The Full Belmonte, 12/18/2022
Antisemitic hate crimes rise
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
“A day before Hanukkah begins, distressing news:
Antisemitic hate crimes are up this year in several big cities — and could surpass the record set in 2021, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.
The White House has expressed alarm about rising antisemitic violence across the U.S., and a jump in racist and antisemitic social media posts.
But many police departments fail to report hate crimes.
By the numbers: New York saw 260 antisemitic crimes from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University, San Bernardino.
The city had 170 cases during the same period in 2021.
Los Angeles faced 80 antisemitic cases from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, the center said. The nation's second-largest city experienced 71 during the same period in 2021.
Chicago saw 30 antisemitic episodes from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, compared to eight in the same period last year.
Cases appear flat in Boston, Denver, Vegas and Portland, Ore.
What's happening: Advocates say episodes of antisemitic violence spike around traditional Jewish holidays, events in the Middle East, or after antisemitic comments from celebrities or politicians.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is Jewish, warned of a ‘dramatic resurgence’ of antisemitism at a conference this month, after slamming former President Trump for dining with antisemitic rapper Ye and the white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
Zoom out: The FBI said this week that anti-Jewish hate crimes declined significantly last year — 396 incidents, compared to 959 in 2020.
But the FBI hate-crime report was based on data received from just 11,883 of the 18,812 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. — and excludes many large cities with high numbers of Jewish residents.
What's next: The Biden administration this week announced a new interagency group charged with developing a national strategy to combat antisemitism, amid a rising tide of vitriolic rhetoric by public figures.” Read more at Axios
A sunny view of Congress
Reproduced from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll. Chart: Axios Visuals
“People often ask me for something optimistic about American politics.
I always point to the fact that people tell pollsters they want Washington to work. You can see it afresh in the answers above.
Here's a result from the same poll that's making the rounds of the West Wing:
24% of Americans think this Congress has accomplished more than recent sessions of Congress, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll out Thursday.
Marist says that's the highest result for that question since October 1998 (also 24%) — two months before the House impeached President Clinton.” Read more at Axios
Satellite shows new Russian trenches
Trenches outside the town of Popasna, Ukraine, on Nov. 29. Satellite photo: Planet Labs
“At the top left of this satellite photo from Ukraine, you see Russian trenches. That spider-web-like, orange line dropping down from the top is a mile-long trench. Along the bottom are more trenches.
That's a New York Times analysis of the photo — reflecting a vast network of trenches, traps and obstacles that Russia is building in preparation for winter warfare.
All the defensive lines in this image appeared within six days, The Times reports.
The fortifications show Russia's military is trying to increase its defensible positions, with the help of natural obstacles like rivers.
How it works: The structures are designed to funnel Ukrainian vehicles into a narrow road, where they're vulnerable to artillery and missiles, The Times explains.
But many of the defenses are being built within striking distance of Ukrainian artillery — making them vulnerable to being spotted by drones. And, of course, satellites.” Read more at Axios
Easter Island rebounds from wildfire that singed its statues
“RAPA NUI, Chile (AP) — The hillside of Rano Raraku volcano on Rapa Nui feels like a place that froze in time.
Embedded in grass and volcanic rock, almost 400 moai – the monolithic human figures carved centuries ago by this remote Pacific island’s Rapanui people -- remained untouched until recently. Some are buried from the neck down, the heads seemingly observing their surroundings from the underground.
Around them, there has been a pervasive smell of smoke from still-smoldering vegetation – the vestige of a wildfire that broke out in early October. More than 100 moai were damaged by the flames, many of them blackened by soot, though the impact on the stone remains undetermined. UNESCO recently allocated nearly $100,000 for assessment and repair plans.
In this Polynesian territory that now belongs to Chile and is widely known as Easter Island, the loss of any moai would be a blow to ancient cultural and religious traditions. Each of the moai – the nearly 400 on the volcano and more than 500 others elsewhere on the island -- represents an ancestor. A creator of words and music. A protector.
The president of Rapa Nui’s council of elders, Carlos Edmunds, recalled his emotions when he first heard about the fire.
‘Oh, I started crying,’ he said. ‘It was like my grandparents were burned.’
It takes a close look at a map of the Pacific to find Rapa Nui, a tiny triangle covering about 63 square miles (164 square kilometers). Home to about 7,700 people – about half of them with Rapanui ancestry -- it’s one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands. The quickest way to get there is a six-hour flight from Santiago, Chile, covering 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers). Much farther away, to the northwest, are the more populous islands of Polynesia.
The remoteness has shaped the community’s view of the world, its spirituality and culture. Its small size also plays a part: it seems everyone knows one other.
Rapa Nui was formed at least 750,000 years ago by volcanic eruptions. Its first inhabitants were sailors from Central Polynesia who gradually created their own culture. The moai were carved between the years 1000 and 1600.
The first Europeans arrived in 1722, soon followed by missionaries. Current religious activities mix ancestral and Catholic beliefs.
The arrival of outsiders had grim effects: Hundreds of Rapanui were enslaved by Peruvian raiders in 1862 and taken to South America, where many died in cruel conditions.
In 1888 Chile annexed the island and leased it to a sheep company. Only by the 20th century did the islanders begin to recover their autonomy, though there were no written Rapanui annals to recount their early history.
Without such books to preserve their legacy, the Rapanui have imprinted their people’s memory in activities and traditions passed from generation to generation. The hand of the fisherman who casts a hook carries the wisdom of his ancestors. The women’s hairstyle evokes the pukao, a hat made of reddish stone placed on the heads of the moai….
At 2 in the morning on Oct. 4, when the fire was finally controlled, those risking their safety around the burning crater were untrained volunteers using shovels and rocks, cutting down trees and branches.
‘Family, friends and Rapanui came,’ Pakarati said. ‘What are you going to tell people when they are in such anguish, when they know that their volcano, where the moai were built, is burning?’
The fire covered 254 hectares (about one square mile). It originated away from the volcano, on a cattle ranch, but the wind brought flames to Rano Raraku. Some residents say they know who started the fire, but don’t expect any punishment due to a cultural reluctance to file a complaint against fellow Rapanui.
Each moai preserves precious information about its tribe. When an important Rapanui died -- a grandfather, a tribal chief -- some of his bones were placed under the ceremonial platform called an ahu and his spirit had the possibility of rebirth after a craftsman carved a moai in his likeness. Thus every moai is unique, bearing a name of its own.
When the moai were carved, the island was divided according to its clans, but most of the statues were created in Rano Raraku. The ahu were built near the sea….
It is not certain how the moai – which average 13 feet (four meters) in height and weigh many tons -- were transported to their ahu. One theory is that they were moved as if they were standing, dragged with small turns as one would do with a refrigerator….” Read more at AP News
Wave of states ban TikTok on gov't devices
“Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) banned ‘Chinese-owned mobile phone applications and websites’ — including TikTok and WeChat — from state-government devices and WiFi networks.
Why it matters: FBI Director Chris Wray warned in a speech on Dec. 2 that China can control the vide0-sharing app’s algorithm, ‘which allows them ... if they want to, to use it for influence operations.’
Georgia, New Hampshire, Alabama and Utah did the same with TikTok earlier in the week.
The week before, Maryland banned the app in state agencies, and Indiana sued TikTok.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) issued a ban on Nov. 29.
The growing list, tallied by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr:
Twitter restores journos
“Twitter restored the accounts of some journalists who were suddenly suspended Thursday night.
Keith Olbermann remained locked out this morning.
Today's N.Y. Post cover
Elon Musk staged a Twitter poll of whether ‘Unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time.’
Of 3.7 million votes, 59% chose ‘Now.’ 41% said ‘In 7 days.’
‘The people have spoken,’ Musk tweeted early today. ‘Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now.’” Read more at Axios
Tesla's worst week in 2½ years
Data: Yahoo Finance. Chart: Axios Visuals
“Tesla had its worst week since March 2020, as CEO Elon Musk sold $3.6 billion in stock, MarketWatch reports.
The stock fell 4.7% yesterday, for a weekly decline of 16%.” Read more at Axios
Angelina Jolie steps down as UN refugee agency envoy to engage ‘directly with refugees’
By Liam Reilly and Chloe Melas, CNN
Published 7:39 AM EST, Sat December 17, 2022
Special envoy Angelina Jolie talks to people inside a camp run by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Maicao, Colombia, on June 8, 2019.
Colombian Foreign Ministry/Handout/Reuters
CNN —
“Angelina Jolie is moving on from her role as a United Nations special envoy for refugees, and will be engaging ‘on a broader set of humanitarian and human rights issues,’ the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the actress said in a joint statement.
Jolie – who has worked with UNHCR for over two decades and was appointed special envoy in 2012 – says she plans to ‘work differently’ and engage ‘directly with refugees and local organisations,’ among other endeavors.
‘I am grateful for the privilege and opportunity I have had to work with so many outstanding and dedicated UNHCR field officers and other colleagues doing lifesaving work globally, and to serve as Special Envoy,’ said Jolie in the statement issued Friday.
‘I will continue to do everything in my power in the years to come to support refugees and other displaced people.’” Read more at CNN
Los Angeles' celebrity mountain lion P-22 euthanized due to severe injuries, illness
“California's celebrity mountain lion P-22 was euthanized Saturday morning, ending the feline's decades-long reign over Los Angeles, after he was found with severe health problems, officials said.
P-22, thought to be about 12 years old, was the face of an international effort to save California's threatened puma population and helped draw support for the world's biggest wildlife bridge, a $90 million project expected to be finished in 2025. The beloved cat, who made a home in Griffith Park near the famed Hollywood Sign, also became a mascot of sorts for the city in a place known for its glitz and glam.
After a comprehensive medical evaluation, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife found that the beloved mountain lion ‘had several severe injuries and chronic health problems,’ according to a Saturday statement. He was ‘compassionately euthanized’ Saturday morning, officials said.
He had ‘significant trauma’ to his head, right eye and internal organs, confirming worries that he'd suffered a recent injury, perhaps the result of being hit by a car. The medical team at San Diego Zoo Safari Park said the damage to his internal organs would require invasive surgical repair.” Read more at USA Today
The De-Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth Is a Legal and Regulatory Nightmare
A biotech firm wants to resurrect the Pleistocene mammal in Alaska—and it’s not clear the U.S. government can stop them.
JEAN-MARC ZAORSKI/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES
Museumgoers view a woolly mammoth exhibit at the Galerie de l’Aurignacien in France in 2015.
‘How much would you pay to see a woolly mammoth?’ asked a recent headline in the MIT Technology Review. Colossal Biosciences, which calls itself the world’s first de-extinction company, intends to make that more than a hypothetical. At its founding last year, Colossal generated a thunderclap of publicity for its announced goal of creating mammoths in its labs and releasing them in a park in Siberia. Media coverage offered an inspiring image of the tusked giants, who weighed up to 10 tons, once again trampling across the snowy earth.
But there was a problem—and no, not just the technical hurdle of restoring extinct species via biotechnology. The region of Siberia Colossal had in mind, Sakha, has a thriving underground trade in mammoth tusks. Specimens preserved in ice and riverbeds can be passed off as elephant ivory: One find can generate enough income for a hunter to feed his family for a year. So George Church, a Harvard geneticist and co-founder of Colossal, told CNN that in order to avoid its creations being poached, Colossal was considering bringing them back without tusks.
Mammoths without their iconic body part symbolize a crucial fact about de-extinction: Any scientific breakthrough like this will be subject to political and economic considerations as well. Indeed, Colossal’s other co-founder, entrepreneur Ben Lamm, now says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused it to pause its Siberian plan and begin investigating locations in Alaska instead.
Wherever newly revived animals might end up—and the woolly mammoth isn’t the only animal on Colossal’s agenda—it’s increasingly apparent that de-extinction projects require a legal framework. Currently it’s unclear whether the patchwork of laws in various countries on genome editing, animal use, and other topics amount to much regulation of de-extinction at all. But whether to bring back extinct species should ultimately be up to governments, not private firms such as Colossal.
Interest in Colossal and de-extinction more broadly reflect our increasing ability to reengineer other species. In 2000 the bucardo, a wild goat native to France and Spain, went extinct. Three years later, a team that included scientists from Advanced Cell Technology, a U.S. firm, used cells taken from the last living bucardo to create embryos that were inserted in surrogate goat and goat-bucardo mothers. Of the seven pregnancies that ensued, one resulted in a live birth. The animal lived for several minutes, during which de-extinction was briefly a reality.
Creating a clone that is genetically identical to a donor animal, as happened with the bucardo, requires a living cell from the donor. That’s not possible with mammoths, so Colossal says it will use gene-editing tools to make the genome of Asian elephants, the mammoth’s closest living relative, more mammoth-like.
Gene-editing technology currently allows researchers to make thousands of genetic changes simultaneously, whereas 1.5 million genetic differences separate elephants from mammoths. Some critics say that because of this, Colossal, rather than bringing back the mammoth, is really working toward the birth of a mammoth-like elephant. Colossal would seem to agree. Its website says the company’s long-term goal is “a cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the Woolly Mammoth. It will walk like a Woolly Mammoth, look like one, sound like one.”
This plan raises many concerns. Mammoths are estimated to have eaten 400 pounds of grass and plants a day. Depending on how many were introduced, their ecological impact could be significant. De-extinction proposals therefore need to take into account the interests of people and animals living near introduction sites. Giving birth to a mammoth would also likely require a surrogate mother elephant, all species of which are endangered, calling into question their use. Finally, scientists suggest that mammoths may have gone extinct because of their inability to adapt to the warmer climate that followed an ice age. Before creating animals in their image, we will want evidence that they can survive our own period of global warming.
There are currently no laws designed to ensure that de-extinction is carried out in an environmentally responsible way. In some instances, endangered species regulations might apply. Species have been known to remain listed under the Endangered Species Act for decades after disappearing (often because scientists were hoping for a sighting that never came). A restoration project involving an extinct animal still listed as endangered might require federal approval. But the applicability of existing law to these cases is unclear. And since mammoths and many other species went extinct before 1967, when the list was introduced, they have never been listed.
Revising the Endangered Species Act to explicitly apply to de-extinct animals would be a welcome step. An example of what that could mean in practice is provided by the black-footed ferret project, which also involved advanced bioscience. In 2020, a team of scientists coordinated by Revive and Restore, a biotechnology firm, cloned a ferret that died in the 1980s.* Their goal was to expand the limited genetic diversity of existing populations. Before the company could go ahead, it had to obtain an endangered species recovery permit. Requiring an equivalent permit for de-extinction would narrow the legal gap between creating an endangered animal and creating an extinct one.
American legislation, however, is unlikely to be enough. In addition to Russia, Colossal also has its eye on Australia, where it says it wants to reintroduce the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, which went extinct in 1936. Any country where de-extinction occurs will need to regulate it. De-extinction ideally would also be subject to treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (which the United States, alone among countries, has not ratified) or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (to which the U.S. is a party). Amending these or other international instruments is necessary given not only the global reach of de-extinction firms but the possibility of de-extinct animals crossing national borders.
Existing laws and treaties cannot address all of the issues de-extinction raises. ‘Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Mammoths?’ was the title of a 2018 academic article that noted that mammoths are social creatures whose welfare has received scant attention in the de-extinction debate. Creating one solitary mammoth to be confined in a zoo, for example, would be especially cruel. We should also hope that future de-extinctions avoid the invasive procedures used in the bucardo project, which saw scientists insert embryos in over 50 potential mothers in order to create those seven pregnancies. (Colossal, to its credit, says it hopes eventually to use artificial wombs. But not only are these still at the drawing board, they raise questions about how calf-mother bonding, which infant mammals depend on to develop, would occur.)
And what is a genetically engineered species, anyway? How should we classify animals whose genes are edited to make them resemble a long-vanished species? Those who say the genes of an elephant, however modified, cannot result in a mammoth are using a definition of species that requires strict genetic similarity, which some biologists and philosophers reject. Elephants and mammoths share over 99 percent of their DNA, and the genetic profile of any species can change over time, through adaptation and genetic drift. If so, then Colossal’s creations could still be mammoths, their genetic distinctiveness notwithstanding.
This question, too, has profound legal ramifications. De-extinction as Colossal envisions it is perhaps best understood as attempting to create animals that are visually and functionally similar to extinct models, whether or not they are the same species. But because genetic editing could be said to result in new species, de-extinction firms may someday argue that lab-grown animals are their creations, which they should be able to patent….” Read more at The New Republic
Croatia beats Morocco 2-1 to finish in third place at World Cup
Croatia matched their best-ever World Cup performance, emerging as the 2-1 winners of a vigorously contested third place match over the tournament’s darling, Morocco.
Third place games have often been said to be more open, positive affairs due to the relative lack of pressure, and both teams got right to work in this edition. Croatia took a sixth-minute lead with by far their earliest goal of the tournament, using a clever set piece routine.
Lovro Majer clipped a free kick in for Ivan Perisic, who was running away from goal. Perisic came up with a critical moment of misdirection, spinning at the last moment to guide his header back from where he came, and Joško Gvardiol was free to hurl himself at the ball, sending a diving header just barely inside Yassine Bounou’s right-hand post….” Read more at USA Today
Vikings pull off biggest comeback in NFL history with victory over Colts
“Greg Joseph kicked a 40-yard field goal with two seconds left in overtime and the Minnesota Vikings engineered the biggest comeback in NFL history to beat the Indianapolis Colts 39-36 on Saturday.
The Vikings (11-3) also clinched the NFC North after coming back from a 33-0 halftime deficit.
The previous largest comeback belongs to the Buffalo Bills, who overcame a 32-point deficit against the Houston Oilers in the 1993 AFC Wild Card Round.
The Vikings scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, courtesy of three Kirk Cousins touchdowns, including one each to Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen.
After the Colts were stopped on a fourth and 1 from the Minnesota 36, the Vikings used one play on a Dalvin Cook 64-yard screen pass from Cousins and a two-point conversion to T.J. Hockenson to tie the score at 36 with 2:15 left in regulation.” Read more at USA Today
Data: Axios research. Map: Jacque Schrag/Axios
“This map of college bowl games shows sunshine has been a magnet as the calendar grew from the Rose Bowl, ‘The Granddaddy of Them All.’” Read more at Axios