The Full Belmonte, 11/2/2022
Suspect in Pelosi Attack Had Other Targets, Authorities Say
The man accused of breaking into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulting her husband told the police that he also planned to confront other state and federal politicians.
By Tim Arango, Holly Secon and Kellen Browning
Nov. 1, 2022
“SAN FRANCISCO — After an intruder broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer, leaving him unconscious for three minutes as he lay in a pool of blood, the attacker told the police that he had other targets: a local professor and several prominent state and federal politicians.
The new details of the attack, which police officers say was motivated by the assailant’s desire to take Ms. Pelosi hostage, interrogate her and break her kneecaps if she ‘lied,’ emerged on Tuesday from prosecutors as the suspect appeared in court for the first time.
The suspect, David DePape, 42, pleaded not guilty to several state felony charges after investigators say he broke into the Pelosi residence last week in the well-to-do Pacific Heights neighborhood and demanded to see Ms. Pelosi, the country’s third most powerful politician, who was in Washington at the time.” Read more at New York Times
Capitol Police missed on-camera break-in
Cameras outside Speaker Pelosi's home in San Francisco last Friday. Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
“Capitol Police officers tasked with monitoring live feeds from the department's 1,800 surveillance cameras initially missed the break-in at Speaker Pelosi's San Francisco home, The Washington Post reports.
After the attack began, one officer noticed flashing police lights on the camera feed and backtracked to see ‘a man with a hammer, breaking a glass panel and entering the speaker's home.’
The assault has ‘put a spotlight on the immensity — and perhaps the impossibility — of law enforcement's task to protect the 535 members of Congress at a time of unprecedented numbers of threats,’ The Post writes.” Read more at Axios
J.D. Vance, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, at a Fox News town hall in Columbus yesterday, moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Photo: Joe Maiorana/AP
“With six days until midterms, just about everything is breaking in Republicans' favor, Axios' Josh Kraushaar writes.
Cook Political Report yesterday moved ratings for 10 more House races — in solid-blue New York, New Jersey, Oregon, California and Illinois — in Republicans' direction.
If all of Cook's ‘lean,’ ‘likely’ and ‘solid’ Republican races hold, the GOP would only need to win 6 of the 35 ‘toss up’ races to take the majority. Democrats would need to win 29 of the 35.
FiveThirtyEight's Senate forecast shows the race for the upper chamber remains in a ‘dead heat,’ but gave Republicans a lead (51/49) for the first time since July.
Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, joined Fox News live in Columbus yesterday. Photo: Joe Maiorana/AP
What's happening: Candidate quality — perhaps Democrats' biggest advantage this cycle — may not be as decisive as it once seemed.
Pennsylvania U. S. Senate nominee John Fetterman swept the Democratic primary because of blue-collar appeal. But ads battering him on crime, along with the reaction to last week's debate, have dimmed Democratic optimism.
Ohio Senate nominee Tim Ryan represented a working-class northeast Ohio district in the House, and focused his campaign on union members and pitching an everyman appeal. But he still faces a difficult challenge in a red-trending state that former President Trump carried by 8 points.
At the same time, the wave could sweep in MAGA-aligned Senate candidates who looked like underdogs.
Keep a close eye on Blake Masters in Arizona and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire.” Read more at Axios
Voting rights groups celebrate Arizona judge's order
“Voting rights groups lauded a decision by a federal judge that bans Arizona's ballot drop box monitors affiliated with a conservative group from taking photos of voters while they are within 75 feet of a ballot box. But the emergency order Tuesday did not shut down drop box monitoring entirely in Arizona, something the Department of Justice signaled in a Monday statement risks illegal voter intimidation. Read more
The background: The DOJ says reports of ‘'ballot security forces’ watching ballot boxes in Arizona, sometimes armed or wearing ballistic vests, raise serious concerns about voter intimidation as it steps into a lawsuit over the monitoring.
•The statement from the Justice Department comes days after U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi in a separate lawsuit refused to bar a group from monitoring the outdoor drop boxes in the suburbs of Phoenix.
•The federal government says the First Amendment doesn't protect threats or intimidation directed at voters. Liburdi wrote in his decision that he struggled to ‘craft a meaningful form of injunctive relief that does not violate Defendants’ First Amendment rights and those of the drop box observers.’
•Democrats trust the midterm election count; Republicans don't. Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has made it clear that she has no intention of accepting the results of the election unless those results make her the next governor.” Read more at USA Today
A group watches and records a ballot drop box in Mesa, Ariz.. Several voting rights groups are asking federal judges to stop ballot box observers from staking out Arizona voting locations.Michael Chow, Michael Chow/The Republic
Former President Donald Trump never delivered on a campaign pledge to release his tax returns.
PHOTO: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked Congress’s access to Donald Trump’s tax returns.
“The former president had asked the court for an emergency order blocking the release of the information to the House Ways and Means Committee. The panel has until Nov. 10, two days after the midterm elections, to respond to the request, after which Roberts or the full court could act. Trump never released his tax returns, a custom every major-party presidential nominee since 1976 followed and President Biden resumed. After Democrats took the House in 2018, the committee requested the records. The then-president and his Treasury Department argued that there wasn’t a legitimate legislative need for them, triggering years of litigation. If Republicans win control of the House next week, as projected, they’ll likely drop the issue.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Turkey trouble: Big-bird shortage
Volunteers season turkeys for a Thanksgiving feast in Denver last year. Photo: Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post via Getty Images
“The U.S. government is warning of a big shortage of big birds this Thanksgiving, Axios' Kelly Tyko and Emily Peck report.
Because of avian flu outbreaks, finding 20-pound turkeys in some regions of the country could be tough, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters yesterday.
‘Some of the turkeys that are being raised right now for Thanksgiving may not have the full amount of time to get to 20 pounds,’ Vilsack said on the call, which was about the administration's effort to reduce meat and poultry prices in the long-term.
‘I don't think you're going to have to worry about whether or not you can carve your turkey,’ Vilsack said. ‘Maybe smaller. But it'll be there.’” Read more at Axios
Once a G.O.P. Stalwart, Liz Cheney Hits the Trail for Democrats
Stumping for Elissa Slotkin in Michigan, Ms. Cheney had an urgent message for voters: ‘We all must stand and defend the republic.’
Nov. 1, 2022
“EAST LANSING, Mich. — As political speeches go, Representative Liz Cheney’s address to a packed gym here on Tuesday evening was hardly a barn burner. But her message was deeply serious, and the aim of her visit was extraordinary, for a Wyoming Republican: to re-elect a Michigan Democrat, Representative Elissa Slotkin.
‘The chips are down for us. This is our time of testing,’ Ms. Cheney told a crowd of Democrats who were quick with their applause. ‘We all must stand and defend the republic.’
For the first time in her political career — in her life, she said — Ms. Cheney was campaigning for a Democrat. Her appearance is part of a broader last-ditch push by Republican opponents of former President Donald J. Trump to try to thwart a comeback of his political movement in the midterm elections next week, even if that means endorsing and campaigning for Democrats and independents in crucial states and House districts.
But the question remains, if Democrats have struggled for months to elevate the meaning of the 2022 midterms, to impress upon voters that sometimes pocketbook issues like inflation must take a back seat to existential issues like the future of the republic, why would a ragtag group of Never Trump Republicans like Ms. Cheney succeed?” Read more at New York Times
Food Prices Soar, and So Do Companies’ Profits
Some companies and restaurants have continued to raise prices on consumers even after their own inflation-related costs have been covered.
By Isabella Simonetti and Julie Creswell
Nov. 1, 2022
“A year ago, a bag of potato chips at the grocery store cost an average of $5.05. These days, that bag costs $6.05. A dozen eggs that could have been picked up for $1.83 now average $2.90. A two-liter bottle of soda that cost $1.78 will now set you back $2.17.
Something else is also much higher: corporate profits.
In mid-October, PepsiCo, whose prices for its drinks and chips were up 17 percent in the latest quarter from year-earlier levels, reported that its third-quarter profit grew more than 20 percent. Likewise, Coca-Cola reported profit up 14 percent from a year earlier, thanks in large part to price increases.
Restaurants keep getting more expensive, too. Chipotle Mexican Grill, which said prices by the end of the year would be nearly 15 percent higher than a year earlier, reported $257.1 million in profit in the latest quarter, up nearly 26 percent from a year earlier.
Although food companies are prominent examples of how rapid inflation is being passed from producers to consumers, the trend is evident across a wide variety of industries. Executives from banks, airlines, hotels, consumer goods companies and other firms have said they are finding that customers have money to spend and can tolerate higher prices.
And this makes it harder for the Federal Reserve to achieve its goal of bringing down inflation by aggressively increasing interest rates. Fed officials are set to announce their latest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon.
For years, food companies and restaurants generally raised prices in small steps, worried that big increases would frighten consumers and send them looking for cheaper options. But over the last year, as wages increased and the cost of the raw ingredients used to make treats like cookies, chips, sodas and the materials to package them soared, food companies and restaurants started passing along those expenses to customers.
But amid growing concerns that the economy could be headed for a recession, some food companies and restaurants are continuing to raise prices even if their own inflation-driven costs have been covered. Critics say the moves are all about increasing profits, not covering expenses. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Chipotle did not respond to requests for comment.” Read more at New York Times
Top Democrats Question Their Party’s Strategy as Midterm Worries Grow
Leading lawmakers and strategists are openly doubting the party’s kitchen-sink approach, saying Democrats have failed to unite around one central message.
By Lisa Lerer, Katie Glueck and Reid J. Epstein
Nov. 1, 2022
“Top Democratic officials, lawmakers and strategists are openly second-guessing their party’s campaign pitch and tactics, reflecting a growing sense that Democrats have failed to coalesce around one effective message with enough time to stave off major losses in the House and possibly decisive defeats in the tightly contested Senate.
The criticisms by Democrats in the final days of the midterm elections signal mounting anxiety as Republicans hammer away with attacks over the economy and public safety. For weeks, Democrats have offered a scattershot case of their own, accusing their opponents of wanting to gut abortion rights, shred the social safety net and shake the foundations of American democracy.
Yet as the country struggles with high gas prices, record inflation and economic uncertainty, some Democrats now acknowledge that their kitchen-sink approach may be lacking.
Even among the kibitzing chorus, there’s little agreement over exactly what could cost the party control of Congress. In areas where victory depends on high Black voter turnout, Democrats worry that they are not mobilizing that constituency. Others say there has been too much focus on abortion rights and too little attention on worries about crime or the cost of living. And across the country, Democrats point to an inadequate economic message and an inability to effectively herald their legislative accomplishments.” Read more at New York Times
Inquiry Scrutinizes Trump Allies’ False Claims About Election Worker
Prosecutors are seeking testimony from three people who took part in the pressure campaign against the worker, Ruby Freeman, after the 2020 election.
By Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim
Nov. 1, 2022
“ATLANTA — One is a 69-year-old Lutheran pastor from Illinois. Another is a celebrity stylist who once described herself as a publicist for Kanye West. A third is a former mixed martial-arts fighter and self-described ‘polo addict’ who once led a group called ‘Black Voices for Trump.’
All three individuals now find themselves entangled in the criminal investigation into election interference in Georgia after former President Donald J. Trump’s loss there, with prosecutors saying they participated in a bizarre plot to pressure an election worker in Fulton County to falsely admit that she committed fraud on Election Day in 2020.
The three — Trevian Kutti, the publicist; Stephen C. Lee, the pastor; and Willie Lewis Floyd III, the polo fan — have all been ordered to appear before a special grand jury in Atlanta. A hearing for Mr. Lee was scheduled for Tuesday morning at a courthouse near his home in Kendall County, Ill., but the matter was continued to next week.
None have been named as targets of the investigation or charged with a crime. Yet the decision to seek their testimony suggests that prosecutors in Fulton County are increasingly interested in the story of how the part-time, rank-and-file election worker, Ruby Freeman, 63, was confronted by allies of Mr. Trump at her home in the Atlanta suburbs in the weeks after he was defeated by President Biden.” Read more at New York Times
New RSV vaccines show promise
BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images
“Tuesday, Pfizer announced promising results for trials of its vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, amid a surge in cases.” (Vox) Read more at CNN / Brenda Goodman
“According to preliminary data, vaccinating pregnant people was 82 percent effective in preventing severe illness for their infants up to the first three months of life, and 69 percent up to six months.” (Vox) Read more at Associated Press / Lauran Neergaard
“The news comes as reported RSV infections grew from more than 1,200 in early September to nearly 8,000 by October.” (Vox) Read more at Time / Alice Park
“Doctors think an increase in infections and sickness could be because children weren’t exposed to RSV during the pandemic.” (Vox) Read more at New York Times / Emily Baumgaertner
“If the CDC and FDA approval processes go well, RSV vaccines and other treatments could be available for the next cold season.” [Vox / Keren Landman]
Musk purge
Via Twitter
“Elon Musk's Twitter C-suite purge is nearly complete, just five days after assuming control.
Twitter's chief customer officer Sarah Personette is leaving the company, joining the former CEO, CFO, general counsel and policy chief, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer reports.
Between the lines: Musk tweeted an open letter after meeting with Personette last week, assuring advertisers that Twitter wouldn't become a ‘free-for-all hellscape.’
Personette tried to reassure ad partners today while announcing her exit, saying Musk is committed to brand safety.
‘While uncertain how many there would be, I spent my last few days at the company continuing that commitment,’ Personette tweeted.
Musk's latest Twitter bio: ‘Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator.’” Read more at Axios
Bolsonaro Agrees to Transition, Two Days After Losing Brazil Election
Breaking his silence, President Jair Bolsonaro did not admit defeat or repeat his baseless claims about election fraud, but his administration signaled that the transfer of power would proceed.
“BRASÍLIA — Two days after losing Brazil’s presidential election, President Jair Bolsonaro agreed to a transition of power on Tuesday, easing fears that the far-right leader would contest the results after warning for months that the only way he would lose would be if the vote were stolen.
In a two-minute speech, Mr. Bolsonaro thanked his supporters, encouraged protesters to be peaceful, celebrated his accomplishments, criticized the left and said he had always followed the Constitution. What was absent was any acknowledgment that he had lost the vote or that the election had been free and fair.
Instead, after Mr. Bolsonaro spoke, his chief of staff took the lectern and said that the government would hand over power to the incoming administration.
‘President Bolsonaro has authorized me — when requested, based on the law — to start the transition process,’ said Mr. Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira.” Read more at New York Times
Netanyahu Holds Slight Lead in Israeli Election, Exit Polls Show
If the right-wing bloc does eke out a narrow victory, it will allow Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, to return to office even as he stands trial on corruption charges.
By Patrick Kingsley and Isabel Kershner
Nov. 1, 2022
“JERUSALEM — Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance may have won a narrow lead in Israel’s fifth election in less than four years, exit polls suggested on Tuesday night, giving him a chance of returning to power at the helm of one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history.
Three broadcasters’ exit polls indicated that Mr. Netanyahu’s party, Likud, would finish first and that his right-wing bloc was likely to be able to form a narrow majority in Parliament.
But exit polls in Israel have been wrong before, particularly in tight races — and they exaggerated Mr. Netanyahu’s eventual tally in the last election, in March 2021.
If the right-wing bloc does eke out a narrow victory, it will allow Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, to return to office even as he stands trial on corruption charges.” Read more at New York Times
North and South Korea exchange missile launches
“Air raid sirens sounded in South Korea after the North fired about a dozen missiles in its direction Wednesday. At least one of them landed near the rivals’ tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by performing its own missile tests. The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to ‘pay the most horrible price in history.’ The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement earlier Wednesday that it detected three short-range ballistic missiles fired the North’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan. It said one of the missiles landed 16 miles away from the rivals’ sea border.” Read more at USA Today
This handout photo taken and released on November 2, 2022 by the South Korean Presidential Office via Yonhap news agency shows South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (C) speaking at a meeting of the National Security Council over North Korea's missile launch, at the presidential office in Seoul. North Korea fired at least 10 missiles on November 2, including one that landed close to South Korea's territorial waters and prompted a rare warning for people on an island to shelter in bunkers.HANDOUT, South Korean Presidential Office
Saudis in US targeted as kingdom cracks down on dissent
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A graduate student at Boston’s Northeastern University, Prince Abdullah bin Faisal al Saud seldom mentioned he was a member of Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family, friends say. He avoided talking about Saudi politics, focusing on his studies, career plans and love of soccer.
But after a fellow prince — a cousin — was imprisoned back home, Prince Abdullah discussed it with relatives in calls made from the U.S., according to Saudi officials, who somehow were listening. On a trip back to Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdullah was imprisoned because of those calls. An initial 20-year sentence was hiked to 30 years in August.
Prince Abdullah’s case, detailed in Saudi court documents obtained by The Associated Press, hasn’t been previously reported. But it’s not isolated. Over the last five years, Saudi surveillance, intimidation and pursuit of Saudis on U.S. soil have intensified as the kingdom steps up repression under its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the FBI, rights groups and two years of interviews with Saudis living abroad. Some of those Saudis said FBI agents advised them not to go home.” Read more at AP News
Rap giant shot dead at 28
Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images
“Takeoff, the rapper who was one-third of the Grammy-nominated group Migos, was shot and killed in Houston early this morning.
He was 28, Axios' Madalyn Mendoza reports.
The big picture: Takeoff — whose real name was Kirshnik Khari Ball — was the youngest member of the rap group formed in 2008 in Georgia, their home state.
The group is responsible for hits like ‘Stir Fry,’ ‘Bad and Boujee’ and ‘Walk It Talk It.’” Read more at Axios
Nets Fire Coach Steve Nash
The Nets have struggled to a 2-5 start, and their star guard Kyrie Irving is under fire for promoting an antisemitic documentary.
By Sopan Deb and Scott Cacciola
Nov. 1, 2022
“The Nets fired Coach Steve Nash on Tuesday as the team struggled on the court and faced criticism for the off-court actions of the star guard Kyrie Irving.
Nets General Manager Sean Marks said the situation was particularly difficult because of his long relationship with Nash, a former teammate whom he hired to coach the team in September 2020.
‘We both felt that this was time,’ Marks said at a news conference before the Nets faced the Chicago Bulls at Barclays Center on Tuesday night. ‘It was certainly trending that way, and to be quite frank, the team was not doing what it was supposed to be doing. We’ve fallen from our goals.’
At 2-5, the Nets are among the worst teams in the N.B.A., despite starting the season with all three of their best players: Irving, Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons. Over the past week, the team has also been dealing with backlash after Irving promoted an antisemitic documentary on social media.” Read more at New York Times
“Gaming industry recovery: ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’ earned $800 million in sales in its first three days of full release. Go deeper.” Read more at Axios
Amazon is extending a full catalog of ad-free music and podcasts to Prime members.
“People who pay the $139 annual membership fee will gain access to 100 million songs, up from 2 million. The additions come as competitors increasingly bundle entertainment with other services. Amazon holds on to about 98% of Prime customers who have subscribed for at least two years, but growth in signups to the service has stagnated.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
CVS to Pay $5 Billion to Settle Opioid Lawsuits
Drugstore chain agrees to make payments over 10 years to states, cities and tribes that sued over opioid abuse
CVS said the agreement to settle the opioid-crisis lawsuits isn’t an admission of guilt.PHOTO: GABBY JONES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“CVS Health Corp. CVS -0.08%decrease; red down pointing triangle has agreed to pay about $5 billion in a landmark settlement that the company says would resolve all remaining opioid-crisis lawsuits brought by states, cities and other governments.
The largest U.S. drugstore company is the first pharmacy chain to reach a settlement in the collection of lawsuits brought by governments and Native American tribes blaming CVS and rival pharmacies for helping fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Under the proposed deal, CVS would pay $4.9 billion to states and municipalities and $130 million to tribes over the next 10 years starting in 2023. The company said the agreement isn’t an admission of guilt and that it would continue to defend against any litigation that the settlement doesn’t resolve. Each state, local government and tribe still must decide whether to participate in the settlement.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
World Series: Phils hammering away at home, lead Astros 2-1
By The Associated Press
“Bryce Harper and the hammering Philadelphia Phillies clearly are enjoying a home-field edge at Citizens Bank Park.
More like a homer field advantage.
Harper started the Phillies’ World Series record-tying barrage of five home runs Tuesday night in a 7-0 romp over the Houston Astros for a 2-1 lead.
The rout boosted the Phils’ mark to 6-0 at home this postseason, fueled by the 17 homers they’ve hit in those wins.
‘It’s tough to play here. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the Astros,’ Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos said.
‘They just have zero breathing room,’ he said. ‘And that’s a good thing.’
The Phillies are 22-9 all-time at the Bank in the postseason since hosting their first playoff game there in 2007.
‘The fan base, I mean, it’s just so much fun. They showed up tonight knowing that we needed ’em, and they continue to do that,’ Harper said.
Alec Bohm hit the 1,000th home run in World Series history Tuesday night, and the Phillies quickly went to work on launching the next thousand.” Read more at AP News
Thomas Cahill, Popular Writer of Ireland’s History, Dies at 82
His book ‘How the Irish Saved Civilization’ became a best seller and helped open the door to a new appreciation of that country’s culture.
By Clay Risen
Published Oct. 30, 2022Updated Nov. 1, 2022
“Thomas Cahill, a multilingual scholar who wrote a surprise 1995 best seller demonstrating to the world how a small band of Irish monks collected and protected the jewels of Western civilization after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, died on Oct. 18 at his home in Manhattan. He was 82.
His wife, Susan Cahill, said the cause was a heart attack.
‘How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe’ was not Mr. Cahill’s first book. But it immediately established his reputation as one of the country’s great writers of popular history.
In the book, he argued that even though the Romans never conquered remote, rural Ireland, Christianity did — and that as the continent descended into darkness and anarchy after the last Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476, its isolation became its advantage.
Living in relative peace, Irish scholars transcribed countless pagan and Christian texts, maintained a semblance of literary culture and, perhaps most important, developed a lively, life-affirming Christianity that later seeded the revival of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe.
Five publishers rejected Mr. Cahill’s proposal before the editor Nan A. Talese, at Doubleday, snapped it up in 1991. To many would-be publishers, the title sounded like a bunch of blarney — even in the early 1990s, many people still considered Ireland a conservative backwater and a cultural appendage to Britain.
That image changed rapidly in subsequent years. Ireland’s economy began to boom, the violent conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles was settling down, and Irish culture was suddenly everywhere. The near-simultaneous appearance of ‘How the Irish Saved Civilization’ and ‘Angela’s Ashes,’ a 1996 memoir about growing up Irish by Mr. Cahill’s friend Frank McCourt, was a coincidence, but their immediate and lasting popularity certainly was not.
“How the Irish Saved Civilization” spent nearly two years on The New York Times’s best-seller list and sold some two million copies.
Mr. Cahill’s success was about more than good timing. He was multilingual (he knew Latin, ancient Greek, French, German and Italian) and had a mastery of both primary sources and the academic scholarship around them. He was also a fluid, engaging writer, able to bring entertainment as well as erudition to the page.
‘That’s such a hard thing to do, to bring scholarship alive to the general reader,’ Terry Golway, a historian, said in a phone interview. ‘There are people who write popular history and there are people who write academic history, and he was able to do both in ways that were extraordinary.’
Mr. Cahill intended for the book to be the first in a seven-part series about critical moments in Western European civilization, what he called the ‘Hinges of History.’ He wrote six before his death; many of the others also achieved critical and commercial success.
As part of the research for his second installment, ‘The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels’ (1998), Mr. Cahill learned to read Hebrew as a visiting scholar at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
He approached his subjects with exuberance, and looked for stories that affirmed what he believed was the steady progression of civilization from the Classical era to the present.
‘We normally think of history as one catastrophe after another, war followed by war, outrage by outrage — almost as if history were nothing more than all the narratives of human pain, assembled in sequence,’ he wrote in his most recent book, the sixth in his series, ‘Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World’ (2013).
But there was a different way to read history, he wrote, one that highlights the ‘narratives of grace, the recountings of those blessed and inexplicable moments when someone did something for someone else, saved a life, bestowed a gift.’
Though some critics disdained Mr. Cahill’s books as middlebrow, many others, including eminent scholars, praised his gift for bringing arcane topics to life.” Read more at New York Times
Julie Powell, Food Writer Known for ‘Julie & Julia,’ Dies at 49
She documented her attempt to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ in a popular blog that became a best-selling book and a hit movie.
By Kim Severson and Julia Moskin
Nov. 1, 2022
“Julie Powell, the writer whose decision to spend a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ led to the popular food blog, the Julie/Julia Project, a movie starring Meryl Streep and a new following for Mrs. Child in the final years of her life, died on Oct. 26 at her home in Olivebridge, in upstate New York. She was 49.
Her husband, Eric Powell, said the cause was cardiac arrest.
Ms. Powell narrated her struggles in the kitchen in a funny, lacerating voice that struck a nerve with a rising generation of disaffected contemporaries.
The Julie/Julia Project became a popular model for other blogs, replicated by fans of the cooks Ina Garten, Thomas Keller and Dorie Greenspan, and helped build the vast modern audience for home cooking on social media.
In 2002, Ms. Powell was an aspiring writer working at a low-level administrative job in Lower Manhattan. She was about to turn 30 and had no real career prospects. It was, she said in an interview with The New York Times, ‘one of those panicked, backed-into-a-corner kind of moments.’
To lend structure to her days, she set out to cook all 524 recipes from her mother’s well-worn copy of Mrs. Child’s 1961 classic “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1.” But as an untrained cook who lived in a small Long Island City loft, she found the road to be long, sweaty and bumpy.
In a blog for Salon.com that she called the Julie/Julia Project, she wrote long updates, punctuated by vodka gimlets and filled with entertaining, profane tirades about the difficulties of finding ingredients, the minor disappointments of adult life and the bigger challenges of finding purpose as a member of Generation X.
Before the year was up, Salon reported that the blog had about 400,000 total page views, as well as several thousand regular readers who hung on the drama of whether Ms. Powell would actually finish in time.
Blogging made it possible for Ms. Powell to reach readers on a relatively new platform and in a new kind of direct language. ‘We have a medium where we can type in the snarky comments we used to just say out loud to our friends,’ she said in a 2009 interview.
Those comments were posted just as popular interest in food, cooking and chefs was rising. Ms. Powell’s self-deprecating style became a bridge from the authority of food writers like Mrs. Child, James Beard and M.F.K. Fisher to the accessibility of Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay and Nigella Lawson.” Read more at New York Times
Gael Greene, Who Shook Up Restaurant Reviewing, Dies at 88
She brought sass and sensuality to the job as a critic for New York magazine for four decades. She also helped create the charity Citymeals on Wheels.
Nov. 1, 2022
“Gael Greene, who reinvented the art of the restaurant review with sass and sensuality in four decades as New York magazine’s restaurant critic, died on Tuesday at her home in an assisted living facility in Manhattan. She was 88.
The cause was cancer, said her niece Dana Sachs Stoddard.
Until her death, Ms. Greene had continued to serve as chairwoman of Citymeals on Wheels, a New York charity she helped create in the early 1980s to provide food for the elderly.
Ms. Greene, a former reporter for The New York Post, brought little more than a keen appetite and boundless energy to the critic’s job in 1968, when the editor Clay Felker asked her to review restaurants for New York, a new magazine he had started with the graphic designer Milton Glaser, turning what had been a Sunday supplement of The New York Herald Tribune into a stand-alone glossy.” Read more at New York Times