, including with a controversial bombing campaign of fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela. Continue reading… More

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    ‘Virality, rumors and lies’: US federal agencies mimic Trump on social media

    Variety of agencies now deliberately provocative on social media, further inflaming discourse on serious issuesWhen Donald Trump posted during his first term on what was then called Twitter, his attacks and rants differed significantly from US federal agency staff’s more cautious and traditional approach on social media.For example, in January 2017, in response to scrutiny of one of the president’s executive orders, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted: “We are & will remain in compliance with judicial orders. We are & will continue to enforce @POTUS’s EO humanely and with professionalism.” Continue reading… More

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    ‘We’re back at stage one’: Trump cuts rock Louisiana town plagued by gun violence

    Federal funds helped Bogalusa address the deep roots of crime – but with the grant pulled, has momentum been lost for ever?Before the street outside her mother’s home filled with gunfire, before panicked partygoers sprinted through the front yard, before she discovered that the body on the ground was a young man she had watched grow up, Khlilia Daniels knew something in Bogalusa had to change.It was December of 2022, and Daniels had spent the year watching her home town on Louisiana’s border with Mississippi become a steadily more frightening place. Murders, once rare, now seemed to be happening almost every month, shootings every other week, and in a city of just over 10,000 people, that violence felt close, the losses personal. The victims and perpetrators were predominantly Black, usually young and too often cousins, neighbors or the children of friends, people whom Daniels would see around, until suddenly they were gone. Continue reading… More

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    The US supreme court’s TikTok ruling is a scandal | Evelyn Douek and Jameel Jaffer

    The decision means TikTok now operates under the threat that it could be forced offline with a stroke of Trump’s penJudicial opinions allowing the government to suppress speech in the name of national security rarely stand the test of time. But time has been unusually unkind to the US supreme court decision that upheld the law banning TikTok, the short-form video platform. The court issued its ruling less than a year ago, but it is already obvious that the deference the court gave to the government’s national security arguments was spectacularly misplaced. The principal effect of the court’s ruling has been to give our own government enormous power over the policies of a speech platform used by tens of millions of Americans every day – a result that is an affront to the first amendment and a national security risk in its own right.Congress passed the TikTok ban in 2023 citing concerns that the Chinese government might be able to access information about TikTok’s American users or covertly manipulate content on the platform in ways that threatened US interests. The ban was designed to prevent Americans from using TikTok starting in January 2025 unless TikTok’s China-based corporate owner, ByteDance Inc, sold its US subsidiary before then.Evelyn Douek is an assistant professor at Stanford Law SchoolJameel Jaffer is inaugural director of the Knight first amendment institute at Columbia University Continue reading… More

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    Trump’s approach to Venezuela repeats the mistakes of the past | Austin Sarat

    Congress must work to stop the president from leading us further into a South American quagmireDonald Trump seems determined to have a military confrontation with Venezuela. He has deployed a massive military arsenal in and around the Caribbean Sea and taken a series of provocative actions off the Venezuelan coast, justifying it as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.The Council on Foreign Relations says that deployment includes an “aircraft carrier, destroyers, cruisers, amphibious assault ships, and a special forces support ship. A variety of aircraft have also been active in the region, including bombers, fighters, drones, patrol planes, and support aircraft.” This is the largest display of American military might in the western hemisphere since we invaded Panama in 1989.Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty Continue reading… More