The Full Belmonte, 10/29/2022
Intruder attacks Pelosi’s husband, calling, ‘Where is Nancy’
By COLLEEN LONG, OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, LISA MASCARO and MICHAEL BALSAMO
“SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer by an assailant who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday, searching for the Democratic leader and shouting, ‘Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?’
The assault on the 82-year-old Paul Pelosi injected new uneasiness into the nation’s already toxic political climate, just 11 days before the midterm elections. It carried chilling echoes of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, when rioters chanted menacingly for the speaker as they rampaged through the halls trying to halt certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.
Speaker Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time of the California attack, arrived in San Francisco late Friday. Her motorcade was seen arriving at the hospital where her husband was being treated for his injuries.
‘This was not a random act. This was intentional. And it’s wrong,’ said San Francisco Police Chief William Scott.
At an evening news conference, Scott hailed a 911 dispatcher’s work — after Paul Pelosi called for help — as ‘lifesaving.’ The chief appeared to hold back tears, his voice breaking at times, as he strongly rejected violence in politics.
‘Our elected officials are here to do the business of their cities and their counties and their states. Their families don’t sign up for this,’ Scott said. ‘Everybody should be disgusted about what happened this morning.’
Forty-two-year-old David DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary, and remained in the hospital late Friday, police said. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, and his doctors expect a full recovery, the speaker’s office said.
Biden quickly called Speaker Pelosi with support and later delivered a full-throated condemnation of the ‘despicable’ attack that he said had no place in America.
‘There’s too much violence, political violence. Too much hatred. Too much vitriol,’ Biden said Friday night at a Democratic rally in Pennsylvania.
‘What makes us think it’s not going to corrode the political climate? Enough is enough is enough.’
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell tweeted he was ‘horrified and disgusted’ by the assault.
The nation’s political rhetoric has become increasingly alarming, with ominous threats to lawmakers at an all-time high. The House speaker and other congressional leaders are provided 24-hour security, and increasingly more other members now receive police protection. This, as crime and public safety have emerged as top issues for voters in the election.
In San Francisco on Friday, police were called at about 2.30 a.m. to the Pelosi residence to check on Paul Pelosi, said Scott.
Scott confirmed that the intruder gained entry through the rear door of the home, which is in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood. Investigators believe the intruder broke through glass-paneled doors, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Paul Pelosi called 911 himself after telling the intruder he had to use the restroom, where his phone was charging, according to another person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. The person said the intruder confronted the speaker’s husband shouting, ‘Where is Nancy?’
Scott said the dispatcher figured out there was ‘something more’ than she was being told, resulting in a priority dispatch and faster police response. ‘I think this was lifesaving,’ he noted.
Inside, police discovered the suspect, DePape, and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer, and told them to drop it, Scott said. DePape yanked the hammer from Pelosi and began beating him with it, striking at least one blow, before being tackled by officers and arrested, Scott said. The FBI and Capitol Police are also part of the joint investigation.
Police said a motive for Friday’s intrusion was still to be determined, but three people with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that DePape targeted Pelosi’s home. Those people were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing probe and spoke on condition of anonymity….
An address listed for DePape in the Bay Area college town of Berkeley led to a post box at a UPS Store.
He was known locally as a pro-nudity activist who had picketed naked at protests against laws requiring people to be clothed in public….
Lawmakers from both parties reacted with shock and expressed their well-wishes to the Pelosi family.
“What happened to Paul Pelosi was a dastardly act,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “I spoke with Speaker Pelosi earlier this morning and conveyed my deepest concern and heartfelt wishes to her husband and their family, and I wish him a speedy recovery.”
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy reached out privately to the speaker “to check in on Paul and said he’s praying for a full recovery,” spokesman Mark Bednar said.
But some Republicans declined to pause from politics.
Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin, at a campaign stop for a congressional candidate, said of the Pelosis, ‘There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re going to send her back to be with him in California.’
In 2021, Capitol Police investigated around 9,600 threats made against members of Congress, and several members have been physically attacked in recent years. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head at an event outside a Tucson grocery store in 2011, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was severely injured when a gunman opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball team practice in 2017.
Members of Congress have received additional money for security at their homes, but some have pushed for yet more protection as people have shown up at their residences.
Nancy Pelosi, who is second in line of succession to the president, has been viciously lampooned in campaign ads by Republicans and outside groups this election cycle. Her protective security detail was with her in Washington at the time of Friday’s attack in California.” Read more at AP News
“Musk's Twitter Roils With Hate Speech as Trolls Test New Limits
A tide of slurs and racist memes on the platform sparked concern the site is entering an era of hateful speech. Twitter has long wrestled with how to enforce content policies fairly. But as Musk, a self-styled ‘free speech absolutist,’ took over the company, some conservative officials, partisan extremists and conspiracy peddlers saw reason to celebrate the change.
Jillian Deutsch explains how Musk’s plans for Twitter might hit a major hurdle: the European Union.” Read more at Bloomberg
A screen grab of Musk carrying a sink as he enters the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. Source: AFP/Getty Images
US gathered intel on Oregon protesters, report shows
By ANDREW SELSKY
“SALEM, Ore. (AP) — U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials in the Trump administration compiled extensive intelligence dossiers on people who were arrested, even for minor offenses, during Black Lives Matter protests in Oregon.
Initial drafts of the dossiers even included friends of the subjects as well as their interests, but those were later removed and replaced with a note that they would be made available upon request, according to an internal review by the Department of Homeland Security.
The dossiers, known by agents as baseball cards, were previously normally compiled on non-U.S. citizens or only on Americans with ‘a demonstrated terrorism nexus,’ according to the 76-page report. It was previously released last year but contains new revelations based on extensive redactions that were removed by the Biden administration.
Ben Wizner, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s free speech, privacy and technology project, said the report indicates leaders of the Department of Homeland Security wanted to inflate the risk caused by protesters in Portland. The city became an epicenter of sometimes violent demonstrations in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer. But many protesters, including women belonging to a ‘Wall of Moms’ ad hoc group and military veterans, were peaceful.” Read more at AP News
Democrats try to flip narrative amid barrage of ‘soft on crime’ attack ads
GOP ramping up spending for grisly, racist ads that cast Democrats as ‘dangerously liberal’ with crime emerging as top concern among voters
Lauren Gambino and Joan E Greve
Fri 28 Oct 2022 02.00 EDT
“Democrats knew the attacks were coming. And like clockwork, just as their political fortunes appeared to improve earlier this summer, Republicans pounced, battering Democrats with a barrage of ‘soft on crime’ attacks just weeks before election day.
With voters identifying crime as a top concern in recent surveys, Republicans have increasingly turned to an old playbook: centering their closing pitch of the midterm campaign on crime. Over the last several weeks, Republicans have ramped up their spending on crime-related messaging, blanketing the airwaves with grisly television ads that cast Democrats as ‘dangerously liberal,’ ‘different’ and enablers of lawlessness.
Critics say some of the ads, particularly those targeting Black Democratic candidates, play on racial tropes, a charge Republicans deny.
It is part of a broader strategy to shift the political conversation to issues that Republicans believe play in their favor, after spending the summer on the defensive over abortion in the wake of the supreme court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade.
But unlike in 2020, when many Democrats felt ill-prepared to respond as Republicans sought to exploit a backlash to the racial justice protests, party strategists say their candidates were ready this cycle.
‘There’s an old trope in politics that you shouldn’t repeat the charge,’ said Matt Bennett, the vice-president of public affairs at Third Way. ‘But that is not what you want to do when you’re attacked as being ‘soft on crime’. What you have to do is make clear to voters that what the Republican is saying about you is a lie.’
In ads, interviews and debates, Democratic candidates are countering what they say are Republican ‘lies’ and distortions about their views on policing and criminal justice by emphasizing their support for law enforcement and highlighting endorsement from officers. They are also trying to flip the issue: accusing Republicans of endangering law enforcement and public safety by weakening gun laws and refusing to condemn the insurrectionists who attacked police officers and defiled the US Capitol on January 6.” Read more at The Guardian
Amid mounting pressure to resign over Uvalde school shooting, Texas' top law enforcement chief defends agency
“Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw defended his agency's response to the Uvalde school massacre Thursday amid mounting pressure for his resignation, saying the agency ‘did not fail the community.’
McCraw, speaking at a meeting of the Texas Public Safety Commission, said he would not resign over the problematic response to the shooting, which left 19 children and two teachers dead — the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. But, he said ‘every responding officer needs to be accountable for their actions.’
More than 90 state troopers responded to the shooting and played a broader role at the scene than McCraw indicated in earlier statements and testimony to a Texas Senate panel this summer. Officers from multiple local, state and federal agencies delayed confronting and killing the gunman for 77 minutes, even as victims called 911 pleading for help.
‘If DPS as an institution failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely I need to go. I can tell you this right now. DPS as an institution ... did not fail the community. Plain and simple,’ McCraw said.” Read more at USA Today
“The contradictions in the US economy keep piling up. Economic output rebounded following two quarterly contractions, in part because of resilient consumers and business. Inflation remains stubbornly high, but unemployment is at historic lows. Companies are still vexed by supply-chain bottlenecks, but inventories are piling up. The housing market has tanked, but people are spending on goods and services. The mixed bag may mean the Federal Reserve will stay the course with another jumbo rate hike next week, and some economists are still betting the central bank’s strategy will bring on a recession. The European Central Bank, also facing a potential contraction, lifted its policy rate by 75 basis points this week and signaled it’s making progress in its inflation battle. The continent, bracing for an energy shortfall this winter as Russian chokes off supply, has for now found itself with surprise gas surplus. Take all the predictions with a grain of salt, Allison Schrager writes in Bloomberg Opinion. ‘We’re in unprecedented times, and it’s just as likely we’ll slog along full of uncertainty as it is that inflation will lead to a deep recession.’” Read more at Bloomberg
“The tech earnings gloom got even darker this week. Amazon warned of its slowest holiday season ever, Meta’s $676 billion rout forced it from the ranks of the world’s 20 largest companies, and chipmakers are warning of a supply glut and tumbling prices. The result: Cost cuts are coming. And even though Apple did just enough to avoid the misery, concern remain about how many people will actually buy its iPhones.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The UK’s latest prime minister—its fifth in six years—is the first non-white person to hold the keys to 10 Downing Street and the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years. But Rishi Sunak is also the richest person ever to take the role, a point that’s fueled accusations he’s out of touch when the country’s poorest families have £2.66 ($3.08) a week left after paying for food and essentials. In an early sign of his priorities, Sunak said he won’t attend the COP27 climate change summit next month because of ‘depressing’ economic challenges.” Read more at Bloomberg
Rishi Sunak, center top, arriving at the Conservative Party campaign headquarters in London on Oct. 24. Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
50 dead, dozens feared missing as storm lashes Philippines
By JIM GOMEZ
“MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 50 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a huge mudslide laden with rocks, trees and debris, officials said Saturday.
At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province from Thursday night to early Friday, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a five-province Muslim autonomous region governed by former separatist guerrillas.
Eight other people died elsewhere in the country from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government’s disaster response agency said.
But the worst storm impact so far was a mudslide that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told The Associated Press by telephone, citing accounts from Kusiong villagers who survived the flash flood and mudslide.” Read more at AP News
PFAS left dangerous blood compounds in nearly all US study participants
The toxic ‘forever chemicals’ can stay in human blood for years, and are linked to cancers, kidney damage and heart disease
Sat 29 Oct 2022 06.00 EDT
“Nearly all participants in a new study looking at exposure to PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in the US state of North Carolina have multiple dangerous compounds in their blood, and most at levels that researchers say requires medical screening.
The North Carolina State University study, which is among the largest ever conducted, checked about 1,500 blood samples from people living in the Cape Fear River basin over several years. It’s the first study to conclude with researchers using newly developed physicians’ guidelines for PFAS exposure to recommend screening for cancers, kidney damage, heart disease and other health issues linked to the chemicals.
In most cases, the PFAS levels were much higher than the national median, and participants were ‘scared’ by the results, said study co-author Jane Hoppin….
PFAS are a class of about 12,000 compounds typically used to make products resist water, stains and heat. They are linked to a range of serious health problems, and are estimated to be contaminating drinking water for over 200m people nationwide.
In the Cape Fear basin, the pollution is thought to largely stem from a Fayetteville Chemours plant that DuPont operated for decades before 2015. Airports, textile producers and other industries upstream have also discharged PFAS into the river.
The blood study has implications for which polluters are responsible and legally liable for health problems that many public health advocates and residents say stem from PFAS exposure.” Read more at The Guardian
Ray of joy: Nasa captures image of the sun ‘smiling’
Satellite photo shows what appears to be a happy face pattern on the sun with dark patches called ‘coronal holes’
Sat 29 Oct 2022 01.00 EDT
“A Nasa satellite captured an image of what appeared to be a happy face pattern on the sun earlier this week, prompting the US space agency to say the sun was seen ‘smiling’.
The agency released the image Wednesday on Twitter, writing: ‘Today, Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the sun ‘smiling.’ Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the sun are known as coronal holes and are regions where fast solar wind gushes out into space.’” Read more at The Guardian
Realmuto, Phils rally past Astros in 10 to open World Series
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
“HOUSTON (AP) — A timely swing by J.T. Realmuto propelled the Philadelphia Phillies to an unlikely win in the World Series opener.
A terrific stab by right fielder Nick Castellanos gave him that shot.
Realmuto hit a solo home run in the 10th inning and the Phillies, saved by Castellanos’ sliding catch, rallied past the Houston Astros 6-5 Friday night.
Down 5-0 early against Astros ace Justin Verlander, the Phillies became the first team in 20 years to overcome a five-run deficit to win a World Series game.
They can thank Castellanos for getting the chance. Known much more for his bat than glove, he rushed in to make a game-saving grab on Jeremy Peña’s blooper with two outs in the ninth inning and a runner on second.
‘All in all, it was a great game, a great come from behind victory, and it just showed the resilience of the club again and how tough they are and they just never quit,’ Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.” Read more at AP News
Jerry Lee Lewis, notorious US rock’n’roll star, dies aged 87
Artist’s songs such as Great Balls of Fire helped install rock’n’roll as the dominant American pop music of the 1950s
Fri 28 Oct 2022 12.56 EDT
“Jerry Lee Lewis, the rock’n’roll pioneer who became one of the most infamous figures in popular music, has died aged 87, his publicist has said.
He died of natural causes at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi. ‘Judith, his seventh wife, was by his side when he passed away at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis,’ a statement said. ‘He told her, in his final days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid.’
Lewis’s energetic performances on songs including Great Balls of Fire helped install rock’n’roll as the dominant American pop music of the 1950s. He was born in Louisiana in 1935, the son of a poor farming family who mortgaged their home to buy Lewis his first piano. While learning the instrument and studying at an evangelical school, he was kicked out for performing a boogie-woogie version of My God is Real that was deemed irreverent.
He didn’t return to education, and began playing live – his first performance at the age of 14 was at the opening of a car dealership. He developed a theatrical, boisterous style that chimed with the energy of the nascent rock’n’roll scene, and began playing at Sun Studios in Memphis, first as a studio musician and then as a solo artist. Some of his earliest recordings were made in 1956 with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, a group later dubbed the Million Dollar Quartet. It was an impromptu session: Cash and Presley happened to be separately visiting the studio where Lewis was backing Perkins on piano.
Lewis’s breakthrough came the following year, with Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, a barnstorming piano-driven rock’n’roll single. When he performed it on television on The Steve Allen Show, he brought his unique playing style to national attention: wildly energetic, he would kick over his piano stool and play standing up, with songs accentuated with cascading runs of notes.
He followed that Top 3 song with his greatest success, Great Balls of Fire, which reached No 2 on the US charts and became one of the definitive songs of the rock’n’roll era.
During a 1958 UK tour at the peak of his fame, he was embroiled in scandal after it was revealed he had married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Brown – it would be the third of his seven marriages. There was outrage in the British press and the rest of his tour was cancelled. US radio stations and concert promoters also blacklisted him, and his popularity faded. He never again had a US Top 20 hit.
Lewis’ wild-man reputation cemented his nickname, The Killer, earned from his habit of describing acquaintances with the Louisiana slang of ‘killer’. After a 13-year marriage to Brown, his fourth and fifth marriages were even more notorious. Jaren Pate and Shawn Stephens both died in suspicious circumstances – the former by drowning, while there were domestic abuse rumors surrounding the latter.
Despite the controversies, he successfully switched to country music after the rock’n’roll scene dwindled and scored a series of hits on the US country charts, including his version of the standard Chantilly Lace.
In 1984, following years of prescription drug use, he survived an operation to remove a third of his stomach after a series of perforated ulcers, and in 1986, he was one of the first 10 performers inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Presley, Chuck Berry and others.” Read more at The Guardian
Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen announce divorce after 13 years
By LEANNE ITALIE and FRED GOODALL
“Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen have finalized their divorce, they announced Friday, ending the 13-year marriage between two superstars who respectively reached the pinnacles of football and fashion.
Divorce documents were filed Friday in Glades County, Florida, a rural location near Lake Okeechobee far from the big-city limelight, according to court records. The divorce was made final the same day.
‘The marriage of the parties is dissolved because the marriage is irretrievably broken, and each spouse is restored to the status of being single and unmarried,’ Circuit Judge Jack Lundy said in his order, noting that the couple’s settlement agreement will not be filed in court but they ‘are ordered to comply with the terms’ of that document as well as a confidential parenting plan for their children.
Brady and Bündchen posted statements Friday morning on Instagram, each saying they had ‘amicably’ reached the decision.” Read more at AP News
And baby makes history!
“This big-eyed, bushy-tailed baby is the very first bison calf born in the wild in the UK in thousands of years. Oh, and its very existence can help defend one of the UK’s most iconic counties from climate change. All that in such a teensy, fuzzy package. Its mother was one of three female bison released into the county of Kent, but rangers didn’t know at the time that she was pregnant – until, surprise, the baby bison plopped into their lives just over a month ago. The bison reintroduction is part of an effort to restore their natural populations, which haven't existed in the wild for millennia, but also so they’ll engage in behaviors like tree-felling, which helps reduce the flood risk in local forests. One day, this knobby-kneed sweetheart with enviable eyelashes will grow up to be a hulking bison with a hump and horns. But for now, it’s enjoying its life in the English countryside, unaware of just how monumental its arrival is. And who knows, this little miracle might one day see a sibling: The three ladies and their baby will soon be joined by a male bison from Germany. Happy breeding, bison!” Read more at CNN
“Jules Bass cocreated an animation empire that produced Christmastime television favorites like ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman.’ He died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
“The Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, who led the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and helped revitalize his community by building housing, died at 73.” Read more at New York Times