The Full Belmonte, 1/4/22
“The Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, a group that became eligible for initial shots in May.
Regulators also shortened by a month the amount of time that adults and adolescents should wait between second and third doses, allowing them to seek booster shots five months after second injections. And they allowed some immunocompromised children aged 5 to 11 to seek a third shot, including those who have undergone solid organ transplants or have conditions that amount to ‘an equivalent level of immunocompromise,’ the F.D.A. said in a statement.” Read more at New York Times
“Cloth masks might not be enough as Omicron spreads.
Physicians are now urging people to ditch cloth face masks, which they say may not provide enough protection against the virus. Instead, they recommend pairing cloth masks with surgical models or moving on to stronger respirator masks. Single-layer cloth masks, which many people prefer for comfort and style, can block larger droplets carrying the virus, but aren’t as effective in blocking smaller aerosols or particles carrying the virus, according to infectious-disease specialists. The Mayo Clinic began on Thursday requiring all patients and visitors to wear surgical masks or N95 or KN95 masks. Anyone wearing a single-layer, homemade cloth mask, gaiter or bandanna, or a mask with a vent, will be provided a medical-grade mask to wear over it.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told colleagues Monday that the chamber would vote no later than the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on changing Senate rules if Republicans continue to block voting rights legislation.
The announcement of the planned action by Jan. 17 represented Schumer’s strongest endorsement yet of trying to muscle through legislation that has been stymied because of Senate rules requiring a 60-vote threshold.
‘We hope our Republican colleagues change course and work with us,’ Schumer said in a letter. ‘But if they do not, the Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to protect the foundation of our democracy: free and fair elections.’
For the strategy to succeed, however, Schumer will need buy-in from two fellow Democrats — Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — who have voiced skepticism or opposition to changing Senate procedures in a way that would be needed to push voting rights priorities across the finish line.” Read more at Washington Post
Elizabeth Holmes, center, entering the courthouse in San Jose, Calif., on Monday.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times
“SAN JOSE, Calif. — Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood testing start-up Theranos, was found guilty of four of 11 charges of fraud on Monday, in a case that came to symbolize the pitfalls of Silicon Valley’s culture of hustle, hype and greed.
Ms. Holmes was the most prominent tech executive to field fraud accusations in a generation of high-flying, money-losing start-ups. A jury of eight men and four women took 50 hours to reach a verdict, convicting her of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was found not guilty on four other counts. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on three counts, which were set aside for later.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, terms that are likely to be served concurrently. Ms. Holmes is expected to appeal.
The verdict stands out for its rarity. Few technology executives are charged with fraud and even fewer are convicted. If sentenced to prison, Ms. Holmes would be the most notable female executive to serve time since Martha Stewart did in 2004 after lying to investigators about a stock sale. And Theranos, which dissolved in 2018, is likely to stand as a warning to other Silicon Valley start-ups that stretch the truth to score funding and business deals.
The mixed verdict suggested that jurors believed the evidence presented by prosecutors that showed Ms. Holmes lied to investors about Theranos’s technology in the pursuit of money and fame. They were not swayed by her defense of blaming others for Theranos’s problems and accusing her co-conspirator, Ramesh Balwani, the company’s chief operating officer and her former boyfriend, of abusing her.
They were also not swayed by the prosecutor’s case that she had defrauded patients. Ms. Holmes was acquitted on four counts related to patients who took Theranos’s blood tests and one related to advertisements that the patients saw.
The guilty verdict arrived in a frenzied period for the tech industry, with investors fighting to get into hot deals and often ignoring potential red flags about the companies they were putting money into. Some have warned that more Theranos-like disasters loom.
In recent years, tales of start-up chicanery, from the bungled initial public offering of WeWork to the aggressive boundary-pushing tactics of Uber, have not slowed the flow of capital toward charismatic founders spinning tales of business success. Those downfalls captured the public’s attention, but did not result in criminal charges.
Yet the Justice Department under President Biden has renewed its focus on white-collar crimes. ‘We will urge prosecutors to be bold,’ Lisa O. Monaco, the deputy attorney general, recently said in a speech. ‘The fear of losing should not deter them.’” Read more at New York Times
“NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James has subpoenaed testimony from Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., two adult children of former president Donald Trump’s who have served as executives at his company, as part of James’s ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization and its business practices.
The subpoenas were disclosed Monday in an unsealed court filing that also detailed a schedule for challenges to the requests that the pair sit for depositions and provide records. Lawyers for Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. agreed to file challenges by Dec. 27, according to the timeline.
The unsealed documents do not indicate whether those challenges were submitted or what they contained. But the filing suggests that further litigation over whether the subpoenas will be enforced was anticipated.
In the court filing, the names of Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were added as defendants in a civil probe that was opened months ago, when James (D) first asked a judge to order the Trump Organization and related parties to comply with subpoenas.
Alina Habba, an attorney for the former president and the Trump Organization, responded to a request for comment Monday by issuing a statement that called James’s actions ‘a threat to our democracy.’ She said the attorney general ‘has weaponized her office through this political witch hunt.’
James’ office launched its civil investigation into the Trump Organization and its officers in March 2019 over whether financial fraud was committed through property valuation practices. Investigators from the office are still actively requesting records and other evidence.” Read more at Washington Post
“The far-right firebrands and conspiracy theorists of the pro-Trump Internet have a new enemy: each other.
QAnon devotees are livid at their former hero Michael Flynn for accurately calling their jumbled credo ‘total nonsense.’ Donald Trump superfans have voiced a sense of betrayal because the former president, booed for getting a coronavirus immunization booster, has become a ‘vaccine salesman.’ And attorney Lin Wood seems mad at pretty much everyone, including former allies on the scattered ‘elite strike-force team’ investigating nonexistent mass voter fraud.
After months of failing to disprove the reality of Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss, some of the Internet’s most popular right-wing provocateurs are grappling with the pressures of restless audiences, saturated markets, ongoing investigations and millions of dollars in legal bills.
The result is a chaotic melodrama, playing out via secretly recorded phone calls, personal attacks in podcasts, and a seemingly endless stream of posts on Twitter, Gab and Telegram calling their rivals Satanists, communists, pedophiles or ‘pay-triots’ — money-grubbing grifters exploiting the cause.
The infighting reflects the diminishing financial rewards for the merchants of right-wing disinformation, whose battles center not on policy or doctrine but on the treasures of online fame: viewer donations and subscriptions; paid appearances at rallies and conferences; and crowds of followers to buy their books and merchandise.
But it also reflects a broader confusion in the year since QAnon’s faceless nonsense-peddler, Q, went mysteriously silent.
Without Q’s cryptic messages, influencers who once hung on Q’s every ‘drop’ have started fighting to ‘grab the throne to become the new point person for the movement,’ said Sara Aniano, a Monmouth University graduate student of communication studying far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories on social media.” Read more at Washington Post
“Apple Inc. became the first U.S. company to reach $3 trillion in market value, the latest milestone in a pandemic-era surge that carried shares of the iPhone maker and other large technology companies to unprecedented highs.
Apple shares crossed the milestone when they topped $182.856 Monday. The share price has more than tripled since the pandemic lows of March 2020, adding around $2 trillion in market capitalization.
Apple is a staple in retail and institutional investors’ portfolios. The milestone marked a 38% rise for Apple’s shares since the beginning of 2021, among the biggest gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Surging cases of the omicron variant are complicating students’ return to school following winter break.” [Vox] Read more at Boston Globe / Gal Tziperman Lotan and Taylor Dolven
“The number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 has risen by 40 percent over the past week, and new infections are now averaging more than 400,000 per day. Early results indicate omicron is less virulent than previous variants, but since it's more contagious, it could still overwhelm hospitals.” [Vox] Read more at Reuters / Lisa Shumaker
“That has some school administrators worried reopening schools could drive up cases even further; as a result, more than 2,000 schools across the country will close or shift to remote learning this week. Some larger school districts like Baltimore and Washington, DC, are extending their winter break, while smaller districts in New Jersey and Ohio are switching to remote learning.” [Vox] Read more at Axios / Tina Reed
“New York City Public Schools returned in person as scheduled on Monday; newly sworn Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have tried to assure parents that improved testing protocols will help keep students safe.” [Vox] Read more at NBC / AP
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The first time Celeste Norris laid eyes on Ashli Babbitt, the future insurrectionist had just rammed her vehicle three times with an SUV and was pounding on the window, challenging her to a fight.
Norris says the bad blood between them began in 2015, when Babbitt engaged in a monthslong extramarital affair with Norris' longtime live-in boyfriend. When she learned of the relationship, Norris called Babbitt's husband and told him she was cheating.
‘She pulls up yelling and screaming,’ Norris said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, recounting the July 29, 2016, road-rage incident in Prince Frederick, Maryland. ‘It took me a good 30 seconds to figure out who she was. … Just all sorts of expletives, telling me to get out of the car, that she was going to beat my ass.’
Terrified and confused, Norris dialed 911 and waited for law enforcement. Babbitt was later charged with numerous misdemeanors.
The attack on Norris is an example of erratic and sometimes threatening behavior by Babbitt, who was shot by a police officer while at the vanguard of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Former President Donald Trump and his supporters have sought to portray her as a righteous martyr who was unjustly killed.
Trump has called her ‘an incredible person’ and he even taped a posthumous birthday greeting to her in October. Trump has also demanded the Justice Department reinvestigate Babbitt's death, though the officer who shot her was cleared of any wrongdoing by two prior federal investigations.
But the life of the Air Force veteran from California, who died while wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, is far more complicated than the heroic portrait presented by Trump and his allies.
In the months before her death, Babbitt had become consumed by pro-Trump conspiracy theories and posted angry screeds on social media. She also had a history of making violent threats.
Babbitt, 35, was fatally shot while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker's Lobby inside the Capitol, where police officers were evacuating members of Congress from the mob supporting Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. She was one of five people who died during or immediately after the riot, including a Capitol Police officer.
On social media, Babbitt identified as a Libertarian and ardent supporter of the Second Amendment. Her posts included videos of profane rants against Democrats, COVID-19 mask mandates and illegal immigration.
Her Twitter account, which was taken down after her death, was rife with references to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which centers on the baseless belief that Trump has secretly battled deep-state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshiping cannibals that includes prominent Democrats who operate a child sex trafficking ring.” Read more at AP
“Key Donald Trump loyalists Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn are at the forefront of a drive to expand Trumpist influence at the local level of US politics while forging ahead with efforts aimed at promoting baseless claims that Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was fraudulent.
The growing drive by Trump’s hardcore allies has spurred election watchdog groups to voice alarm about the threat to democracy posed by Flynn and Bannon – and other Trump acolytes – as they combine debunked claims about election fraud and calls for further 2020 election audits with planning conservative takeovers of official positions that run US elections.
The moves come a year after the attack on the Capitol in Washington when a pro-Trump mob invaded the building in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory.
Flynn and Bannon, using varying paths, have focused new energy on increasing conservative influence by recruiting more allies for key posts at the local and precinct level with an eye on the 2022 and 2024 elections, and building more political alliances on issues such as vaccine requirements and mask mandates.
The strategies Flynn and Bannon are deploying overlap those of other conservative outfits, such as the influential youth group Turning Point USA, to expand the pro-Trump base at the precinct level, and work to elect Trump-backed politicians to key posts such as secretary of state in Georgia, Arizona and other battleground states.
Flynn and Bannon have separately relied on a mix of non-profit groups, including one backed by the multimillionaire Patrick Byrne, conservative social media outlets favored by the far right like Telegram, and events that convey evangelical Christian messages with political disinformation.” Read more at The Guardian
“(CNN)A 2009 settlement agreement between sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Roberts Giuffre -- the woman who accused him of sexual abuse and of trafficking her to Prince Andrew, among others -- was unsealed Monday.
It shows that Epstein paid Giuffre $500,000 to drop the case without any admission of liability or fault.
The document was unsealed as part of Giuffre's separate lawsuit against Prince Andrew. She alleges that Epstein trafficked her and forced her to have sex with his friends -- including the prince -- and that Andrew was aware she was underage (17) in the US. Prince Andrew has denied the allegations.
Attorneys for Andrew argued in his motion to dismiss Giuffre's case against him in October that her lawsuit violates the terms of the settlement agreement with Epstein, where she agreed to a ‘general release’ of claims against Epstein and others.
In the copy unsealed Monday, Andrew's name does not explicitly appear as a party. The agreement says it serves to ‘remise, release, acquit, satisfy and forever discharge’ parties and ‘any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant’ but does not explicitly name any others in the document viewed by CNN.
Two other documents were filed along with the settlement agreement including a ‘Stipulation of Dismissal’ and a complaint from Epstein -- both of which are still under seal.” Read more at CNN
“2021 was the deadliest year for transgender and gender non-conforming people in the U.S. on record. At least 50 trans and gender non-conforming people were killed this year alone, per a report by LGBTQ advocacy organization the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)—the highest number of deaths since the organization began recording fatal violence in 2013.
The report makes clear that the full number of fatalities is likely much higher still; the deaths of trans and gender non-conforming people are often underreported, and the victims themselves are often misgendered. (At least 24 of those listed in HRC’s report were initially misgendered by the media or police.)…
Since 2013, HRC has documented 256 incidents of fatal violence against trans and gender-nonconforming people. Over three quarters of victims in that period were 35 years old or younger, and one in ten was under 21. And Black trans women were disproportionately the victims of fatal violence this year, as well as in years past—in the years since HRC has been keeping record, at least 84% of those killed were people of color, 85% were trans women and 66% were Black trans women.” Read more at Time
“A woman in Israel has come down with what is being dubbed ‘flurona’: the flu and Covid-19 at the same time.” A woman in Israel has come down with what is being dubbed "flurona": the flu and Covid-19 at the same time. [Vox] Read more at Daily Beast / Barbie Latza Nadeau
“In 2020, an unidentified North Korean man’s daring escape effort made headlines when he apparently used his experience as a gymnast to scale the 10-foot fortified fence at the border and defect to the South. Now, according to reports from South Korea, the same man has returned to the North. There were reports over the weekend that a man was seen crossing the militarized border from South Korea into North Korea in what, at first, appeared to be a vanishingly rare defection to the North. But Seoul’s defense ministry said Monday that the man was actually North Korean, and the Yonhap news agency reported that it was the same gymnast who made an athletic escape in 2020. ‘The authorities in charge are examining relevant details,’ South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement.” [Daily Beast] Read more at NBC
“The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been taken to hospital with an intestinal blockage and may need to undergo surgery, in the latest complication from a 2018 stabbing.
Bolsonaro said he started feeling unwell on Sunday afternoon after lunch and was taken to hospital early on Monday.
‘More tests will be conducted for a potential surgery on an internal obstruction in the abdominal region,’ Bolsonaro posted on Twitter, along with a photo of himself giving a thumbs-up in his hospital bed.
Bolsonaro said it was the second hospitalisation ‘with the same symptoms’ since he was stabbed during a September 2018 campaign event and underwent a series of emergency operations.” Read more at The Guardian
“Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced to flee the northern city of Gonaïves, where he and other government officials were attending a New Year’s Day Mass to mark the country’s independence from France, after a shootout that left one person dead and that his office cast as an attempt on his life.
Henry’s office said Monday that ‘bandits and terrorists’ put soldiers behind walls to shoot at his convoy and also threatened the bishop by surrounding the Cathedral of St. Charles Borromeo, where the Mass was taking place. It said arrest warrants had been issued and called the situation ‘intolerable.’
In a tweet, Henry thanked the bishop of Gonaïves and other church officials for doing their duty ‘despite the tense situation that reigned in the city.’ Le Nouvelliste, a Haitian newspaper, reported that one person was killed and at least two people were wounded in the gunfire, which prevented Henry from delivering a planned speech.” Read more at Washington Post
“In the latest instance of an industry giant acquiring the rights to a major artist’s body of work, David Bowie’s estate sold his songwriting catalogue to Warner Music Group. The deal, announced Monday by Warner Chappell Music, Warner’s music publishing subsidiary, includes hits such as ‘Space Oddity,’ ‘Life on Mars?’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust.’
‘These are not only extraordinary songs, but milestones that have changed the course of modern music forever,’ Guy Moot, co-chair and chief executive of Warner Chappell, said in a news release. ‘Bowie’s vision and creative genius drove him to push the envelope, lyrically and musically — writing songs that challenged convention, changed the conversation, and have become part of the canon of global culture.’
Bowie died of cancer in January 2016. The agreement encompasses the rights to 26 studio albums he put out while alive; the record ‘Toy,’ which was released as part of a box set last year and whose stand-alone, deluxe version will be available Friday; and songs from soundtracks and other works. According to the release, because Warner had already licensed Bowie’s recorded music catalogue, the new deal marks the company’s complete acquisition of his work as both a songwriter and recorded performer….
Several other artists have sold the rights to parts or all of their catalogues in recent years, including Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, the last of whom might have set a record with an estimated $550 million deal late last year. Variety reported that Bowie’s estate sold his catalogue for ‘a price upwards of $250 million.’
The sale coincides with the tail end of ‘Bowie 75,’ a retail experience with pop-up locations in New York and London that Bowie’s estate launched in celebration of what would have been his 75th birthday this Saturday.” Read more at Washington Post
Built in the third-century, the large Roman baths complex also featured open-air swimming pools, as well as a temple, garden and library. Bruce Ingwall via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
“After several years of disputes, Italy’s highest administrative court has ruled that McDonald’s may not build a drive-through restaurant beside the ancient Roman Baths of Caracalla. The ruling, which cited the ‘importance of protecting cultural heritage,’ upheld a lower court’s ban on the construction and also promised government authorities the right to stop future development projects around other heritage sites, report James Imam and Christina Ruiz for the Art Newspaper.
Completed in 216 C.E., the ancient baths are heated by underground wood-fired ovens and also include a garden, library, temple and outdoor exercise spaces. The area—located near the Caffarella Park, Appian Way and the Roman aqueducts—is protected under several cultural preservation schemes, including the Historic Center of Rome, a Unesco World Heritage site.” Read more at Smithsonian
BY THE NUMBERS
“403,385 — The seven-day average of daily reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S. on Sunday, marking a new pandemic record. The fresh peak arrived even as most states paused reporting during the New Year’s holiday weekend. Reporting delays will likely lead to spikes in reports of cases this week as states catch up.
36% — The approximate amount by which annual inflation in Turkey increased in December, up from 21.3% in November, marking the highest inflation rate since 2002, according to economists. The country’s weakening currency, the lira, is driving up the cost of food and other basic goods and destabilizing the wider economy.
18,000+ — The number of U.S. flights canceled between Christmas Eve and today, according to FlightAware. The new wave of cancellations and delays comes as the surge in Covid-19 infections across the U.S. has left the airline industry stretched thin. Airlines canceled more than 2,700 U.S. flights and delayed more than 3,300 flights by midday today alone.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“American car buying could soon look a lot more like it does in Europe, Joann Muller writes from Detroit for Axios What's Next.
Some companies plan to capitalize on the current inventory crunch by permanently shifting to an order-based system.
Why it matters: Packing lots with large numbers of cars, trucks and SUVs is a huge drain on profits for both dealers and automakers.
How European car buying works: Order the exact car you want — color, features, bells and whistles — then wait a month or so for delivery.
How it works: The pandemic finally made it possible to complete your car purchase online without setting foot in a showroom.” Read more at Axios