The Full Belmonte, 11/14/22
T.S.A. Says Screening Missteps Allowed Box Cutters on Flight
Two box cutters that were brought on a plane by a passenger who later threatened to stab people were not identified during a scan, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said.
Nov. 13, 2022
“Mistakes in screening procedures by Transportation Security Administration employees allowed a passenger to bring two box cutters aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Cincinnati to Tampa, Fla., the agency said on Sunday.
The passenger, a man, approached a T.S.A. checkpoint at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport with two backpacks around 5:30 p.m. local time on Friday.
Video footage from a review of the incident showed the man putting the backpacks and loose items in a bin for screening. The T.S.A. uses CT technology that creates a 3-D image that can be rotated and analyzed, Patricia Mancha, a spokeswoman for the agency, said.
Ms. Mancha said that the ‘image review capabilities of the CT were not fully used’ and that the passenger’s two box cutters were not identified during the screening.
The passenger’s belongings were flagged for a further search, although it was unclear why, and one of the box cutters was then discovered. In violation of T.S.A. policy, this box cutter was returned to the passenger after its blades were removed.
‘This is contrary to standard operating procedure, which requires these items to be placed in checked bags or voluntarily abandoned,’ Ms. Mancha said. ‘The backpack containing the other box cutter, and the remainder of the traveler’s property, was screened for explosives, but the box cutter was not discovered.’
The T.S.A., which has authority over security and passenger screening at U.S. airports, prohibits box cutters in the cabin. The items are allowed in checked luggage.
The T.S.A. workers involved in the incident have been placed in a “training status for remediation on CT image review and physical search procedures,” Ms. Mancha said. The T.S.A. will conduct additional training on CT screenings in Kentucky and briefings on the incident for all screening employees nationwide.
Aboard the flight, the passenger threatened to stab passengers and crew members, said Tim Turner, a spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The plane was diverted to the Atlanta airport, where the passenger, who was not publicly identified, was taken into custody by the police, a Frontier spokeswoman said in an email.” Read more at New York Times
UVA shooting
“Three people were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia's main campus in Charlottesville on Sunday. The campus was placed on lockdown and the suspect -- identified as a school student -- remains at large, university president Jim Ryan said in a statement today. Authorities said multiple police departments are actively searching for the suspect, who is listed on the university's athletics website as a football player in 2018. University officials have urged everyone on campus to immediately seek safety. ‘We have all received several shelter in place texts, and they are frightening,’ UVA vice president Robyn Hadley said in an email to UVA's student body, adding that the situation remains active.” Read more at CNN
Trump Wanted I.R.S. Investigations of Foes, Top Aide Says
John F. Kelly, who was White House chief of staff, said that as president, Donald J. Trump wanted investigations into perceived enemies like James Comey, the former F.B.I. director.
Nov. 13, 2022
“While in office, President Donald J. Trump repeatedly told John F. Kelly, his second White House chief of staff, that he wanted a number of his perceived political enemies to be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly, who was chief of staff from July 2017 through the end of 2018, said in response to questions from The New York Times that Mr. Trump’s demands were part of a broader pattern of him trying to use the Justice Department and his authority as president against people who had been critical of him, including seeking to revoke the security clearances of former top intelligence officials.
Mr. Kelly said that among those Mr. Trump said ‘we ought to investigate’ and ‘get the I.R.S. on’ were the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe. His account of Mr. Trump’s desires to use the I.R.S. against his foes comes after the revelation by The Times this summer that Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe had both been selected for a rare and highly intrusive audit by the tax agency in the years after Mr. Kelly left the White House.
Mr. Trump has said he knows nothing about the audits. The I.R.S. has asked its inspector general to investigate, and officials have insisted the two men were selected randomly for the audits.” Read more at New York Times
Investigation underway over midair crash at Dallas air show
By JUAN A. LOZANO, JOSH FUNK and LM OTERO
“DALLAS (AP) — A national transportation official probing the cause of a midair crash of two historic military planes during an air show that left six people dead said Sunday that one of the key questions for investigators is why the aircraft were seemingly sharing the same space just before impact.
A World War II-era bomber and a fighter plane collided and crashed to the ground in a ball of flames on Saturday, leaving crumpled wreckage in a grassy area inside the Dallas Executive Airport perimeter, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city’s downtown. Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane flying into the bomber.” Read more at AP News
“The 2022 midterm election made history with the most wins for openly LGBTQ candidates. At least 340 candidates have won their races, beating the prior record of 336 in 2020.” Read more at NPR
Extreme Candidates and Positions Came Back to Bite in Midterms
In an election that came down to which party turned off voters the least, it was another bad national showing for the G.O.P.
By Jonathan Weisman and Katie Glueck
Nov. 14, 2022, 3:00 a.m. ET
“A surprisingly nuanced verdict in the midterm elections has delivered at least one important conclusion about the state of the national mood: In battleground states and swing districts across the country, voters voiced their support for moderation.
That happened in Nevada’s Senate race, where Catherine Cortez Masto, an unassuming incumbent Democrat occupying one of the party’s most endangered seats, overcame voters’ economic fears and won re-election, highlighting her Republican opponent’s embrace of Donald J. Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and his denigration of abortion rights.
It happened in Pennsylvania, where Josh Shapiro, facing the far-right Doug Mastriano, won the governor’s office in the biggest landslide for a non-incumbent in the state since 1946.
And it happened on Sunday, when a liberal Democrat in Oregon who beat a veteran centrist House Democrat in the primary, Representative Kurt Schrader, lost the seat for her party to the G.O.P., a stinging blow to the Democrats’ chances of holding their majority.
In contests up and down the ballot, Republicans betting on a red wave instead received a sweeping rebuke from Americans who, for all the qualms polls show they have about Democratic governance, made clear they believe that the G.O.P. has become unacceptably extreme.
On a smaller scale, a similar dynamic could be discerned on the left: After Democratic primary voters chose more progressive nominees over moderates in a handful of House races including in Oregon, Texas and California, those left-leaning candidates were defeated or are at risk of losing seats that could have helped preserve a narrow Democratic majority.
But the 2022 midterm was the third straight federal election in which the march of many Republican candidates into a morass of conspiracy theories and far-right policy positions had grave electoral consequences for the G.O.P.
‘The message on Tuesday was the average person is done voting for extremism,’ said Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat who ran for re-election in a Republican-leaning district in central Michigan on an explicitly centrist message, with the backing of a Republican, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming. ‘They’re done with voting for people who just want to blow up the system.’
Republicans not only collapsed in governor’s races from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, but also lost House races they had targeted in those states, reflecting the political dangers of top-of-the-ticket candidates perceived as extreme or unserious, party strategists said.” Read more at New York Times
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 11, 2019, in Washington, D.C. | Win McNamee/Getty Images
“WHITHER THE HOUSE — Control of the House remains undetermined, but Democrats’ path to keeping their majority narrowed Sunday. POLITICO projects that Republicans have won 212 seats to Democrats’ 203. Per our Steve Shepard: Only 10remaining uncalled races are true toss-ups, with Republicans needing to win THREE to secure the majority. GOP candidates now lead in SEVEN of those toss-up races.
Three races trended away from Democrats after Sunday’s ballot drops …
— AZ-01: Rep. DAVID SCHWEIKERT (R) pulled ahead of JEVIN HODGE (D) by 894 votes.
— AZ-06: JUAN CISCOMANI (R) expanded his lead over KIRSTEN ENGEL (D) and is now ahead by 1,773 votes.
— CA-41: Rep. KEN CALVERT (R) expanded his lead over WILL ROLLINS (D) and is now ahead by 4,066 votes.
— The upshot: “Dems' dreams of holding the House majority probably died tonight,” Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman tweeted .
INSIDE THE GOP RECKONING — For Republicans, Festivus comes early this year. In fact, it starts today at 4:30 p.m.
That’s when House Republicans kick off their candidate forum for leadership positions next Congress — the first formal event in what is expected to be a weeklong, party-wide Airing of Grievances following Republicans’ abysmal Election Day performance.
Would-be speaker KEVIN McCARTHY will face a stalking-horse challenge from senior House Freedom Caucus member ANDY BIGGS (R-Ariz.), who — as CNN’s Mel Zanona scooped — is running to demonstrate that the California Republican doesn’t have the 218 votes to be speaker.
Biggs’ challenge won’t matter — not yet, anyway. McCarthy only needs a majority of the GOP conference to get the speaker nomination this week, and he’ll easily get it. It’s not until January that he has to win a majority of the full House, giving him about 35 days to try to cajole his members. If current ballot trends hold, he will only be able to afford a small handful of defections.
Conservatives are still asking for a leadership election delay. They note that many races haven’t been called, meaning would-be Republicans won’t get a chance to vote on next Congress’ leadership teams. The Club for Growth also urged a pause over the weekend. But McCarthy, we’re told, has no intention of pumping the brakes. Read Olivia Beavers’ preview of the GOP races.” Read more at POLITICO
Democrats See a Blueprint in Fetterman’s Victory in Pennsylvania
John Fetterman flipped a key Senate seat in part by attracting white working-class votes, including in the reddest parts of his state.
By Trip Gabriel
Nov. 13, 2022
“KITTANNING, Pa. — Did John Fetterman just show Democrats how to solve their white-working-class problem?
Mr. Fetterman’s decisive victory in Pennsylvania’s Senate race — arguably Democrats’ biggest win of the midterms, flipping a Republican-held seat — was achieved in no small part because he did significantly better in counties dominated by white working-class voters compared with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020.
These voters for years have been thought to be all but lost to Democrats, ever since Donald J. Trump turned out explosively high numbers of white voters in rural and exurban counties, especially in Pennsylvania and the northern Midwest. Mr. Biden recaptured Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin two years ago largely by drumming up support in the suburbs, while working-class white voters stuck with Mr. Trump.
But Mr. Fetterman, with his tattoos and Carhartt wardrobe, and priorities like marijuana legalization, appears to have regained ground with the white working class — though whether he persuaded many Trump voters to back him, or whether he improved on Mr. Biden with the demographic in other ways, awaits more detailed data.” Read more at New York Times
Zelenskyy calls liberation of Kherson ‘beginning of the end’
By SAM MEDNICK
“KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the Russian withdrawal from Kherson as the ‘beginning of the end of the war’ on Monday, as he lauded soldiers and took selfies with them in the recently liberated southern city.
The retaking of Kherson after a grinding offensive that forced Russian to pull back its forces from the city was one of Ukraine’s biggest success so far of the nearly nine-month invasion and a stinging blow to the Kremlin.
Zelenskyy walked the streets of the city Monday, just hours after warning in his nightly video address of booby traps and mines left behind in the city by the Russians before their retreat.
Zelenskyy has previously appeared unexpectedly in other front-line zones at crucial junctures of the war, to support troops and congratulate them for battlefield exploits.
In Kherson, he distributed medals to soldiers Ukrainian troops in a central square and posed for selfies with them.” Read more at AP News
Deadly Bombing in Istanbul Is Being Investigated as a Terrorist Attack
The blast killed at least six people, injured 81 others and shattered a yearslong sense of calm in Turkey as its tourism industry tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
“ISTANBUL — A bomb attack struck a bustling pedestrian thoroughfare in central Istanbul on Sunday, killing at least six people, in what officials said could be a terrorist attack, and shattering a sense of calm as Turkey’s tourist industry works to recover from the pandemic.
The attack was the deadliest in Turkey in more than five years, and the authorities offered few details in the hours afterward other than to say they were investigating the possibility that the bomb had been detonated by a woman. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to punish those behind the blast, without accusing any specific group.
‘Efforts to make Turkey and the Turkish nation surrender by terror will not reach their aim today, as they did not in the past,’ Mr. Erdogan told reporters before flying to Indonesia for the Group of 20 summit.
Early Monday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the person who left the bomb at the site had been arrested, according to the state-run news agency Anadolu. He did not identify the person, but he suggested that the bombing had been ordered by Kurdish militants in northern Syria. (The New York Times briefly reported that eight people had died in the bombing, citing an Anadolu report that was later corrected.)” Read more at New York Times
Two superpowers meet as they compete for global influence
“President Joe Biden said he remains hopeful that the U.S. and China can work together during a Monday meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It's the first time the U.S. and Chinese leaders will have seen each other in person since Biden took office. The meeting was months in the making and comes as Biden seeks to win friends and influence Southeast Asian nations in an effort to isolate Russia and tame China. His administration calls the approach "friendshoring." It's intended to help the U.S. form stronger alliances with nations that can help discourage China from taking military action against Taiwan.
•Is Biden ready for G20 sparring session? Foreign rivals, tensions await president in Bali.
•On whirlwind trip across the globe, Biden addresses climate change, heads to Asia to meet with heads of state.
•Biden focuses on climate at COP27: Biden takes climate victory lap in Egypt. To some countries, U.S. is doing too little, too late.” Read more at the USA Today
U.S. President Joe Biden, left, talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo during their bilateral meeting ahead of the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022.Achmad Ibrahim, AP
Ethiopia’s Fragile Peace Deal
“Ethiopia’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have agreed to grant unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray, potentially bringing relief to millions of people who have been on the verge of famine due to a grinding blockade that has prevented the entry of aid.
The Ethiopian government and the TPLF’s latest commitment builds on a truce that both parties signed on Nov. 2, nearly two years into a disastrous war that killed as many as half a million people and displaced millions more. The agreement was widely seen as a breakthrough and potential glimmer of hope in the conflict—although many political hurdles could threaten its success.
The durability of the deal will be especially consequential for Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where the effects of the war and an unrelenting government blockade have pushed millions to the brink of starvation. Alongside fuel shortages and severed water supplies, the region has also been largely disconnected from electricity, internet, and banking networks.
Under the agreement, Tigrayan forces have 30 days to completely disarm, a process which is set to begin on Nov. 15, Reuters reported. The Ethiopian government will assume control of highways and airports and preside over the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle.
Given these conditions, the deal was seen as a triumph for Ethiopian authorities, the New York Times reported, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared that ‘Ethiopia’s peace proposal has been accepted 100 percent.’
But after roughly two years of brutal fighting and reports of sexual violence and ethnic cleansing, experts said it might be challenging for Tigrayan fighters to accept such conditions.
‘These will be difficult terms for Tigrayans to swallow,’ tweeted Alan Boswell, the director of the Horn of Africa Project at the International Crisis Group. ‘Due in part to anger at this TPLF deal, the risk of intra-Tigray feuding is high and needs to be closely watched.’
Another issue is how the Eritrean government will respond. Despite playing a dominant military role in the war and supplying countless troops to fight alongside Ethiopian forces, Eritrea was not explicitly mentioned in the agreement, raising questions about whether it might seek to disrupt the already-tenuous peace process.
In Foreign Policy, Mohamed Kheir Omer, a former member of the Eritrean Liberation Front, argues that Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki—a longstanding foe of the TPLF who ‘views this conflict as a zero-sum game’—could undermine the agreement.
‘All parties interested in seeing this peace agreement succeed must be cognizant of the spoiler role Isaias has played in the past in the Horn of Africa—and the risk that he could do it again,’ he writes.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Iran’s crackdown. Iranian authorities have sentenced a demonstrator to death while five other protesters will face prison terms, according to state media, as Tehran scrambles to stamp out dissent and crush protests that have roiled the country. In just Tehran, officials have reportedly unveiled charges against at least 1,000 people.
As Tehran adopts harsher measures in its crackdown, the Iran Human Rights NGO estimates that at least 326 people have died, including 43 children.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Mexico’s forceful protests. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed constitutional changes to transform the INE, Mexico’s electoral body, on Sunday. Protesters warn that he may be attempting to tighten his grip on power and weaken the country’s democracy.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“UAE influence operations. A new U.S. intelligence report outlines how the United Arab Emirates—a longtime U.S. partner—has both legally and illegally attempted to influence U.S. politics and policy towards the Middle East, the Washington Post reported. The UAE’s efforts ranged from known influence campaigns to ones that ‘more closely resemble espionage,’ according to the Post.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“New chapter | A lawyer and LGBTQ advocate won Slovenia’s presidential election to become the European Union member’s first woman head of state. Natasa Pirc Musar, who once served on the legal team of former US first lady Melania Trump, won 53.9% to defeat ex-foreign minister Anze Logar, an ally of ousted nationalist leader Janez Jansa.” Read more at Bloomberg
Our aging globe
Data: World Population Review. Map: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals
“The average human is older than ever:
Earthlings' median age in 2022 is 30.2 years old compared to 20.6 in 1974 — 48 years ago — according to Our World in Data.
Why it matters: An aging population can be positive — people living longer, more productive lives. But aging populations can lead to stunted economic growth if elderly, non-working generations end up outnumbering workers, Axios' Stef Kight and Tory Lysik report.
Age varies drastically by country: Japan has a median age of 49. For Nigerians, the median age is just 17.
Women typically give birth to 2.4 children in their lifetime today, compared to 4.3 in 1974.
A fertility rate of 2.1 is generally considered ‘replacement level’ — meaning there are enough births for the new generation to exactly replace the last generation. 60% of the population lives in countries that are at or below that fertility rate, according to U.N.
What's happening: Many high-income countries have watched birth rates plummet — leading to population decline in more than 40 nations, including Singapore, Japan, Italy and Russia.
Nearly 3 out of every 10 births worldwide last year took place in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Pew Research Center.
The birth rate in sub-Saharan Africa is double the global average, at 4.6 births per woman. Such high birthrates are often a sign of troubling social and economic circumstances.” Read more at Axios
“Lives Lived: Samuel Folsom was one of the last surviving Marine fighter pilots of World War II and received the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart. He died at 102.” Read more at New York Times
Country star Dolly Parton gets $100m award from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Country music star and philanthropist Dolly Parton has been awarded a $100m (£84.8m) prize by Jeff Bezos to use for charitable causes.
“The multi-billionaire founder of Amazon announced the award alongside his partner, Lauren Sanchez.
Ms Sanchez described the country singer as ‘a woman who gives with her heart and leads with love and compassion in every aspect of her work’.
Parton will be able to donate the cash to any charities of her choice.
The Bezos Courage & Civility Award recognises leaders who ‘pursue solutions with courage and civility’.
‘We can't wait to see all the good that you're going to do with this $100 million award,’ Ms Sanchez said….
The award started in 2021, with prizes going to activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who established World Central Kitchen, which provides food in disaster-stricken areas around the world.
Parton - a singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist - was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month.
She has been a high-profile supporter of charities and founded the Dollywood Foundation, which has given books to children around the world.
Parton has also been a vocal advocate of vaccination against Covid-19.
In 2020 she gave a $1m donation for coronavirus research to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, which one of the trial sites for the Moderna vaccine.” Read more at BBC News