The Full Belmonte, 11/6/2023
Donald Trump at a campaign event held at Trendsetter Engineering, Nov. 2, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Trump’s business and political ambitions poised to converge as he testifies in New York civil case
“When Donald Trump takes the stand Monday in a Manhattan courtroom to testify in his civil fraud trial, it will be an undeniable spectacle: A former president and the leading Republican presidential candidate defending himself against allegations that he dramatically inflated his net worth. Read more.
Why this matters:
The charges cut to the very heart of the brand Trump spent decades carefully crafting and put him at risk of losing control of much of his business empire. But the appearance may also mark the beginning of a defining feature of the 2024 election if Trump becomes his party’s nominee: a major candidate, on trial, using the witness stand as a campaign platform as he eyes a return to the White House while facing multiple criminal indictments.
Unlike most Americans, Trump has ample experience fielding questions from lawyers and has a long history of depositions and courtroom testimony that offer insight into how he might respond. But Michael Cohen, who worked for Trump for more than a decade, said nothing in Trump’s past has come close to what he’s facing now since they were largely civil matters ‘where even though the dollar amounts were in the millions of dollars, they were never of any real consequence to him or obviously to his freedom.’” [AP News]
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli troops surround Gaza City and cut off northern part of the besieged Hamas-ruled territory
“Israeli troops have cut off the northern part of Gaza as communications lost for several hours across the territory overnight were being restored. Troops are expected to enter Gaza City on Monday or Tuesday, Israeli media report, and militants who have prepared for years are expected to fight street by street using a vast network of tunnels. Read more.
Recent developments:
Israel has so far rejected U.S. suggestions for a pause in fighting to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries and the release of some of the estimated 240 captives seized by Hamas. Israel has also dismissed calls for a broader cease-fire from increasingly alarmed Arab countries — including Jordan and Egypt, which made peace with it decades ago.
Food, medicine, fuel and water are running low in Gaza and casualties will likely rise on both sides in the month-old war, which has already killed more than 9,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The situation remains dire in the north. Some 800,000 people have heeded Israeli military orders to flee to southern Gaza, even though Israel had continued airstrikes in the area. Strikes in central and southern Gaza — the purported safe zone — killed at least 53 people on Sunday. The Israeli military said late Sunday that it had severed northern Gaza from the south, calling it a ‘significant stage’ in the war. It said a one-way corridor for residents to flee south would remain available.” [AP News]
Election workers
“A growing exodus of local election officials is raising alarms ahead of the 2024 presidential contest. Officials say many workers are resigning or retiringbecause they continue to face a barrage of threats, harassment and partisan interference in their duties, first ignited by Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election in 2020. In one region alone — across 11 Western states — more than 160 top election officials have left their positions since November 2020, according to a study from Issue One, a non-profit watchdog group tracking the departures. In some counties, the typical level of experience of officials has also dropped from about eight years to one, the analysis found.” [CNN]
Extreme weather
“More than 60 record-high temperatures are expected from Arizona to New York this week beginning today through Wednesday. The above-average temperatures will make their way through parts of the southwestern US today and gradually move east by the middle of the week, meteorologists say. However, cold air is expected to return quickly in some cities by Friday. For example, St. Louis is expected to drop from a high of 83 degrees on Wednesday down to 61 degrees. Denver and some other areas in the West are also expected to see a similar drop from 75 degrees on Tuesday to the high 40s within a day.” [CNN]
UMass Amherst Student Arrested After Jewish Student Punched
“A student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was arrested on Friday night after allegedly punching a Jewish student at a peaceful protest on campus calling for the return of civilians taken hostage by Hamas. The event, organized by UMass Hillel, had also called for a ‘safe campus climate for all students,’ the organization said in a statement. As the event was ending, a student walked through the crowd and started ‘aggressively giving people the middle finger,’ the statement added. ‘After the event had concluded and event security had left, the same student returned to the site of the event and punched a Jewish student holding an Israeli flag, then took the flag and spit on it.’ An email from college officials to students on Monday said the alleged victim was not injured and that the suspect’s bail conditions prohibit them from returning to campus. The email called the incident ‘deeply disturbing’ as well as ‘reprehensible, illegal, and unacceptable.’” [Daily Beast]
A vegetable oil found in some citrus sodas may be banned.
“Why? Brominated vegetable oil has been found to have toxic effects in animals. Last week, the FDA proposed a ban, saying it no longer considered the ingredient to be safe.
Digging deeper: The ingredient, found in Sun Drop and some citrus-flavored store-brand sodas, could harm the thyroid, liver and heart, and cause neurological problems.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Putin Plans to Run for President Again in 2024: Report
“Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to run in next year’s presidential election, sources told Reuters, meaning he will stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030. Those familiar with the situation say Putin, 71, has already made up his mind and advisers are now preparing for a campaign, with a formal public announcement expected soon. Opinion polls in Russia show Putin commands an 80 percent approval rating in the country and is guaranteed victory if he runs given his support from state media and an almost total absence of mainstream public dissent. His spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the report but said in September that no one would be able to compete against Putin if he decided to pursue re-election. Sources said Putin feels compelled to lead Russia out of its most turbulent period in decades created by his war against Ukraine.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at Reuters
Palestinian officials say nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza.
“Last night: Israel cut communications in the besieged territoryduring what it called a ‘significant attack’ in its war with Hamas. Israeli forces have encircled Gaza City.
This weekend: The U.S. secretary of state traveled to the West Bank and Baghdad in an effort to contain the conflict. The CIA director is in Israel to meet with intelligence officials.”
Read this story at Washington Post
At least 157 people were killed in an earthquake in Nepal.
A man looks at damage from the earthquake. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)
“What happened? The 5.6-magnitude quake hit a remote region of the Himalayan nation Friday night. Footage showed entire homes reduced to rubble.
The bigger picture: Nepal has a history of devastating earthquakes reaching back centuries. This was the nation’s worst earthquake in nearly a decade.”
Read this story at Washington Post
U.N. Says Record Amount of Staffers Dead in Israel-Hamas War
“The war between Israel and Hamas has left more United Nationsworkers dead than in any other single conflict, the organization’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee said in a statement. The committee, which describes itself as the ‘highest-level humanitarian coordination forum’ of the U.N., said 88 staffers in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) had already been killed since the conflict in Gaza dramatically escalated less than a month ago. The statement said the world has watched ‘in shock and horror’ at the spiraling ‘numbers of lives lost and torn apart,’ and called for more aid to enter the besieged enclave, greater protections for civilians, and for the ‘immediate and unconditional release of all civilians held hostage.’ ‘We need an immediate ceasefire,’ the statement added. ‘It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now.’” [Daily Beast]
Read it at Inter-Agency Standing Committee
Gal Gadot Helps Bring Film on Hamas’ Horrors to U.S.: Report
“Israeli actress Gal Gadot is helping to organize a U.S. screening for a film showing the atrocities of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, reports said. Oscar-winning director Guy Nattiv apparently led the charge to bring the 47 minute film, which was made by the IDF, to the United States—with a screening planned for a group of select celebrities and public figures on an undisclosed date. The IDF held a screening of the film for foreign press last month, during which a number of the viewers broke into tears and even walked out of the theater.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at i24
A boom in AI-generated nude photos and videos is targeting women and teens.
What to know: Easy-to-use artificial intelligence tools have led to a 290% spike in fake nudes since 2018, according to one expert. They often depict ordinary women and girls.
What can victims do? At least nine states have passed laws regulating deepfakes, and some allow victims to press charges. But there is no federal law to protect victims.
Read this story at Washington Post
College basketball tips off today with more than 100 games.
“Who’s playing: Some of the best teams in the country, including potential top men’s seeds Purdue and Kansas, and Connecticut, the defending national champion.
Women’s basketball is having a moment: Schools are trying to capitalize on momentum built during last season’s NCAA tournament, which set viewership records.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Another Blackhawks Player Sues Over Alleged Sexual Assault
“A former member of the Chicago Blackhawks has sued the franchise alleging that he was sexually assaulted by former video coach Brad Aldrich and that the organization failed to adequately respond to his complaint so as not to disrupt a Stanley Cup run. The lawsuit against the ice hockey team was filed Thursday listing the plaintiff as ‘John Doe.’ The Chicago Tribune reported that Doe was a member of the so-called ‘Black Aces’ squad—a group of minor league players who traveled with the NHL team during the playoffs to fill in in case of injuries. The plaintiff claims to have been assaulted by Aldrich during the 2009-10 season, with the former coach allegedly threatening the player against reporting his alleged conduct. The Tribune said the plaintiff was a teammate of Kyle Beach—the former Black Ace who reached a settlement with the Blackhawks in 2021 after he alleged he was sexually assaulted by Aldrich.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at Associated Press
Grizzly bears could be brought back to an area where they once thrived.
“The idea: To start a grizzly population in Washington state’s North Cascades. The federal government’s new plan would relocate bearsfrom areas like Yellowstone.
Why? Grizzlies once roamed the North Cascades but were killed off by hunters decades ago. This plan is the next step in a years-long effort to reintroduce them.”
Read this story at Washington Post
David Kirke, Who Made the First Modern Bungee Jump, Dies at 78
An Oxford-educated prankster as colorful as he was daring, he accidentally helped invent a new extreme sport in the 1970s.
“David Kirke, a flamboyant thrill-seeker who performed — and, more important, survived — what is widely acknowledged as the first modern bungee jump, died on Oct. 21 at his home in Oxford, England. He was 78.
His death was confirmed by his brother Hugh Potter, who said no cause had been determined.
Mr. Kirke, an irrepressible daredevil and prankster, helped found the Dangerous Sports Club at the University of Oxford in the late 1970s. He inadvertently led this tiny band of eccentrics, plucked from the upper rungs of British society, into a historic plunge off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, on April Fools’ Day in 1979.
Inspiration came in part from a rite-of-passage ritual on the South Pacific island country Vanuatu known as land diving, in which young men leap from high towers, using vines to break their fall. Mr. Kirke opted for an elastic rope used by the military to help fighter jets land on aircraft carriers.
‘We hadn’t tested it or anything like that,’ Mr. Kirke told the news site BristolLive in 2019. ‘We were called the Dangerous Sports Club, and testing it first wouldn’t have been particularly dangerous.’
Clad in a top hat and tails, with a bottle of Champagne in hand, Mr. Kirke, who was nursing a hangover from an all-night party, was the first to take the plunge that day. The other jumpers — Alan Weston, Tim Hunt and Simon Keeling — ‘waited to see what would happen to me,’ Mr. Kirke told ITV News in 2019. ‘When I started bouncing up again, they all jumped.’
Police promptly arrested the jumpers, charged them with breach of peace and tossed them behind bars for a spell before letting them off with a small fine. Jail was hardly a traumatic experience. ‘They were the only police force I’ve ever known to bring half-empty bottles of red wine, from the party, in a brown paper bag and give it to us in prison,’ he told ITV.
Little did the jumpers know that their playful prank would inspire a popular pastime around the world. A video of a plunge from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco by members of the club in the 1980s inspired a New Zealander named A.J. Hackett to develop controlled methods for bungee (alternatively spelled bungy) jumping and build a thriving business that popularized the sport.
Fortune, however, was not the point for Mr. Kirke, a writer by trade whose jobs included ghostwriting a newspaper column for a politician. Instead, he found fame with a lifetime of extravagant stunts, each seemingly more outlandish than the last….” Read more at New York Times