The Full Belmonte, 10/8/2022
Russia-Ukraine War - Explosion Damages Crimea Bridge, Imperiling Russian Supply Route
“KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine — An explosion tore through the sole bridge linking the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to Russia, collapsing a part of the span into the sea and imperiling a primary supply route for Russian troops fighting in the south of Ukraine.
The 12-mile-long Kerch Strait Bridge is a cherished political project of President Vladimir V. Putin and had become a potent symbol of the claims that Mr. Putin makes to the peninsula, which his forces illegally seized from Ukraine in 2014. Mr. Putin presided over the opening of the bridge in 2018, personally driving a truck across.
The extent of the damage was difficult to immediately assess, though any impediment to traffic on the bridge could have a profound effect on Russia’s ability to wage war in southern Ukraine. Videos showed the railroad burning and two of four lanes of roadway collapsed into the Black Sea, where waves lapped the asphalt.
The Russian Railways company said all trains to and from Crimea have been temporarily canceled, the state news agency Tass reported.
The bridge is the principal military supply route linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. Without it, the Russian military will be severely limited in its ability to bring fuel, equipment and ammunition to its units fighting an increasingly intense battle for the control of southern Ukraine. Russia still controls roads on overland routes from Russia into southern Ukraine, but those are within range of Ukrainian rocket artillery.
The peninsula also holds special meaning for Mr. Putin, who has told his people that Crimea is a ‘sacred place’ and Russia’s ‘holy land.’
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that a truck had exploded on the bridge, igniting seven fuel cisterns being pulled by train on a parallel railroad crossing headed in the direction of Crimea and causing two car spans to partially collapse. Preliminary information suggested that three people were killed, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.
While there were no immediate claims of responsibility, Russian and Ukrainian officials indicated that the fire was no accident.” Read more at New York Times
White House Tightens Rules on Counterterrorism Drone Strikes
A classified new policy requires President Biden’s approval to add suspected terrorists to a kill list. The Trump administration had decentralized control over targeting decisions.
Oct. 7, 2022
“WASHINGTON — President Biden has signed a classified policy limiting counterterrorism drone strikes outside conventional war zones, tightening rules that President Donald J. Trump had loosened for a 21st-century method of warfare, according to officials.
The policy, which the White House sent to the Pentagon and the C.I.A. on Friday, institutionalizes a version of temporary limits that Mr. Biden’s team quietly put in place on the day of his inauguration as a stopgap for reducing risks to civilians while the new administration reviewed the counterterrorism policies it had inherited from Mr. Trump.
A description of the policy, along with a classified new counterterrorism strategy memo Mr. Biden has also signed, suggests that amid competing priorities in a turbulent world, the United States intends to launch fewer drone strikes and commando raids away from recognized war zones than it has in the recent past.
The policy requires Mr. Biden’s approval before a suspected terrorist is added to a list of those who can be targeted for ‘direct action,’ in a return to a more centralized control of decisions about targeted killing operations that was a hallmark of President Barack Obama’s second term. Mr. Trump had given commanders in the field greater latitude to decide whom to target.” Read more at New York Times
Trump ally Lindsey Graham told ex-cop Capitol rioters should be shot in head
Michael Fanone recounts meeting with South Carolina Republican senator in book to be published next week
“Republican senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham told a police officer badly beaten during the Capitol attack that law enforcement should have shot rioting Trump supporters in the head, according to a new book.
‘You guys should have shot them all in the head,’ the now ex-cop, Michael Fanone, says the South Carolina Republican told him at a meeting in May 2021, four months after the deadly attack on Congress.
‘We gave you guys guns, and you should have used them. I don’t understand why that didn’t happen.’
On January 6, Fanone was a Metropolitan police officer who came to the aid of Capitol police as Trump supporters attacked. He was severely beaten, suffering a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury.
He has since resigned from the police, testified to the House January 6 committee and become a CNN analyst. His book, Hold the Line, will be published next week.
Politico reported the remarks Fanone says were made by Graham. The site also said Fanone secretly recorded other prominent Republicans, among them Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader and possibly the next speaker, who has also stayed close to Trump.
Politico said Fanone told McCarthy efforts to minimize the Capitol insurrection were “not just shocking but disgraceful”. McCarthy reportedly offered no response.
Last week, Rolling Stone published an extraordinarily frank interview in which Fanone, a self-described lifelong Republican, called McCarthy a “fucking weasel bitch”. McCarthy did not comment.” Read more at The Guardian
Judges in Ohio and Arizona Temporarily Block States’ Abortion Bans
The decisions offered a window into which legal arguments might be working in the broader strategy to re-establish abortion rights through state courts.
By Ava Sasani
Oct. 7, 2022
“Abortion rights supporters won two temporary victories on Friday when judges in Ohio and Arizona suspended state laws banning the procedures.
In Ohio, a county judge indefinitely suspended a state law prohibiting most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. A few hours later, an appeals court in Arizona temporarily blocked its pre-statehood law banning the procedure.
The decisions marked progress for abortion advocates who have been fighting to restore access to the procedure in states that ban it.
The Ohio decision extends an earlier, temporary suspension of the law that was set to expire next week. The ruling means that the state’s abortion ban is suspended while the court case proceeds, providing a bit more certainty for abortion providers and women.” Read more at New York Times
Herschel Walker Urged Woman to Have a 2nd Abortion, She Says
The Georgia Senate candidate’s ex-girlfriend says he wanted her to terminate a pregnancy in 2011. She chose to have their son instead.
By Maya King, Lisa Lerer and Jonah E. Bromwich
Oct. 7, 2022
“ATLANTA — A woman who has said Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia, paid for her abortion in 2009 told The New York Times that he urged her to terminate a second pregnancy two years later. They ended their relationship after she refused.
In a series of interviews, the woman said Mr. Walker had barely been involved in their now 10-year-old son’s life, offering little more than court-ordered child support and occasional gifts.
The woman disclosed the new details about her relationship with Mr. Walker, who has anchored his campaign on an appeal to social conservatives as an unwavering opponent of abortion even in cases of rape and incest, after the former football star publicly denied that he knew her. He called her ‘some alleged woman’ in a radio interview on Thursday.
The Times is withholding the name of the woman, who insisted on anonymity to protect her son.
In the interviews, she described the frustration of watching Republicans rally around Mr. Walker, dismiss her account and bathe him in prayer and praise, calling him a good man.” Read more at New York Times
Fetterman’s Blue-Collar Allure Is Tested as Pennsylvania Race Tightens
John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate, says he can win over working-class voters in deep-red counties. Some evidence suggests he can, but partisan loyalties may prove more powerful.
By Trip Gabriel
Oct. 8, 2022, 3:00 a.m. ET
“MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — ‘I don’t have to tell you that it is hard to be a Democrat in Westmoreland County.’
So began the chairwoman of the Westmoreland Democratic Party, Michelle McFall, as she introduced Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to supporters this week in the deep-red exurbs of Pittsburgh.
About 100 people were gathered in a parking lot behind the Fetterman campaign bus, emblazoned with the slogan ‘Every County, Every Vote.’ That is the strategy on which Mr. Fetterman has built his Senate candidacy — announced last year with a video reminiscent of a Springsteen song, showing small towns where people ‘feel left behind’ and promising that ‘Fetterman can get a lot of those voters.’
Now, in the final weeks before Election Day, with polls showing a narrowing race in a pivotal contest for control of the Senate, the premise that Mr. Fetterman can win over rural voters, including some who supported former President Donald J. Trump, is under strain.
Mr. Fetterman has limited his campaign schedule as he recovers from a stroke, unable to visit “every county.” He is facing fierce Republican attacks that appear to be hitting home with voters, particularly over his record on crime. The share of voters who view Mr. Fetterman unfavorably has risen, while many Republicans have grudgingly rallied behind their nominee, Mehmet Oz. Because Mr. Fetterman had a double-digit lead in polling over the summer, the race’s tightening, while typical in a battleground state, has caused Democrats’ anxiety to rise.” Read more at New York Times
A Vermeer? It’s Actually an Imitator, National Gallery of Art Reveals.
Museum researchers said there was enough evidence to warrant changing the attribution of one of its four Vermeers.
“Girl With the Red Hat,” left, and “Girl With a Flute” appear to have the same sitter, but only one was actually painted by Vermeer.Credit...via National Gallery of Art, Washington
Oct. 7, 2022
“For the past three decades, art historians have questioned the authenticity of two paintings by Vermeer held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. They were the only paintings among his authenticated works that were completed on wooden panels.
So while the museum was closed during the coronavirus pandemic, its curators, conservators and scientists used powerful new technology to look beneath the paintings and try to figure out exactly whose hand was responsible.
On Saturday, the group will present its findings and officially change the attribution for ‘Girl With a Flute.’
It is a Vermeer no more.
Microscopic pigment analysis and advanced imaging technology revealed an unusual approach to layering pigments within the painting. Whoever was imitating the 17th-century Dutch artist had botched his process, leaving the image with a coarse finish unlike the smooth surfaces that have distinguished Vermeer as one of history’s finest painters.
“The science techniques showed the artists used similar materials in similar ways, but they handled the paint differently, from the underpaint to the final surface paint,” said Kathryn A. Dooley, an imaging scientist at the National Gallery who worked on the project.
The museum’s collection includes four Vermeers, and all of them were examined with the advanced technology, including two of his undisputed works. ‘Girl With the Red Hat,’ which like ‘Girl With a Flute’ was painted on a wooden panel, was deemed authentic. They will all be featured in a new exhibition at the National Gallery called ‘Vermeer’s Secrets,’ along with two known forgeries from the 20th century that are in the museum’s collection.
There are only about three dozen surviving examples of Vermeer’s paintings, so changing the attribution for even a single work can have a seismic impact on the academic scholarship and cultural programming built around the artist.” Read more at New York Times