The Full Belmonte, 1/22/2023
Investigators Seize More Classified Documents From Biden’s Home
A team from the Justice Department conducted a 13-hour search of the president’s Wilmington residence on Friday.
“WASHINGTON — Investigators for the Justice Department on Friday seized more than a half-dozen documents, some of them classified, at President Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Del., after conducting a 13-hour search of the home, the president’s personal lawyer said Saturday evening.
The remarkable search of a sitting president’s home by federal agents — at the invitation of Mr. Biden’s lawyers — dramatically escalated the legal and political situation for the president, the latest in a series of discoveries that has already led to a special counsel investigation.
During Friday’s search, six more items with classified markings — including some documents from his time as a senator and others from his time as vice president — were taken by investigators, along with surrounding materials, according to the statement from Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden’s attorney.
Mr. Bauer did not indicate what had prompted the search, saying only that the president’s lawyers had offered to provide access for a search ‘in the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible.’ Justice Department investigators coordinated the search with Mr. Biden’s lawyers in advance, Mr. Bauer said, and the president’s personal and White House lawyers were present at the time….” Read more at New York Times
Police violently raid Lima university and Machu Picchu closed amid Peru unrest
Students say they were beaten and thrown out of dormitories as authorities crack down on protests against president
“Scores of police raided a Lima university on Saturday, smashing down the gates with an armoured vehicle, firing teargas and detaining more than 200 people who had come to the Peruvian capital to take part in anti-government protests.
Images showed dozens of people lying face down on the ground at San Marcos University after the surprise police operation. Students said they were pushed, kicked and hit with truncheons as they were forced out of their dormitories.
The police raid on San Marcos University – the oldest in the Americas – is the latest in a series of affronts driving growing calls for the president, Dina Boluarte, to step down after six weeks of unrest that has claimed 60 lives, while leaving at least 580 injured and more than 500 arrested.
Amid the demonstrations and with roadblocks paralysing much of the country, Peruvian authorities on Saturday ordered the closure “until further notice” of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu and the Inca trail that leads to the world heritage archeological site – Peru’s biggest tourist attraction which brings in more than a million visitors a year.
Rescue teams on Saturday had evacuated more than 400 tourists stranded at the iconic site, Peru’s ministry of tourism said.
“This afternoon the 418 domestic and foreign visitors were transferred from the town of Machu Picchu to ... Cusco,” the ministry’s Twitter account posted, along with photos of a train and passengers.
The demonstrations began in early December in support of the ousted former president Pedro Castillo but have shifted overwhelmingly to demand Boluarte’s resignation, the closure of Congress and fresh elections. Boluarte was Castillo’s vice-president and replaced him after he attempted to shutter congress and rule by decree on 7 December.
Many of those arrested in Saturday’s raid had travelled from southern Peru to the capital to take part in a demonstration last Thursday labelled the ‘takeover of Lima’ which began peacefully but descended into running battles between protesters and riot police amid stone-throwing and swirls of teargas.
In a statement on Twitter, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights called on the Peruvian authorities to ‘ensure the legality and proportionality of the [police] intervention and guarantees of due process’. It emphasised the importance of the presence of prosecutors, who were absent for the first hours of the raid.
Students living in halls of residence said they were violently forced out of their rooms by armed police who busted in doors and used shoves and kicks to eject them.
Esteban Godofredo, a 20-year-old political science student, was given medical treatment for injuries to his leg. ‘He hit me with his stick and he threw me to the ground and started kicking me,’ Godofredo said as he sat on the grass outside the residence with a heavily bruised, bandaged right calf.
Videos seen by the Guardian showed confused and terrified students massed outside their halls, some still in pyjamas, as riot police shouted orders and insults. Young men were forced to stand against a wall or kneel in a row.
‘They pointed their guns at us, and shouted, ‘Out out.’ We didn’t even have time to get our IDs,’ said Jenny Fuentes, 20, a student teacher. ‘They forced us to kneel. Many of the girls were crying but they told us to shut up.’
‘They didn’t tell us why we were being forced out of our rooms,’ she said. The group of about 90 students, who had remained on campus during the summer holidays to work and study, were then marched to the main patio, a 10-minute walk, where the other people had been detained.
Several hours after the raid, they had not been allowed to return to their rooms which were being searched by police.
‘I have been a student at San Marcos [University] and since the 1980s we have not experienced such an outrage,’ Susel Paredes, a congresswoman, said as she was prevented from entering the campus by a police cordon.
‘The police have entered the university residence, the rooms of the female students who had nothing to do with the demonstrators. They have threatened them and taken them out of their rooms while they were sleeping.’
Paredes said it was a flashback to regular police and armed forces raids on the public university in the 1980s and 90s, when the campus was seen as a hotbed for subversion during the state’s conflict with the Mao-inspired Shining Path rebels.
‘We are not in that time, we are supposedly under a democratic government that should respect fundamental rights,’ Paredes said.” [The Guardian]
9 killed in shooting near LA after Lunar New Year festival
By ANDREW DALTON
“MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — Nine people were killed in a mass shooting late Saturday in a city east of Los Angeles following a Lunar New Year celebration that attracted thousands, police said.
Sgt. Bob Boese of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the shooting was reported at 10:22 p.m. and occurred at a business on Garvey Ave. in Monterey Park. The shooter is a male, Boese said early Sunday.
Officials provided no information for several hours after dozens of police officers had responded to reports of the shooting.
Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people with a large Asian population that’s about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.
Seung Won Choi, who owns the Clam House seafood barbecue restaurant across the street from where the shooting happened, told the Los Angles Times that three people rushed into his business and told him to lock the door….” Read more at AP News
Top Biden aide Ron Klain expected to soon leave White House
By SEUNG MIN KIM, MICHAEL BALSAMO and ZEKE MILLER
“REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who has spent more than two years as President Joe Biden’s top aide, is preparing to leave his job in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with Klain’s plans.
Klain’s expected departure comes not long after the White House and Democrats had a better-than-expected showing in the November elections, buoyed by a series of major legislative accomplishments, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a sweeping climate, health care and tax package that all Republicans rejected.
The personnel change is also a rarity for an administration that has had minimal turnover so far. No member of Biden’s Cabinet has stepped down, in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s White House, with frequent staff turmoil and other crises.
The person familiar with Klain’s plans was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm the development, which was first reported by The New York Times….” Read more at AP News
Time’s Up to halt operations, shift resources to legal fund
By JOCELYN NOVECK
“NEW YORK (AP) — The Golden Globes carpet typically glitters with crystal-studded gowns in pastel hues, but it looked different in January 2018: The ballgowns were black, and the night’s key accessory was a pin that read “Time’s Up.” Onstage, Oprah Winfrey brought guests to their feet with a warning to powerful abusers: ‘Their time is up!’
Five years later, Time’s Up — the now-embattled anti-harassment organization founded with fanfare during the early days of the #MeToo reckoning against sexual misconduct — is ceasing operations, at least in its current form.
A year after pledging a ‘major reset’ following a scandal involving its leaders’ dealings with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid sexual harassment allegations, the group tells The Associated Press that Time’s Up is shifting remaining funds to the independently administered Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, and stopping other operations.
The decision, which board chair Gabrielle Sulzberger said takes effect by the end of January, caps a tumultuous period for an organization that made a splashy public entrance on Jan. 1, 2018, with newspaper ads running an open letter signed by hundreds of prominent Hollywood movie stars, producers and agents.
Following the highly visible show of support days later at the Globes, donations large and small flowed into a GoFundMe to the tune of $24 million, earmarked for the nascent Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. The following months saw the formation of the rest of Time’s Up, which promised a house-cleaning of an industry rocked by the stunning allegations against mogul Harvey Weinstein.
By January 2023, Time’s Up looked very different after a radical house-cleaning of its own — sparked by a damaging internal report — with only a skeleton crew and three remaining board members. Remaining funds now total about $1.7 million, Sulzberger said; the millions from the early donations already went to the legal fund.
‘It was not an easy decision, but the board was unanimous that it’s the right decision and the most impactful way we get to move forward,’ Sulzberger told the AP.
She and the remaining board members — Colleen DeCourcy and Ashley Judd, the actor and one of the most powerful early Weinstein accusers — will step down as Time’s Up Now and the Time’s Up Foundation, the two groups that formed what is commonly known as Time’s Up, shut down….” Read more at AP News
Violent protest in downtown Atlanta over killing of activist
By R.J. RICO
“ATLANTA (AP) — A protest turned violent in downtown Atlanta on Saturday night in the wake of the death of an environmental activist who was killed by authorities this week after officials said the 26-year-old shot a state trooper.
Masked activists dressed in all black threw rocks and lit fireworks in front of a skyscraper that houses the Atlanta Police Foundation, shattering large glass windows. They then lit a police cruiser on fire, smashed more windows and vandalized walls with anti-police graffiti as stunned tourists scattered.
The violent protesters were a subsection of hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered and marched up Atlanta’s famed Peachtree Street to mourn the death of the protester, a nonbinary person who went by the name Tortuguita and used they/it pronouns.
Tortuguita was killed Wednesday as authorities cleared a small group of protesters from the site of a planned Atlanta-area public safety training center that activists have dubbed ‘Cop City.’….” Read more at AP News
Sundance doc looks into Brett Kavanaugh investigation
By LINDSEY BAHR
“PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A new documentary looks into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and raises questions about the depth of the FBI investigation in 2018.
‘Justice,’ from filmmaker Doug Liman, debuted Friday night at the Sundance Film Festival to a sold-out theater surrounded by armed guards.
The film, made under intense secrecy, focuses on allegations made by Kavanaugh’s Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez that were detailed in a New Yorker article in 2018. Ramirez alleged that at a gathering with friends when she was a freshman in 1983, Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her. Kavanaugh has denied those claims. ‘Justice’ also plays a taped recording of a tip given to the FBI from another Yale classmate, Max Stier, that describes a similar incident that the FBI never investigated.
The Stier report was previously detailed in 2019 by New York Times reporters Robin Pogebrin and Kate Kelly as part of their book ‘The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation.’ But the details of it came under scrutiny. After the story was posted online but before it was in the print edition, the Times revised the story to add that the book reported that the woman supposedly involved in the incident declined to be interviewed, and that her friends say she doesn’t recall the incident.
Stier was not directly interviewed for the film and declined the filmmakers’ request to comment on the contents. An unnamed person whose voice was manipulated for anonymity provided the Stier tape to the filmmakers.
Kavanaugh was sworn in as the 114th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in October of 2018 after a narrow 50-48 roll call following a wrenching debate over sexual misconduct. He strenuously denied the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford, who says he sexually assaulted her when they were teens.
Many people referenced in the film, from Kavanaugh himself to several of Ramirez’s friends who were allegedly there, similarly declined to speak or never responded.
“Justice” is especially critical of the FBI investigation that took place after the hearings. Through FOIA requests the filmmakers found that there were some 4,500 tips sent to the tipline that went uninvestigated….” Read more at AP News
Hurts, Eagles pound Giants early, coast to NFC title game
By DAN GELSTON
“PHILADELPHIA (AP) — All it took was one throw. Jalen Hurts let it fly on his first pass attempt of the game and suddenly the unease that crept into that often worrisome Philly sports psyche — yeah, but how is his banged-up right shoulder, really? — seemed to dissipate.
Hurts’ shoulder was fine. No doubt about that.
With Hurts in complete control, the Philadelphia Eagles once again look like the team that was rarely challenged during an NFL-best 13-1 start.
Hurts threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score during a dominant first half, and the Eagles overwhelmed the New York Giants 38-7 on Saturday night in an NFC divisional playoff game.
‘To have him out there, I know this is high praise, it’s like having Michael Jordan out there,’ coach Nick Sirianni said. ‘He’s your leader. He’s your guy. That’s the biggest respect I can pay to him.’
Top-seeded Philadelphia will host the NFC championship game next Sunday against either Dallas or San Francisco….” Read more at AP News
Jeremy Renner says he broke 30-plus bones in snowplow mishap
FILE - Jeremy Renner arrives at the premiere of "Avengers: Endgame," at the Los Angeles Convention Center on April 22, 2019. In social media posts Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, Renner said he broke more than 30 bones in a snowplow accident on New Year's Day. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
“LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Jeremy Renner says he broke more than 30 bones in a snowplow accident on New Year’s Day.
Renner, 52, said earlier that he is recovering at home from what Nevada authorities say were serious chest injuries he suffered when he was run over by his 7-ton Pistenbully snow groomer while helping free a relative’s car on a private road near Lake Tahoe.
In social media posts Saturday, Renner expressed ‘much love and appreciation’ to people for their ‘messages and thoughtfulness.’
‘These 30 plus broken bones will mend, grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens,’ he wrote.
He also said ‘morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years …. Spawned from tragedy for my entire family, and quickly focused into uniting actionable love.’” [AP News]
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin marries longtime love on 93rd birthday
“LOS ANGELES (AP) — Astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin announced on Facebook that he has married his ‘longtime love’ in a small ceremony in Los Angeles.
Aldrin, who made history along with Neil Armstrong as the first humans to set foot on the surface of the moon, said the wedding took place on Friday, which was his 93rd birthday.
‘I am pleased to announce that my longtime love and partner, Dr. Anca V Faur, and I have tied the knot. We were joined in holy matrimony in a small private ceremony in Los Angeles, and are as excited as eloping teenagers,’ he wrote.
The post received 53,000 Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘loves’ by Saturday and was accompanied by several photos of the newlyweds.
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin made their historic walk on the lunar surface, fulfilling a vow by the late President John F. Kennedy to send a manned crew to the moon and safely return them to Earth. Michael Collins was the third member of the crew.” [AP News]