First Thing: US pro-birth conference’s links to far-right eugenicists revealed

Natal conference, to be held in Austin in December, promoted on far-right podcast circuit and set to host self-described eugenicists. Plus, The age problem neither US political party wants to talk about

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A high-end hotel in the liberal Texan enclave of Austin is playing host to a conference whose theme is boosting global birth rates, but which will in fact feature racist and eugenicist internet personalities and far-right media figures.

The Natal conference – whose website warns that “by the end of the century, nearly every country on earth will have a shrinking population, and economic systems dependent on reliable growth will collapse” – is scheduled to be held on 1 December at the Line hotel.

Natal’s website claim the conference has “has no political or ideological goal other than a world in which our children can have grandchildren”, but the Guardian can reveal its organizer, Kevin Dolan, has been promoting the event on the far-right podcast circuit, and has explicitly linked the conference’s “pro-natalist” orientation to eugenics.

Dolan was at one time a social media influencer connected to the far-right Mormon “Deznat” or “Deseret nationalist” subculture and has himself linked the conference’s theme with eugenics in interviews.

What is eugenics? Broadly, eugenics is a group of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of a human population. It became the basis of a popular movement from the late 19th century, and led to governments around the world adopting policies such as forced sterilization of disabled and mentally ill people. The field was discredited after the second world war due to its association with racial policies in Nazi Germany, and many critics have attacked it as a pseudoscience.

Thousands donate to save Florida abortion clinic amid crippling state fines

Just a few weeks ago, one of the few abortion clinics left in Orlando, Florida, looked like it would have to close its doors. A government agency had ordered it to pay $193,000 in fines – enough to potentially bankrupt the clinic.

But supporters of the clinic, the Center of Orlando for Women, had an idea: they would crowdfund the money to keep it open. Within days, they succeeded. As of Friday, the fundraiser had amassed more than $199,000 from roughly 5,500 donors. Many of the donations were less than $50.

“I’ll never forget how those protesters traumatized me as a scared teen making the hardest decision of my life,” wrote one donor who gave $5. “I one day hope to go back there and support women the way you do.”

Had the Center of Orlando for Women gone dark, abortion patients across the south would have been affected. Because Florida is one of the few southern states that still permits abortion, it had a greater increase in the number of patients seeking the procedure than any other state in the country after Roe v Wade collapsed last year, according to researchers from the Society of Family Planning.

What does the future look like for the center? The future of the procedure in the state is decidedly uncertain. Although Florida already bans abortion past 15 weeks of pregnancy, Ron DeSantis, the governor, signed a six-week abortion ban into law earlier this year. (It is on hold pending a review by the state’s supreme court of the 15-week ban.)

Officials investigate death at Burning Man as thousands stranded by floods

More than 70,000 attendees of the annual Burning Man festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada are stranded as the festival comes to a close today due to heavy rains that have cut off access to the site.

Attendees have been ordered to shelter in place and to conserve food, water and fuel, although no shortages have been reported. A death that occurred at the festival is under investigation, but no details have been released, including the identity of the deceased or the suspected cause of death.

All traffic apart from emergency vehicles in and out of the festival site has been halted. More rain is forecast at the festival site on Sunday afternoon. Local officials said some attendees have been walking out of the site, but conditions remain too wet and muddy for vehicles to get out and could trap many attendees at the site for days.

“We do not currently have an estimated time for the roads to be dry enough for RVs or vehicles to navigate safely. Monday late in the day would be possible if weather conditions are in our favor. We will let you know. It could be sooner, and it could be later,” said an update on the Burning Man website on Saturday evening.

Why else has the festival been in the news? The festival drew headlines from the start when climate activists attempted to blockade attendees from the festival site, blocking traffic for about an hour and clashing with attendees and local police in protest of the carbon footprint of the festival. Rumors have also swirled around this year’s festival, including false rumors of an Ebola outbreak fueled by false social media posts about an evacuation due to a suspicious package at LAX airport in Los Angeles.

In other news …

Russia has launched its second attack in two nights on Ukrainian ports, with Ukrainian officials warning residents of Izmail to remain in shelters in the early hours today. Oleg Kiper, the governor of Odesa, said Moscow launched an almost two-hour drone attack on the city.

A judge in Florida has ruled in favor of voting rights groups that filed a lawsuit against a congressional redistricting map approved by Ron DeSantis in 2022. Voting rights groups had criticized the map for diluting political power in Black communities.

Algeria’s defence ministry has said its coastguard fired warning shots before firing directly at a man on a jetski who entered Algerian waters, in an incident that a survivor said left two dead. The incident took place on Tuesday after five men strayed into Algerian waters on jetskis near the Moroccan coastal resort of Saïdia on Algeria’s border.

Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said he believes there is a “powerful argument” to be made that Donald Trump can be disqualified from running in the 2024 presidential elections under the 14th amendment. Kaine says the clause on ‘insurrection against the constitution’ could preclude the ex-president from running in next year’s election.

Stat of the day: Native tribe to get back land 160 years after largest mass hanging in US history

Golden prairies and winding rivers of a Minnesota state park also hold the secret burial sites of Dakota people who died as the US failed to fulfill treaties with Native Americans more than a century ago. Now their descendants are getting the land back. The state is taking the rare step of transferring the park with a fraught history back to a Dakota tribe, trying to make amends for events that led to a war and the largest mass hanging in US history.

Decades of tension exploded into the US-Dakota war of 1862 between settler-colonists and a faction of Dakota people, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. After the US won the war, the government hanged more people than in any other execution in the country. A memorial honors the 38 Dakota men killed in Mankato, 110 miles (177km) from the park.

Don’t miss this: Too old to govern? The age problem neither US party wants to talk about

The question was simple: what are your thoughts about running for re-election in 2026? “Oh,” said Mitch McConnell with a half-chuckle, a mumble and then: silence. The most powerful Republican in the US Senate stared into space and said nothing for more than 30 seconds. It was the second time in little more than a month that 81-year-old McConnell had frozen while speaking to reporters. But there were few voices in the Democratic party calling on him to step down. The question of age is one that both party establishments in America have cause to avoid, writes David Smith.

The Democrat Joe Biden, 80, is the oldest president in American history. The Republican Donald Trump, 77, is the second oldest and current frontrunner for the party nomination in 2024. The Senate, whose average age is 64, has one of the oldest memberships of any parliamentary body in the world. It is small wonder that dealing with America’s drift into gerontocracy is not top of its agenda.

… Or this: Lonely in LA, I made a remarkable friendship with my older neighbour

If friendships are the real love stories of our lives, I can pinpoint the moment I knew Claudia was the one, writes Martha Hayes. It was the Saturday night I stood on her doorstep in my pyjamas. I had locked myself out of my house, while collecting a food delivery from the gate, with my two-year-old daughter, Maggie, alone inside. Claudia, who lives opposite me in Los Angeles, was calm and collected and made the necessary phone calls to help track down a spare set of keys.

My husband and I were in our late 30s when we relocated to Los Angeles in 2019, following a job offer. My mother died in 2017, and I was grieving and mentally unsettled. As a freelance writer with no driving licence, living in a city where everybody drives, the odds of making friends were stacked against me. What was I looking for? What was it that I was really lacking? I didn’t know. Until I met Claudia who is 72 and my soulmate.

Climate check: Climate crisis poses greatest risk to people with respiratory illnesses, experts warn

The climate crisis may pose the greatest risks to people with respiratory illnesses, with high temperatures and changing weather patterns exacerbating lung health problems, experts have said. Air pollution is estimated to have killed 6.7 million people globally in 2019, with greenhouse gases and air pollution sharing many of the same sources.

“Climate change affects everyone’s health, but arguably, respiratory patients are among the most vulnerable,” said Zorana Jovanovic Andersen, the author of the report. “These are people who already experience breathing difficulties and they are far more sensitive to our changing climate. Their symptoms will become worse, and for some this will be fatal.”

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