The Full Belmonte, 12/27/21
A traveler is helped by an agent at a check-in kiosk at the American Airlines counter at Denver International Airport yesterday.
“Coronavirus outbreaks are fouling things up everywhere. Major US airlines canceled or delayed thousands of flights over the busy holiday travel weekend due to staffing issues caused by the Omicron surge, including 1,200 flights that were canceled yesterday. At sea, at least four cruise ships were turned away from US ports of call or were prohibited from letting passengers disembark because of coronavirus cases on board. Covid-19 has also thinned out the highly anticipated college football bowl season. The Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland, will not be played today, and neither will Wednesday’s inaugural Fenway Bowl in Boston. In total, five bowl games have been canceled or impacted by Covid-19.” Read more at CNN
“A massive winter snowstorm blanketed much of the western U.S. on Sunday as parts of the South saw unseasonably warm temperatures, breaking record highs in some cities on Christmas Day.
The National Weather Service announced winter storm warnings across the West Coast on Sunday, stretching from the Canadian to the Mexican border.
Snow and ice caused widespread problems at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. About 27% of flights Sunday were canceled and and 39% were delayed, according to the tracking website FlightAware, which doesn't specify causes.
Airlines are struggling with cancellations and delays over the holidays due to staffing shortages caused by the omicron variant.
The snowstorm slammed the Reno-Tahoe region, dumping several inches of snow in the Reno area and several feet at Lake Tahoe ski resorts.” Read more at USA Today
“The juries in the two very different, high-profile trials will resume deliberations this week after a holiday break. Ghislaine Maxwell faces six charges in her federal trial related to what prosecutors say were her efforts to groom and traffic underage girls to be sexually abused by her close companion Jeffrey Epstein. Four women testified during the proceedings, saying Maxwell facilitated, and sometimes participated in their abuse. Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO and founder of blood-testing startup Theranos, faces federal criminal fraud charges over allegations that she misled investors, doctors and patients about the company’s testing abilities.” Read more at CNN
“Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, has said the panel will open an inquiry into Donald Trump’s phone call seeking to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January hours before the insurrection.
The chairman said the select committee intended to scrutinize the phone call – revealed last month by the Guardian – should they prevail in their legal effort to obtain Trump White House records over the former president’s objections of executive privilege.
‘That’s right,’ Thompson said when asked by the Guardian whether the select committee would look into Trump’s phone call, and suggested House investigators had already started to consider ways to investigate Trump’s demand that Biden not be certified as president on 6 January.” Read more at The Guardian
“WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it had given the go-ahead to two major solar projects on federal land in the California desert, pushing forward with clean energy plans by using federal authority after Joe Manchin III, the West Virginia senator and coal industry supporter, this week said he would not back broader climate legislation, stalling it in Congress.
The two approved solar projects, and a third for which approval is nearing completion, would generate about 1,000 megawatts, enough electricity to power about 132,000 homes, the Interior Department said. All three projects are in Riverside County, Calif.
The project approvals are significant because they represent one of a limited number of policy tools available to the Biden administration as it works to wean the United States from fossil fuels and achieve a goal of slashing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions roughly in half by 2030.
Democrats have vowed to move forward with a vote on President Biden’s signature policy agenda, the Build Back Better Act, which includes $555 billion in clean energy tax credits. But the measure is not expected to pass given the statement this week from Mr. Manchin announcing his opposition.” Read more at New York Times
“China is planning to tighten restrictions for Chinese companies that want to go public in international markets. Under a new system proposed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a company would have to register with the agency first, and then meet a set of government requirements. China has actively tried to discourage companies from trading in overseas markets out of concern for national security, but the government has stopped short of banning the practice altogether. Meanwhile, Evergrande, the Chinese real estate company known as the world's most indebted property developer, says it has made progress in resuming construction on homes in an effort to dig its way out of more than $300 billion in liabilities.” Read more at CNN
“At least 30 people, including women and children, were killed in eastern Myanmar during a Christmas Eve attack, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group. Two members of international humanitarian group Save the Children were also reported missing after the attack. Myanmar's National Unity Government blamed the country’s military junta and called for an end to their violent rule. The Myanmar military, which seized power in a February coup, says it shot and killed a number of ‘terrorists with weapons’ in the area. The Karenni National Defense Force, one of the largest of several civilian militias, said the dead were civilians seeking refuge from the conflict.” Read more at CNN
FILE - Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves the International Court of Justice after the first day of three days of hearings in The Hague, Netherlands on Dec. 10, 2019. A court in military-ruled Myanmar has postponed a verdict on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021 in a case against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in which she is charged with importing and possessing walkie-talkies without following official procedures, a legal official familiar with the case said. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
“BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-ruled Myanmar postponed its verdicts Monday on two charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in which she is accused of importing and possessing walkie-talkies without following official procedures, a legal official familiar with the case said.
The case in the court in the capital, Naypyitaw, is among many brought against the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the army seized power on Feb. 1, ousting her elected government and arresting top members of her National League for Democracy party.
The court gave no reason for delaying the verdicts until Jan. 10, according to the legal official, who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, who have restricted the release of information about Suu Kyi’s trials.
Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in last year’s general election, but the military said there was widespread electoral fraud, an assertion that independent poll watchers doubt.” Read more at AP News
“Police body camera video is set to be released today in connection with the death of a teenage girl who was shot and killed as police responded to an incident in a Los Angeles-area store last Thursday. The 14-year-old was in a dressing room with her mother when police fired at a man suspected of attacking another woman in the store. A bullet penetrated a wall and struck the girl. The LAPD said it is planning to release body cam footage, 911 calls, radio transmissions and other evidence related to the shooting. The California Department of Justice is also investigating the incident.” Read more at CNN
“The pandemic has caused many supply-chain bottlenecks in everyday life, but few are as critical as the United States’ ever-shrinking blood banks. For the American Red Cross, which supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood, and other nonprofit blood centers, the problem lies mostly at the top of the chain: the diminishing number of healthy donors.
‘This is the biggest challenge that I’ve seen in my 30 years in the business,’ said Chris Hrouda, president of biomedical services at the American Red Cross, in an interview Thursday.
Donations of blood typically decline at this time of year, when holiday parties, wintry weather, seasonal illnesses, travel, and school and college breaks lead to lower donor turnout. But Hrouda said this month’s national supply had dipped to levels that the Red Cross has not seen in 10 years.
‘We simply like to keep three days of inventory,’ he said. ‘We’re struggling to keep one day.’ Blood takes up to three days to be tested and prepared for patients.
Remote work, blood drive cancellations, and the limits that colleges and businesses have placed on the number of people allowed in public spaces have all reduced donor turnout.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Davyon Johnson, 11, couldn’t quite understand it: the pizza party, the accolades from the mayor of Muskogee, Okla., his picture in the newspaper and on television — and the word that had been linked to his name: hero.
Why, the sixth grader asked his mother, was he being rewarded for doing the right thing?
‘I told him, ‘You saved two people’s lives,’’ said LaToya Johnson, Davyon’s mother. ‘That is special.’
And so began a whirlwind December for Davyon, who lives in Muskogee, Okla., who loves wrestling, basketball, remote-controlled cars and Fortnite, and who was honored by his community this month for saving the life of a fellow student who was choking and an older woman who was escaping a house fire, both on the same day, Dec. 9.
The Muskogee Police Department and Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office presented Davyon with a certificate on Dec. 15, naming him an honorary member of their forces.” Read more at New York Times
“Jared Kushner's global investment firm, Miami-based Affinity Partners, has raised more than $3 billion in commitments from international investors, Reuters' Steve Holland reports.
Why it matters: Kushner hopes to create an ‘investment corridor’ between Israel and Saudi Arabia.” Read more at Axios
“The Fenway Bowl (Virginia vs. SMU) and the Military Bowl (Boston College vs. East Carolina) were both scrapped over the weekend due to COVID-19 issues with Virginia and Boston College, respectively, while Miami had to drop out of the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl against Washington State. While officials discussed just letting SMU and East Carolina play each other in one bowl game, the logistics proved too complicated. The Sun Bowl is still searching for a replacement for Miami.” Read more at The Athletic
“America is consuming more beef than ever. But many ranchers are barely hanging on.” Read more at New York Times
Truck driver Sammy Lloyd in Virginia last year. Most truck drivers work 60 to 70 hours per week without overtime pay, according to Truckers Movement for Justice. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
“Industry bosses complain they can’t hire drivers but workers say they’re underpaid and treated ‘like trash’
Tim Clemons has driven nearly 3 million miles around the US in his 30 years as a truck driver. ‘This used to be a great job,’ said Clemons. ‘I provide a valuable service to this country. It would be nice if we weren’t looked down upon like trash.’
While the industry says there is a national shortage of drivers and complains regulation is holding back hiring, Florida-based Clemons has another theory: working conditions have deteriorated since he started driving, he said. It’s more difficult to find parking, access to bathrooms. Dispatchers and brokers are pushing harder to deliver loads in a certain amount of time or else drivers face fines or deductions. Drivers earn less.
All these factors may explain why annual turnover at big trucking employers averaged 94% between 1995 and 2017. And that’s before Covid upended the supply chain and increased demand for drivers, and the pressures they face.
Most facilities Clemons drives to do not provide bathrooms for truck drivers, and many truck stops are backed up with wait times to refuel and use the bathroom.
‘If you haven’t found a place to park by 2 or 3pm in a truck stop, you’re looking for any place to park, yet we’re fined and towed for just trying to be safe,’ Clemons said. ‘When you have a 300-mile run and six to seven hours to be there, you don’t have time to waste, so either you’re late or you’re on time and refused use of the facilities. As nasty as it may sound, most of us experienced drivers carry garbage bags and a five-gallon bucket, or a potty chair with plastic grocery bags.’
According to the American Trucking Associations, the lobbying organization for large trucking employers, the US has a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers that is disrupting the nation’s supply chains, and the shortages are projected to worsen over the next few years.
This claim has been repeated consistently over the years and has recently been cited by industry groups in favor of a bill in Congress to lower the commercial driver’s license age requirement from the age of 21 to 18. But truck drivers are quick to highlight the low pay, poor treatment, and poor working conditions they endure throughout the industry as prevailing issues for employers who claim to have trouble finding and retaining enough drivers.
‘The industry has recycled this narrative about every three months for over 20 years. There is no truck driver shortage,’ said Desiree Wood, the president of Real Women in Trucking. ‘It is indeed a pay shortage and work conditions issue.’
The Bureau of Labor Statistics published an article in March 2019 discussing the widespread and constant claims of labor shortages in the trucking industry, but found that if wages rise in the industry, any long-term labor shortages would be improved. ‘As a whole, the market for truck drivers appears to work as well as any other blue-collar labor market,’ the report concluded.
Darrell Kirkland, a truck driver based in Georgia for 31 years, explained the various ways in which truck drivers are taken advantage of by operators and shipping receivers, such as working several hours a day without pay due to waiting to pick up or drop off loads. He has waited up to 36 hours, with typical wait times of several hours.
‘Most drivers don’t get paid for the detention times,’ said Kirkland. ‘A trucking company may allow their customers a two- to three-hour time period, before they start charging detention. So that waiting time the driver doesn’t get paid for and it uses up the driver’s available hours to drive for the day.’
Truck drivers are often charged lumbar fees by receiving companies to unload freight, and won’t allow drivers to unload trucks themselves, adding more unpaid time to drivers’ schedules.
‘Most driver pay is pay per mile, but it varies from one company to another,’ added Kirkland. ‘If the wheels aren’t turning, the driver isn’t earning.’
Nearly 2 million Americans work as truck drivers, a rate that has steadily increased over the years from around 1.57 million truck drivers in 2000. States issue more than 450,000 commercial driver’s licenses per year.
While more Americans are working as truck drivers, wages have drastically declined since the passage of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which deregulated the US trucking industry.
When adjusted for inflation, median wages for truck drivers in 1980 were about $110,000 annually. In 2020, median annual wages for truck drivers were $47,130. Nearly 40% of US truck drivers were covered by union contracts in 1983, which dropped to 10.1% in 2020. Many trucking companies also misclassify drivers as independent contractors, shifting overhead costs on to workers and burdening them with massive amounts of debt for their vehicles, gas, and fees.” Read more at The Guardian
“Sarah Weddington, an attorney who argued and won the Roe v Wade supreme court case which established the right to abortion in the US, has died aged 76.
Susan Hays, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner, announced the news on Twitter on Sunday and the Dallas Morning News confirmed it….
The court ruled on Roe v Wade in 1973. Nearly 50 years later the right it established is under threat from a supreme court packed with hardline conservatives, in part thanks to a Texas law that drastically restricts access and offers incentives for reporting women to authorities.” Read more at The Guardian
Edward O. Wilson in 1991. (AP)
“Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard naturalist whose mapping of social behavior in ants led him to study social behavior in all organisms and who became one of the greatest naturalists of his generation, died Dec. 26 in Burlington, Mass. He was 92.
The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation announced his death but did not provide a cause.
Often cited as Charles Darwin’s greatest 20th-century heir, Dr. Wilson was an eloquent and immensely influential environmentalist and was the first to determine that ants communicate mainly through the exchange of chemical substances now known as pheromones.
He discovered hundreds of new species by putting his hands in the dirt as a field biologist, synthesized evolving thinking in science and coined new terms, such as biodiversity and biophilia, to explain it. Of his many accomplishments in evolutionary biology, his biggest contribution was probably in the new scientific field of sociobiology, in which he addressed the biological basis of social behavior in animals, including humans.” Read more at Washington Post
“Lives Lived: Jean-Marc Vallée, the director behind the film ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ and the HBO show ‘Big Little Lies,’ was famous for a naturalistic and generous approach that brought out the best in those he worked with. He died at 58.” Read more at New York Times
“Peter Parker’s good fortune continued over the holiday weekend as Hollywood prepares to close the books on a turbulent 2021. Even with some mighty competition from new Matrix and Sing movies, and rising concerns over the omicron variant, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ stayed in the No. 1 spot and netted a few more milestones too including crossing the $1 billion mark globally.
According to studio estimates Sunday ‘Spider-Man’ added $81.5 million over the three-day weekend, down 69% from its first weekend. The Sony and Marvel film has now grossed $467 million from North American theaters, more than doubling the domestic grosses of 2021′s previous No. 1 film, ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.’
With $587.1 million from 61 overseas markets, in just 12 days of release, ‘Spider-Man’ has grossed $1.05 billion globally. It’s the first film of the pandemic to cross $1 billion and is tied with ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ for being the third-fastest film ever to do so — and this without the benefit of its release in China.” Read more at AP News