
Last look: Should Mexico be electing its judges?
Fareed explains how Mexico's controversial judicial elections could radically reshape the country's rule of law — for the worse.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A look back: Mayor Patrick Cannon's path from scandal to second chances
Stories by Charlotte Observer journalists, with AI summarization Patrick Cannon's journey from disgrace to redemption stands out in Charlotte's political history. After his 2014 conviction for taking bribes from undercover FBI agents and serving time in federal prison, Cannon acknowledged his wrongdoing on his radio show, "At the Table with Cannon." He used this platform to publicly apologize and reconnect with the community. Cannon's return to public life included advising aspiring politicians at forums and voicing support for colleagues' campaigns. Ultimately, he filed to run for City Council, telling voters he takes responsibility for his actions and wants a second chance to serve Charlotte. His campaign raises questions about trust, forgiveness, and the challenges of earning redemption in public service. On Wednesday, Patrick Cannon is scheduled to become a free man. | Published January 24, 2017 | Read Full Story Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon has a new talk-show job. | Published April 12, 2017 | Read Full Story Former Charlotte mayor Patrick Cannon apologized profusely on his new radio show for taking the bribes that sent him to federal 50, was arrested in March 2014, four months into his term, and later pleaded guilty to taking about $50,000 in bribes from federal undercover officers. | Published April 17, 2017 | Read Full Story Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, in his first public appearance since being released from federal prison on corruption charges, said Saturday he is focused on being the 'best father, husband and son he can be' – but didn't rule out running for office again.'Anything else is God's will,' Cannon a Democrat, was part of a forum held by the Black Political Caucus for people considering running for public office. | Published May 13, 2017 | Read Full Story Needing a voice over for a campaign radio ad, at-large City Council member Claire Fallon turned to an old colleague: | Published September 14, 2017 | Read Full Story by Steve Harrison When he was convicted, a judge foretold Patrick Cannon's name ought to 'fade into our distant memories' — but this election season may change that. | Published March 4, 2022 | Read Full Story by Will Wright The former mayor is returning to Charlotte politics with a bid for City Council. | Published March 4, 2022 | Read Full Story by Anna Douglas The disgraced former mayor is hoping to make a political comeback. | Editorial | Published March 14, 2022 | Read Full Story by the Editorial Board Patrick Cannon's comments came during a forum with other candidates running for City Council. | Published April 2, 2022 | Read Full Story by Will Wright Find out who's on the ballot and what they stand for. This Q&A is one in a series for The Charlotte Observer's voter guide to 2022 local, county and state elections. | Published April 22, 2022 | Read Full Story The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bruce Springsteen's European tour comes with a warning about the battle for America's soul
They know all about glory days on the Kop – the fabled terrace that is the spiritual home of fans of Liverpool – England's Premier League champions. But they're more used to legends like Kenny Dalglish or Mohamed Salah banging in goals than political cries for help. So, it was surreal to watch alongside thousands of middle-aged Brits as Bruce Springsteen bemoaned America's democracy crisis on hallowed footballing ground. 'The America that I love … a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous' administration, Springsteen said at Anfield Stadium on Wednesday night. The Boss's latest warnings of authoritarianism on his European tour were impassioned and drew large cheers. But they did seem to go over the heads of some fans who don't live in the whirl of tension constantly rattling America's national psyche. Liverpudlians waited for decades for Springsteen to play the hometown of The Beatles, whose 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' set his life's course when he heard it on the radio as a youngster in New Jersey. Most had a H-H-H-Hungry heart for a party. They got a hell of a show. But also, a lesson on US civics. 'Tonight, we ask all of you who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices, stand with us against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!' Springsteen said. His European odyssey is unfolding as Western democracies are being shaken again by right-wing populism. So, his determination to engage with searing commentary therefore raises several questions. What is the role of artists in what Springsteen calls 'dangerous times?' Can they make a difference, or should stars of entertainment and sports avoid politics and stick to what they know? Fox News polemicist Laura Ingraham once told basketball icon LeBron James, for instance, that he should just 'shut up and dribble.' Springsteen's gritty paeans to steel towns and down-on-their-luck cities made him a working-class balladeer. But as blue-collar voters stampede to the right, does he really speak for them now? Then there's this issue that Springsteen emphatically tried to answer in Liverpool this week: Does the rough but noble America he's been mythologizing for 50 years even exist anymore? Trump certainly wants to bring the arts to heel – given his social media threats to 'highly overrated' Springsteen, Taylor Swift and other superstars and his takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Any center of liberal and free thought from pop music to Ivy League universities is vulnerable to authoritarian impulses. But it's also true that celebrities often bore with their trendy political views, especially preaching at Hollywood awards ceremonies. Springsteen, however, has been penning social commentary for decades. And what's the point of rock 'n' roll if not rebellion? Rockers usually revolt in their wild-haired youth, rather than in their mid-70s, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Oddly, given their transatlantic dialogue of recent weeks, Trump and Springsteen mine the same political terrain – globalization's economic and spiritual hollowing of industrial heartlands. 'Now Main Street's whitewashed windows, And vacant stores, Seems like there ain't nobody, Wants to come down here no more,' Springsteen sang in 1984 in 'My Hometown' long before Trump set his sights on the Oval Office. The White House sometimes hits similar notes, though neither the Boss nor Trump would welcome the comparison. 'The main street in my small town, looks a heck of a lot worse than it probably did decades ago before I was alive,' Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said rather less poetically in March. Political fault lines are also shifting. In the US and Europe, the working class is rejecting the politics of hope and optimism in dark times. And the Democratic politicians that Springsteen supported – like defeated 2004 nominee John Kerry, who borrowed Springsteen's 'No Surrender' as his campaign anthem, and former President Barack Obama – failed to mend industrial blight that acted as a catalyst to Trumpism. There are warning signs in England too. The Boss's UK tours often coincided with political hinge moments. In the 1970s he found synergy with the smoky industrial cities of the North. In his 'Born in the USA' period, he sided with miners clashing with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A new BBC documentary revealed this week he gave $20,000 in the 1980s to a strikers' support group. Liverpool, a soulful, earthy city right out of the Springsteen oeuvre is a longtime Labour Party heartland. But in a recent by-election, Nigel Farage's populist, pro-Trump, Reform Party overturned a Labour majority of nearly 15,000 in Runcorn, a decayed industrial town, 15 miles upstream from Liverpool on the River Mersey. This stunner showed Labour's working class 'red wall' is in deep peril and could follow US states like Ohio in shifting to the right as workers reject progressives. Labour Cabinet Minister Lisa Nandy, whose Wigan constituency is nearby, warned in an interview with the New Statesman magazine this month that political tensions were reaching a breaking point in the North. 'People have watched their town centers falling apart, their life has got harder over the last decade and a half … I don't remember a time when people worked this hard and had so little to show for it,' Nandy said, painting a picture that will be familiar to many Americans. In another sign of a seismic shift in British politics last week, Reform came a close third in an unprecedented result in a parliamentary by-election in a one-time industrial heartland outside Glasgow. Scotland has so far been immune to the populist wave – but the times are changing. Still, there's not much evidence Trump or his populist cousins in the UK will meaningfully solve heartland pain. They've always been better at exploiting vulnerability than fixing it. And Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' would hurt the poor by cutting access to Medicaid and nutrition help while handing the wealthy big tax cuts. 'When conditions in a country are ripe for a demagogue, you can bet one will show up,' Springsteen told the crowd in Liverpool, introducing 'Rainmaker' a song about a conman who tells drought-afflicted farmers that 'white's black and black is white.' As the E Street Band struck up, Springsteen said: 'This is for America's dear leader.' Springsteen has his 'Land of Hope and Dreams.' But Trump has his new 'Golden Age.' He claims he can 'Make America Great Again' by attacking perceived bastions of liberal power like elite universities and the press, with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and by challenging due process. Springsteen implicitly rejected this as un-American while in Liverpool, infusing extra meaning into the lyrics of 'Long Walk Home,' a song that predates Trump's first election win by a decade: 'Your flag flyin' over the courthouse, Means certain things are set in stone. Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't.' Sending fans into a cool summer night, the Boss pleaded with them not to give up on his country. 'The America I've sung to you about for 50 years now is real, and regardless of its many faults, is a great country with a great people and we will survive this moment,' he said. But his fight with Trump for America's soul will go on. The contrast would be driven home more sharply to Americans if he tours on US soil at this, the most overtly politicized phase of a half-century-long career. Perhaps in America's 250th birthday year in 2026?
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sunday shows preview: Trump-Musk spat leaves admin reeling; ‘Big, beautiful bill' hits speed bump
President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk's feud spilled out in public on Thursday, with the world's richest man and the world's most powerful leader trading barbs that engulfed news cycles in Washington and abroad. Musk, a Trump ally, was vocal about his disappointment with Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' currently sitting in the Senate. Musk, who spent millions during the 2024 presidential campaign to help elect Trump, called the massive piece of legislation a 'disgusting abomination.' Trump then weighed in on Thursday at the White House during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's visit, saying, 'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore.' The spat intensified, with Musk floating the prospects of creating a third party, claiming that without his political contributions, Trump would not be victorious against ex-Vice President Harris in November and accusing the president of having ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump threatened to cut off federal contracts awarded to Musk's companies. Later on Thursday, Musk signaled he might be open to brokering a truce with the commander-in-chief. After speaking with several news outlets Friday morning, Trump suggested he is ready to move on and indicated that he will not be speaking with Musk for a while. Trump told CNN Friday morning that he is 'not even thinking about Elon' and added that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has 'got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem.' In the Senate, Trump's agenda bill, which passed the House chamber last month, has sparked concerns and criticism from GOP senators. The first group of GOP Sens., which consists of Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), are arguing they could vote against the bill if it slashes Medicaid benefits. Others, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have previously said they would not back the legislation if it retains the current debt and spending levels. The GOP can have three defections total if all Democrats vote against the legislation. Sen. Johnson will be on CNN's 'State of the Union where he will likely discuss if any of his concerns regarding the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' have been addressed. As part of a push to root out waste, fraud and abuse within Medicare, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said this week that a bill sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), that would crack down on Medicare Advantage overpayments known as 'upcoding,' could be inserted into Trump's massive legislation. Cassidy will be on NewsNation's 'The Hill Sunday,' where he will likely discuss the latest on the reconciliation package along with his recent visit to the White House. NewsNation's 'The Hill Sunday': Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.); Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Ma); U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief policy officer Neil Bradley. ABC's 'This Week': Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). NBC's 'Meet the Press': Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). CNN's 'State of the Union': 'Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.); Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.). CBS' 'Face the Nation': National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas); Save the Children U.S. President and CEO Janti Soeripto. 'Fox News Sunday': Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought; Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.); Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures': White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt; Secretary Of Interior Doug Burgum, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.); House Ways And Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.); Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.