Will Ferrell to transphobes: “Why would you care if somebody’s happy?”

“It’s so strange to me, because Harper is finally… her. She’s finally who she was always meant to be. Whether or not you can ultimately wrap your head around that, why would you care if somebody’s happy? Why is that threatening to you? If the trans community is a threat to you, I think it stems from not being confident or safe with yourself.”

into

‘Running away from good news’: why is Harris distancing herself from Biden’s record?

Far from embracing her role in Joe Biden’s White House, Kamala Harris is presenting herself as a change agent.

The Guardian

Awareness of ‘Latinx’ increases among US Latinos, and ‘Latine’ emerges as an alternative

“Latino” and “Hispanic” have long been the most prominent terms used to describe people in the U.S. with roots in Latin America and Spain. But over the last several years, “Latinx” has become a de-facto gender neutral alternative to Latino and Hispanic, according to a new study by race and ethnicity researchers.

AP News

Brown bananas, crowded ports, empty shelves: What to expect if there’s a big dockworkers strike in the US

The International Longshoremen’s Association’s six-year contract with the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports will expire on Sept. 30, 2024, at midnight unless the two sides reach an agreement before that deadline. Without a breakthrough, the 45,000 port workers intend to take part in a strike that would paralyze ports from Maine to Texas.

The Conversation

Why Are Innocents Still Being Executed?

Why are innocent people—and those with a good chance of proving their innocence—still being executed? A death sentence does not necessarily reflect guilt, which is why death-row exonerations are not uncommon. By the Equal Justice Initiave’s count, one person is exonerated for every eight people executed. And not everyone who is innocent is exonerated. The Death Penalty Information Center maintains a list of executed people who had “strong evidence of innocence”; it numbers 20 cases, almost all of which are from the past few decades. Other sources offer higher estimates. “At least 30, and likely more, innocent people have been executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in the 1970s,” Robert Dunham, the director of the Death Penalty Policy Project, told me.

The Atlantic

‘It’s just a mess’ – Left in limbo by US student loan logjam

“If [Biden’s plans] actually had gone through in a timely manner, I think we would see a much bigger boost for Democrats, but this is an issue that voters still say they care about,” she said.

BBC

Harris Vows to Tighten Border Security in Bid to Counter Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to take additional steps to prevent border crossings between ports of entry and ramp up prosecutions of repeat offenders as she sought to address one of her biggest political vulnerabilities in the race against Republican Donald Trump.

Bloomberg

Could pawpaw, the US-native fruit, become the new kiwi or mango?

Pawpaw, a tree fruit that can help farmers and the environment, stays resilient in face of a climate crisis

The Guardian

Conservative Christians were skeptical of mail-in ballots. Now they are gathering them in churches

Conservative voters who have been skeptical of mail voting and ballot gathering – a strategy often used by Democrats – are now warming up to it. Evangelical Christians, in particular, are embracing it this year.

AP News

Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake endorses Kamala Harris for president: ‘I know of her character’

Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris because of his conservative values — not in spite of them — he said Saturday in an interview announcing his support for the Democratic presidential nominee.

USA Today

As the Harris Campaign Hits Arizona, New Poll Shows Trump’s Latino Support in the State is Dwindling

A new survey indicates that Latino voters, who make up 25% of Arizona’s electorate, are increasingly favoring Harris, with a 34-point lead over Trump

The Latin Times

‘A false sense of comfort’: Michigan Dems fight to keep voters’ attention on abortion

Democrats’ fight for Michigan is testing the potency and staying power of their national message that Republicans will wipe out access to abortion everywhere if given the chance.

Politico

The Data Doesn’t Lie: Anti-Trans Legislation Kills

New research shows a dramatic increase in suicide attempts among trans and nonbinary youth in states with anti-transgender laws, proving the devastating impact of these harmful policies.

The New Republic

‘I see the apathy’: Saginaw city’s Black voters could be vital – if they vote

A majority of Black residents of key Michigan city don’t cast a ballot, but activists and churches are trying to change that

The Guardian

Maternity pay has gone too far, suggests Kemi Badenoch

Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has suggested maternity pay has “gone too far” and the government needed to interfere less in people’s lives.

Speaking to Times Radio, Badenoch said statutory maternity pay, set up to support mothers for 39 weeks after having a baby, is a “function of tax” which she called “excessive”.

She added that “the exact amount of maternity pay in my view is neither here nor there”, adding: “We need to have more personal responsibility – there was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”

BBC

Dozens missing after migrant boat sinks off Canary Islands, nine dead

Hopes of finding any of the 48 migrants missing since their boat sank near the Spanish island of El Hierro are diminishing, authorities said on Sunday, in what threatens to be the deadliest such incident in 30 years of crossings from Africa to the Canary Islands.

Reuters

IDF prepares to invade southern Lebanon as 2 more Hezbollah leaders are presumed dead

Israel’s military says it carried out “dozens” of additional raids on Hezbollah targets early Sunday, as reports circulated that another two senior Hezbollah commanders were assassinated following the assassination of the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in a southern suburb of Beirut.

NPR

The Indigenous ‘watchmen’ safeguarding Peru’s isolated tribes

Protection agents risk their lives to prevent deadly contact between remote tribes coming to contact with settled communities.

Al Jazeera

Austria election live: far-right Freedom party got most votes, early projections show – as it happened

Preliminary results from Austria’s general election showed the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) winning the most votes for the first time in the postwar period.

The Guardian

Norway is mulling building a fence on its border with Russia, following Finland’s example

Norway may put a fence along part or all of the 198-kilometer (123-mile) border it shares with Russia, a minister said, a move inspired by a similar project in its Nordic neighbor Finland.

AP News

A child bride won the right to divorce – now the Taliban say it doesn’t count

Nazdana’s divorce is one of tens of thousands of court rulings revoked since the Taliban took control of the country three years ago this month.

BBC

Kremlin spokesman defends Putin’s changes to Russian nuclear doctrine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said on Sunday that Moscow’s revised nuclear weapons doctrine is needed because NATO infrastructure is approaching Russia’s borders ever more closely.

dpa International

Machete-armed man with Palestinian flag wounds 31 in Germany with arson, ramming attacks

The man reportedly set fire to two buildings, before ramming a store with a van and threatening people with machetes.

The Jerusalem Post