The Full Belmonte, 10/27/2022
The US military conducted a successful test launch of a rocket with components for hypersonic weapons on Wednesday.
“The US military will test launch a rocket today with experiments for hypersonic weapons development. This comes after the military completed a successful test launch Wednesday to collect information on components of hypersonic missiles, including heat-resistant materials and high-end electronics. The Pentagon has made the development of hypersonic weapons one of its top priorities after China conducted successful hypersonic launches last year and Russia has begun using hypersonic missiles in its war on Ukraine. Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds greater than Mach 5, or approximately 4,000 mph, making them difficult to detect and intercept in time. The missiles can also maneuver and vary altitude, allowing them to evade missile defense systems. Separately, Biden administration officials on Wednesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been warned of the ‘potential for dire consequences’ if Moscow uses a nuclear weapon to attack Ukraine.” Read more at CNN
Meadows Ordered to Testify in Georgia Election Investigation
Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff, has been fighting to avoid testifying about efforts to keep former President Donald J. Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.
By Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim
Published Oct. 26, 2022Updated Oct. 27, 2022, 12:50 a.m. ET
“PICKENS, S.C. — Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff who was deeply involved in efforts to keep former President Donald J. Trump in power after the 2020 election, was ordered by a South Carolina judge on Wednesday to travel to Atlanta to testify in a criminal investigation into election meddling.
Mr. Meadows, 63, has been fighting to avoid appearing before a special grand jury that has been investigating election interference in Georgia by Mr. Trump and his allies. The inquiry is being led by Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga.
Mr. Meadows’s lawyer, James Bannister, said he would appeal the decision. A subsequent statement from the lawyer’s spokesman said that Mr. Meadows was ‘weighing all legal options’ while awaiting the judge’s final written order.
Mr. Bannister is employing a legal strategy that has been used in Texas, the home of three witnesses who were summoned by Fulton County but have not appeared. After a legal challenge by one of the witnesses, a majority of judges on Texas’ Court of Criminal Appeals expressed the view that the Georgia grand jury was not a proper criminal grand jury because it lacked indictment authority, and thus probably lacked standing to compel the appearance of witnesses from Texas.” Read more at New York Times
Campaign Office of Arizona Governor Candidate Katie Hobbs Is Burglarized
Phoenix police said items had been taken, but would not identify what they were, citing an active investigation.
“As a combative Arizona governor’s race ticked down toward Election Day, the Phoenix police said Wednesday that they were investigating a burglary at the campaign headquarters of the Democratic candidate, Katie Hobbs.
Phoenix police officers responded to a burglary call on Tuesday afternoon, said Sgt. Phil Krynsky, a spokesman for the department. Items were taken from the property, he said, but he declined to specify what they were, citing an active investigation.
No suspect had been identified as of Wednesday night, and detectives were checking security footage, Sergeant Krynsky said.
Ms. Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, and the Republican candidate, Kari Lake, a conservative former TV news anchor, are in the final weeks of a tight contest for Arizona governor.” Read more at New York Times
Jury Convicts Men of Supporting Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor
The trial in state court followed mixed results in federal court for others accused of scheming to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The defendants were accused of helping Adam Fox, who was convicted in federal court of conspiring to kidnap the governor, whose Covid-19 restrictions the men considered tyrannical.Credit...Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
CHICAGO — Jurors in Michigan convicted three men on Wednesday of aiding a plot to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor in 2020, a case that grew out of a sprawling domestic terrorism investigation that revealed incendiary rhetoric and an openness to political violence on the far right.
The men on trial in state court — Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico — were accused of helping Adam Fox, who was convicted in federal court of conspiring to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whose Covid-19 restrictions the men considered tyrannical.
‘Their gang was organized, their gang was mobilizing, and their gang was training for action,’ Sunita Doddamani, an assistant attorney general in Michigan, told jurors during closing arguments.
The trial in circuit court in Jackson County, a conservative area west of Detroit, played out amid a tense election season in Michigan, a sharply divided state where elections are usually tight. Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, a fellow Democrat whose office prosecuted the case, are seeking re-election next month.” Read more at New York Times
Unnamed Woman Says Walker Pressured and Paid for Her to Have Abortion in ’93
The woman delivered her story anonymously in a news conference with Gloria Allred, the celebrity lawyer. The New York Times could not confirm the account.
By Jonathan Weisman and Maya King
Oct. 26, 2022
“A woman who did not identify herself said on Wednesday that Herschel Walker pressured her to have an abortion and paid for the procedure nearly three decades ago after a yearslong extramarital relationship. A former football star, Mr. Walker is running for the Senate in Georgia as an abortion opponent.
The New York Times could not confirm the account, interview the woman or inspect the evidence that Gloria Allred, the celebrity lawyer, asserted was proof that the woman had a relationship with Mr. Walker.
The woman told her story at a news conference with Ms. Allred, but did not appear on camera. Neither she nor Ms. Allred offered any evidence to back up the woman’s accusation that Mr. Walker, a Republican, had urged her to end her pregnancy even after she initially left an abortion clinic without going through with the procedure.
The evidence provided included a taped message from a man Ms. Allred said was Mr. Walker calling from the Winter Olympics of 1992, where Mr. Walker competed in bobsled; a number of greeting cards signed “H”; and a blurry photo of a man who Ms. Allred said was Mr. Walker in a hotel room in Mankato, Minn. She also showed what she said was a receipt for that hotel, a Holiday Inn in the city where the Minnesota Vikings, Mr. Walker’s professional football team at the time, practiced.” Read more at New York Times
Election Day is Nov. 8, but legal challenges already begin
By COLLEEN LONG
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day is 12 days away. But in courtrooms across the country, efforts to sow doubt over the outcome have already begun.
More than 100 lawsuits have been filed this year around the upcoming midterm elections. The suits, largely by Republicans, target rules over mail-in voting, early voting, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, the counting of mismarked absentee ballots and access for partisan poll watchers.
It’s the most litigation ever before an election and it’s likely a preview of a potentially contentious post-election landscape. The strategy was born in part of the failure of allies of former President Donald Trump to successfully challenge and overturn the free and fair results of the 2020 presidential election.
But while the 2020 election effort was an ad hoc response fronted by a collection of increasingly ill-prepared lawyers that included Rudy Giuliani, today’s effort is a more formalized, well-funded and well-organized campaign run by the Republican National Committee and other legal allies with strong bona fides. Party officials say they are actively preparing for recounts, contested elections and more litigation. And there are thousands of volunteers in place primed to challenge ballots and hunt down evidence of malfeasance.
‘We’re now at the point where charges of fraud and suppression are baked into the turnout models for each party. Republicans charge fraud. Democrats charge suppression. Each side amplifies its position with massive and costly amounts of litigation and messaging,’ said Benjamin Ginsberg, co-chair of the Election Official Legal Defense Network and former counsel to the George W. Bush campaign and other Republican candidates.
Democrats, too, have similar efforts underway. But their legal effort ahead of the election focuses on making voting easier and helping those denied a chance to vote, through legal hotlines and volunteers. A team led by attorney Marc Elias and his firm is litigating roughly 40 cases in 19 states, some in which they have intervened in Republican-led lawsuits.
Elias said he’s bracing for a deluge of litigation challenging election results, particularly as some Republican candidates have already said they will not accept a loss or have planted doubt on the election process despite no evidence of fraud.” Read more at AP News
Meta fined $24.7M for campaign finance disclosure violations
By GENE JOHNSON
FILE - The Facebook logo is seen on a cell phone on Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. A Washington state judge on Wednesday, Oct. 26, fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
“SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state judge on Wednesday fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in U.S. history.
The penalty issued by King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North was the maximum allowed for more than 800 violations of Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, passed by voters in 1972 and later strengthened by the Legislature. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that the maximum was appropriate considering his office previously sued Facebook in 2018 for violating the same law.
Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Washington’s transparency law requires ad sellers such as Meta to keep and make public the names and addresses of those who buy political ads, the target of such ads, how the ads were paid for and the total number of views of each ad. Ad sellers must provide the information to anyone who asks for it. Television stations and newspapers have complied with the law for decades.” Read more at AP News
Ye kicked out of Skechers’ headquarters in California
“MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The rapper formerly known as Kanye West was escorted out of the California-based headquarters of athletic shoemaker Skechers after he showed up unannounced Wednesday, a day after Adidas ended its partnership with the artist following his antisemitic remarks.
The Grammy winner, who legally changed his name to Ye, ‘arrived unannounced and without invitation’ at Skechers corporate headquarters in Manhattan Beach, southwest of Los Angeles, the company said.
‘Considering Ye was engaged in unauthorized filming, two Skechers executives escorted him and his party from the building after a brief conversation,’ according to a company statement.
‘Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,’ the company said. ‘We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.’
The rapper’s Instagram account — which had been suspended over antisemitic comments — resumed posting Tuesday night. A new message showing a screen grab of a text message that appeared to be from a contact at a high-profile law firm spelled out when Ye could resume making apparel and new shoe designs.” Read more at AP News
Musk lugs sink into Twitter HQ as $44B deal deadline looms
By TOM KRISHER and MATT O'BRIEN
“Elon Musk, the billionaire poised to acquire Twitter later this week, strolled into the company’s headquarters Wednesday carrying a porcelain sink and tweeting ‘Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!’
Musk’s $44 billion deal to take Twitter private faces a Friday deadline, although the video he posted offered no evidence that the acquisition is complete. Twitter and Musk representatives had no comment on that question, although Twitter did confirm that Musk’s video tweet was real. Musk also changed his Twitter profile to refer to himself as ‘Chief Twit’ and his location to Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.
The splashy video — a vintage Musk production — also pulled the spotlight back to the world’s richest man and his on-again, off-again pursuit of the social platform.
The Friday deadline to consummate the deal was ordered by the Delaware Chancery Court in early October. It is the latest step in an epic battle during which Musk signed a deal to acquire Twitter, then tried to back out of it, leading Twitter to sue the Tesla CEO to force him to conclude the deal. If the two sides don’t meet the Friday deadline, the next step could be a November trial.” Read more at AP News
“Former President Donald Trump has announced a Florida rally that will prominently feature Sen. Marco Rubio -- but will notably exclude Gov. Ron DeSantis, even though he is currently running for reelection in the state. The rally comes as the relationship between Trump and DeSantis, once allies, has grown distant ahead of a possible presidential showdown in 2024. Trump is also annoyed that DeSantis has not said he wouldn't run in 2024 if the former President entered the race, one source said. Meanwhile, Trump has been accelerating his plans for another presidential bid with recent campaign stops in Nevada, Ohio, Arizona and Michigan. He is also spending the rest of 2022 preparing his political operation -- including assembling his campaign leadership, hatching plans for his remaining midterm rallies, and searching for a venue from which to launch his perceived political comeback.” Read more at CNN
Open letter to top publisher condemns $2m Amy Coney Barrett book deal
More than 250 literary figures rail against acquisition by Penguin Random House of book by conservative US supreme court justice
“Nearly 250 figures from the US literary world have signed an open letter protesting the acquisition by Penguin Random House of a book by the conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The hardline Catholic conservative was Donald Trump’s third appointee, her nomination rushed through by Senate Republicans after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal lion, shortly before the 2020 election.
Barrett’s book deal, reportedly worth $2m, was revealed the following year.
The open letter focuses on Barrett’s most consequential moment on the court, her membership in the 6-3 majority which this June removed the right to abortion.
The signatories say ‘it is imperative that publishers uphold their dedication to freedom of speech with a duty of care’.
But, they say, ‘we recognize that harm is done to a democracy not only in the form of censorship, but also in the form of assault on inalienable human rights. As such, we are calling on Penguin Random House to recognise its own history and corporate responsibility commitments by reevaluating its decision to move forward with publishing supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett’s forthcoming book.’
Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch also voted to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which made abortion legal. The open letter says the justices thereby ‘dismantl[ed] protections for the human rights to privacy, self-determination and bodily autonomy along with the federal right to an abortion in the United States.
… International human rights organisations widely recognise abortion access as a fundamental human right and have condemned the supreme court decision.
In fact, Human Rights Watch, founded by Random House’s second publisher, Robert L Bernstein … notes that ‘the human rights on which a right to abortion access is predicated are set out in the [United Nations’] Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, a document to which Penguin Random House parent company Bertelsmann commits itself in … its code of conduct.’
Barrett’s book will reportedly consider ‘how judges are not supposed to bring their personal feelings into how they rule’.
But Barrett is a member of People of Praise, a secretive Catholic group. The open letter accuses her of ‘inflicting her own religious and moral agenda upon all Americans while appropriating the rhetoric of even-handedness – and Penguin Random House has agreed to pay her a sum of $2m to do it.’” Read more at The Guardian
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
“The Commerce Department is expected to release a GDP report today that says the economy grew in July, August and September. But don't celebrate just yet. What seems to be an improvement is largely a result of fluctuations in inventories and international trade, which don't reflect the underlying health of the economy.
Infant formula production has rebounded since the panic-inducing shortage eight months ago. U.S. plants are making more of the stuff than ever, but uneven distribution and overbuying are still making it hard to find on shelves.” Read more at NPR
“Wednesday, a jury found the man who drove his SUV into a Waukesha Christmas parade in November 2021 guilty of six counts of intentional homicide and other charges.” Read more at CNN / Eric Levenson, Bill Kirkos, and Brad Parks
“The US has imposed a slew of new sanctions against Iranian officials involved in the ongoing crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran. The Biden administration's punitive measures on Iran come as the US and Europe work to counter Iran and Russia's growing cooperation on the war in Ukraine. Russian forces have in recent weeks pummeled Ukrainian cities with Iranian drones. State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said last week that the ‘deepening" of relations between Russia and Iran should be seen as "a profound threat.’ Separately, CNN has obtained exclusive visual evidence surrounding the death of Iranian teenager Nika Shahkarami, a 16-year-old protester who was found dead in Tehran last month. The Iranian government has said she died after falling from a building's roof, but videos and testimony are raising fresh questions about officials' claims.” Read more at CNN
Putin oversees training for 'massive nuclear strike'
“Russian forces conducted a successful training exercise Wednesday aimed at delivering a ‘massive nuclear strike’ in response to a potential nuclear attack on the country, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. The exercise, overseen by President Vladimir Putin, involved mobile ground-based missile systems and the strategic missile submarine Tula of Russia's Northern Fleet. The Kremlin said in a statement that all the test-fired missiles reached their targets. Meanwhile, the Kremlin acknowledged Wednesday a large number of Russia's new draftees have not being properly equipped for combat.” Read more at USA Today
A photograph taken on October 24, 2022 shows a poster displaying a Russian soldier with a slogan reading 'Glory to the Heroes of Russia' decorating a street in Moscow on October 24, 2022.YURI KADOBNOV, AFP via Getty Images
“Mosque attack | At least 15 people were killed and 21 wounded when gunmen attacked a mosque in Iran’s southern city of Shiraz last night, state media reported, calling it a ‘terrorist act.’ Two of the three assailants have been arrested, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. It’s unclear whether the assault is linked to nationwide anti-government protests that started almost six weeks ago.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Court clash | President Jair Bolsonaro ratcheted up attacks on the head of Brazil’s electoral authority after it denied his request to investigate radio stations for allegedly giving preference to his opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The latest row between the conservative president and Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who heads a probe of disinformation, centers on air time for campaign propaganda.
Bolsonaro is on the defensive after recent campaign blunders and a violent showdown between police and one of his most vocal supporters gave ammunition to Lula ahead of a tight runoff presidential election on Sunday.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Crude adjustment | US officials are scaling back a plan to cap Russian oil prices and cut the Kremlin’s revenues, amid growing risk in financial markets. Instead of a strict limit observed by a broad ‘buyer’s cartel’ of nations, the US and the European Union are likely to settle for a more loosely policed cap at a higher price than once envisioned, sources say.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heralds a tipping point for global energy markets that will shrink Moscow’s influence and hasten the transition to renewables, the International Energy Agency said.
Ksenia Sobchak, the socialite-TV presenter daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s political mentor, fled Russia for Europe as police detained an associate and raided her home as part of a criminal case for alleged extortion.
Russian Lawmakers Vote to Tighten Ban on ‘Gay Propaganda’
Duma votes to extend 2013 law on minors to include adults
Law on ‘non-traditional’ relations targets books, films, media
“Russian lawmakers approved a sweeping expansion of a ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,” broadening the restrictions to include adults and outlawing the portrayal of gay relationships in books, films, the media and the internet.
‘We must do everything to protect our children and those who want to live a normal life,’ Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, said of the bill that passed unanimously its first reading Thursday. ‘Everything else is sin, sodomy, darkness, and our country is fighting against this.’
The legislation expands Russia’s 2013 law that banned the promotion of homosexuality to children to cover adults as well. It proposes fines of as much as 800,000 rubles ($13,000) for individuals who break the ban and 5 million rubles for organizations, which would also face suspension of their activities for as long as 90 days. Foreigners breaching the law would be deported.
Portrayal of gay relationships in literature, media, online and in films and advertising will be covered by the ban, according to the Duma’s website. Information deemed to encourage children to change their gender would also be outlawed and subject to fines.
The Kremlin has stepped up its public embrace of what it calls ‘traditional values’ in the months since its invasion of Ukraine, a conflict it portrays as a showdown with what it describes as western attitudes alien to Russia.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Cable ties | Surging tensions with China have led Taiwan to boost its military defenses, and it’s heeding the lessons of the war in Ukraine to address the fragile undersea infrastructure that connects the island to the internet. Taiwan’s subsea cables stretch thousands of miles and link Asian nations including China to the US and other parts of the world. That’s a vulnerability Taipei, seeing any interruption as potentially destabilizing, wants to minimize.” Read more at Bloomberg
Somalia Faces Looming Famine
“Somalia could soon face a disastrous famine, the United Nations has warned, as the impacts of four failed rainy seasons and price shocks converge and fuel widespread food insecurity.
As the region suffers under its most acute drought in four decades, as many as 6.7 million people—or 40 percent of Somalis—will require food assistance to stave off hunger over the next few months, according to the United Nations.
The current situation is so dire that the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that a child has been sent to a hospital over malnutrition once every minute since August. Hunger has already killed thousands, and over 1 million more have been displaced as the drought kills livestock and decimates crops.
‘Things are bad and every sign indicates that they are going to get worse,’ UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters. ‘Without greater action and investment, we are facing the death of children on a scale not seen in half a century.’
The last time that famine struck the country was in 2011, when three failed rainy seasons fueled a devastating drought that killed an estimated 260,000 million people, half of whom were children under five.
But aid agencies warn that the ongoing combination of consecutive failed rainy seasons, climate change—which intensifies the impacts of drought—and a sharp surge in global food and fuel prices could create a situation that has even more catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
Nearly 1 million people who have been impacted by the drought—and are likely food insecure—also live in regions held by the militant group al-Shabab, making humanitarian access more challenging.
‘The predictions are this would be worse than the 2011 famine where a quarter of a million people died,’ Abby Maxman, the President of Oxfam America, told Foreign Policy. ‘So it is huge, and the suffering is preventable.’
Somalia’s experiences fit into a broader picture across East Africa, with Kenya and Ethiopia also confronting high levels of food insecurity. According to Oxfam, as many as 10.7 million people in the region are currently confronting acute hunger.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Top U.K. diplomat tells LGBT World Cup fans to ‘be respectful’ in Qatar
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Wednesday that LGBT fans should ‘be respectful’ and show ‘flex and compromise’ in Qatar for the upcoming men’s soccer World Cup, prompting sharp criticism from U.K. media, lawmakers and the prime minister’s office.
Cleverly, speaking on the talk radio station LBC, said Qatar was making ‘some compromises in terms of what is, you know, an Islamic country with a very different set of cultural norms to our own.’ In turn, he said, fans should ‘be respectful of the host nation — they will, they are trying to ensure that people can be themselves and enjoy the football.’
‘I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe, secure and exciting World Cup,’ he added.
Critics said Cleverly, a member of the center-right Conservatives and a supporter of same-sex marriage rights, was essentially asking LGBT fans to hide their identities in a country where homosexuality is a crime. Consensual sex between men is prohibited under Qatari law, which doesn’t explicitly ban sex between women, according to the U.S. State Department. Sex between men carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison.
Gary Lineker, a British former national soccer player, tweeted: ‘Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message?’” Read more at Washington Post
Python swallows woman at plantation in Indonesia
Body of 54-year-old worker found in stomach of 7-metre snake on island of Sumatra
“A woman was found dead in the stomach of a 7-metre python at a rubber plantation where she worked in Indonesia, according to local reports.
The woman, identified as Jahrah, 54, went to work on the plantation in Jambi province, on the island of Sumatra, on Sunday morning and her husband reported her missing when she did not return home that evening.
Searching for her on Sunday night, her husband discovered her sandals, headscarf, jacket and the tools she used at work, and called for others to help, police told local media. The following morning, a python was spotted nearby.” Read more at The Guardian
Italy’s fascist past under scrutiny a century after putsch
By COLLEEN BARRY
“MILAN (AP) — Never has Italy’s failure to come to terms with its fascist past been more evident as it marks the 100th anniversary Friday of the March on Rome that brought totalitarian dictator Benito Mussolini to power, a date that has only gained more scrutiny as the first postwar government led by a far-right party with a neo-fascist past takes office.
The symbolism looks troubling: Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party controversially retains the emblem of a flame used by the fascists; her party’s co-founder, Ignazio La Russa, whose middle name is Benito and whose home office is awash in fascist memorabilia, is the elected speaker of Parliament’s upper house.
Meloni has tried to distance Brothers of Italy from its neo-fascist roots. She made her clearest statement yet this week during a speech to Italy’s lower house ahead of confidence votes confirming her government.
‘I have never felt sympathy or closeness to undemocratic regimes, fascism included, as I have always considered the racial laws of 1938 the lowest point in Italian history, a shame that will mark our people forever,’ Meloni told the lower house of parliament Wednesday, decrying Mussolini’s laws that persecuted Italy’s Jewish community.
The question remains, however, whether the moderate voice she has recently adopted will persevere, and how that will be tolerated by the nostalgic wing in her party that represents a core 4% of her support.
Already, the National Association of Italian Partisans, or ANPI, which preserves the memory of the wartime resistance against fascism, has noted some signs of an emboldened far-right in regions governed by the Brothers of Italy. For example, the governor of the central Marche region has cut off funding to maintain brass-plated Stumbling Stones engraved with the names and dates of Holocaust victims outside their prewar homes, ANPI national president Gianfranco Pagliarulo said. He added that social media attacks against his organization have grown more virulent than ever.
‘This is a disturbing signal,’ Pagliarulo said. ‘It is evident that the victory of the nationalist right will lead to a resurgence of neo-fascist provocative attitudes ... We are not worried because we will fight with political weapons, and if necessary, with legal weapons.’
On Friday, ANPI will hold a demonstration in the northern town of Predappio, where Mussolini is buried, to mark the town’s liberation from fascism on Oct. 28, 1944. The date was deliberately chosen by the partisan liberators to eclipse the memory of the March on Rome.
It conveniently also prevents fascist nostalgics from commemorating the March on Rome that day. Their event is scheduled for Sunday, the final day of Mussolini’s historic March on Rome, and one of three commemorations held by neo-fascists in Predappio each year. The others mark the day of Mussolini’s birth, July 29, 1883, in a house not far from the cemetery with his crypt, and April 28, 1944, the day he was killed by partisans in Milan.
‘The March on Rome is the founding myth of fascist Italy, and for us it is a negative myth, as the origin of a disaster that led Italy into many wars, most catastrophically World War II,’ Pagliarulo said. ‘We must combat the positive myth of the March on Rome and sustain this day as the start of the darkest period in modern Italian history.’” Read more at AP News
More Americans die younger in states with conservative policies, study finds
“The United States has a working-age mortality problem: Americans die younger than people in most other high-income countries.
While many blame drug overdoses, rising suicide rates and bad health habits, a new study suggests policymakers may play a bigger role than previously thought.
Researchers looked at policies relating to criminal justice, marijuana, the environment, gun safety, health and welfare, private labor, economic taxes, and tobacco taxes, and scored them on a 0-to-1 continuum, where the maximum conservative score is zero and the maximum liberal score is one.
They merged that information with mortality data spanning from 1999 to 2019, and found liberal policies were associated with lower deaths among people aged 25 to 64, according to the study published Wednesday in PLOS ONE.
The analysis revealed changing state policies to fully liberal could have saved more than 171,000 lives in 2019, while changing them to fully conservative may have cost over 217,000 lives.” Read more at USA Today
“A diver has found more human remains in Lake Mead, marking at least the sixth such discovery this year. The National Park Service confirmed the ‘finding of human skeletal remains’ after the diver discovered what appeared to be a human bone on October 17. This latest finding comes as the water level of the massive lake continues to drop due to a prolonged drought. Declining water levels at the lake have also uncovered relics including sunken boats, a World War II-era landing craft and ancient volcanic rock. Lake Mead, which straddles the Nevada-Arizona border, is the nation's largest reservoir and serves about 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico.” Read more at CNN
What to Watch
The clawback rule’s implementation has been delayed for years amid resistance from corporate executives.
PHOTO: ANDREW KELLY/REUTERS
A new SEC rule requires public companies with incorrect financial statements to recoup their executives’ bonuses and other incentive pay.
“The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act mandated the so-called clawback rule to discourage fraud and accounting mischief, but resistance from GOP lawmakers and corporate executives delayed it for years. The commissioners voted 3-2; all Democrats approved and all Republicans dissented.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Ford and Volkswagen, two of the world's largest automakers, are shutting down their joint effort to develop self-driving cars. Ford said Wednesday that it had concluded that the large-scale profitable commercialization of self-driving cars was further out than expected, and therefore would take a $2.7 billion hit to walk away from the startup Argo AI. The company said it is still ‘optimistic’ about a future for fully self-driving cars, but added that ‘profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off.’ Instead of having Argo develop self-driving car technology for cars without steering wheels, brakes or accelerator pedals, Ford said it will instead focus on simpler driver-assist technologies that have proven easier to develop and bring to market.” Read more at CNN
Coming insurance storm
Data: Kaiser Family Foundation. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals
“Employers face a brutal increase in health-insurance premiums for 2023, Axios' Arielle Dreher writes from a Kaiser Family Foundation report out this morning.
Why it matters: Premiums stayed relatively flat this year, even as wages and inflation surged. That reprieve was because many 2022 premiums were finalized last fall, before inflation took off.
‘Employers are already concerned about what they pay for health premiums,’ KFF president and CEO Drew Altman said.
‘[B]ut this could be the calm before the storm ... Given the tight labor market and rising wages, it will be tough for employers to shift costs onto workers when costs spike.’
What's happening: Nearly 159 million Americans get health coverage through work — and coverage costs and benefits have become a critical factor in a tight labor market.
Premiums have increased by 20% over the past five years, KFF says in its annual Employer Health Benefits Survey.
Between the lines: In the tight labor market, some employers absorbed rising costs of coverage instead of passing them on to workers.
An October survey of 1,200 small businesses found that nearly half had raised prices to offset rising costs of health care.
By the numbers: It cost an average of $22,463 to cover a family through employer-sponsored health insurance in 2022, KFF found.
Workers contributed an average of $6,106.” Read more at Axios
Hot job: Charger tech
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
“Electric-vehicle charging stations are popping up everywhere, sparking a growing demand for technicians trained to service them, Joann Muller reports in Axios What's Next.
Certified EV Supply Equipment technicians are among the many new kinds of jobs being created by the shift toward cleaner transportation.
Where it stands: About 48,000 public chargers currently dot the U.S., offering a range of power levels and speeds. That number will grow, in part thanks to a $5 billion federal program for building charging stations along the nation's highways.” Read more at Axios
8.
2 World Series stats
Umpires huddle at home plate before wild-card game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians, in Cleveland on Oct. 8. Photo: Sue Ogrocki/AP
“Ahead of tomorrow night's World Series Game 1 (Philly @ Houston, 8 p.m. ET on Fox), AP notes these two stats:
For the first time since 1950, shortly after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color barrier in 1947, not a single U.S.-born Black player is projected to play in this World Series. Black players made up 7.2% of this year's MLB opening day rosters — the lowest percentage in at least 30 years. Go deeper.
At 45.7 years old, the seven umpires average more than five years younger than World Series crews over the past decade. The most surprising factor: Younger umps tend to score more highly with ball-strike calls that follow MLB guidelines. With popularity rising for the robot umps being used in the minors, MLB wants to minimize complaints about bad calls. Go deeper.” Read more at Axios
Mike Davis, Who Wrote of Los Angeles and Catastrophe, Dies at 76
In ‘City of Quartz’ and other books, he predicted trouble ahead. Events often proved him right.
Oct. 26, 2022
“Mike Davis, an urban theorist and historian who in stark, sometimes prescient books wrote of catastrophes faced by and awaiting humankind, and especially Los Angeles, died on Tuesday at his home in San Diego. He was 76.
The cause was esophageal cancer, his daughter and literary agent Róisín Davis said.
Mr. Davis, an unabashed leftist who once organized antiwar rallies for Students for a Democratic Society and was arrested at several protests, garnered considerable attention with his second book, ‘City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles’ (1990), in which he wrote that Los Angeles ‘has come to play the double role of utopia and dystopia for advanced capitalism.’
That book examined the mythologies that had evolved about Los Angeles and Southern California, thanks to noir movies, surf culture and Hollywood, and contrasted those images with the harsh realities faced by thousands of Angelenos, especially members of minority groups.” Read more at New York Times