The Full Belmonte, 1/5/2022
“The United States reported well over one million cases of COVID-19 on Monday—the highest single-day caseload confirmed by any nation anywhere in the world since the pandemic began. The staggering figure, based on data from Johns Hopkins University and reported by Bloomberg News, shows that at least 1,042,000 positive tests were recorded on Monday. That shatters the previous high of of around 590,000 that was set in the U.S. last week. It’s also well over double the highest single-day caseload reported by India during its overwhelming Delta surge in May of last year.” Read more at Bloomberg News
“President Biden sought to reassure the public that the federal government is prepared to address the growing COVID-19 health crisis amid a staggering increase in infections driven by the omicron variant.” Read more at USA Today
“The U.S. doubled its order for Pfizer’s Covid treatment pills, to cover a further 10 million patients.” Read more at New York Times
“The CDC has updated its guidance on recommended Covid-19 isolation periods after criticism that the previous guidance -- announced just last week -- was confusing and incomplete. Now, the recommendations include a testing component, with the CDC urging people to take a rapid test near the end of their five-day isolation. If the test is positive, the CDC recommends isolating for a total of 10 days. If it’s not, the CDC still recommends avoiding travel and being in places where mask use isn’t possible for a total of 10 days. The testing recommendation may be challenging since at-home rapid tests are in short supply, and BinaxNOW tests, a popular brand sold by Walmart and Kroger, are going up in price. Some people are also worried about the rise of “flurona,” a simultaneous infection of Covid-19 and the flu. While a few cases have been reported, experts say it is extremely rare.” Read more at CNN
“The Australian Open granted Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 men’s tennis player, an exemption to its vaccine requirements. But it is unclear whether he will be able to enter the country.” Read more at New York Times
“Teachers in Chicago, the nation's third-largest school district, voted late Tuesday to switch to remote learning, and city leaders reacted by canceling classes Wednesday for most of the district's 330,000 students . The Chicago Teachers Union voted to pause in-person learning and work remotely until Jan. 18, or until COVID-19 cases fall below a particular threshold. The union, which has roughly 25,000 members, is also demanding the district require negative tests from students and staff before returning to school. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the vote constituted an ‘illegal work action,’ and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez described it as a ‘walkout.’ Teachers who do not show up will not be paid, Lightfoot said. School buildings will be open Wednesday and will provide essential services, such as meals and COVID-19 testing, Martinez said. The status of instruction for the rest of the week remained in limbo, while district leaders said a plan to ‘continue student learning’ would come later Wednesday.” Read more at USA Today
“A Senate panel on Wednesday will hold a hearing on the U.S. Capitol Police in the aftermath of last year's U.S. Capitol insurrection. U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger and other witnesses are expected to appear at the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration hearing, which comes on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Manger replaced ex-chief Steven Sund, who resigned on Jan. 7. In addition to the Senate hearing, Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to give a speech Wednesday about the Justice Department’s efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the attack. The Washington Post was the first to report about Garland's speech. About 140 officers were injured in the Capitol attack, and four died by suicide in the weeks that followed. More than 700 people have been arrested and charged for their roles in the insurrection.” Read more at USA Today
“The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is requesting the voluntary cooperation of Fox News host Sean Hannity, saying it has information that indicates Hannity had relevant communications with President Donald Trump and some White House staff leading up to the Capitol siege and in the days afterward.
In a letter to Hannity on Tuesday, the heads of the committee wrote that they were in possession of material that suggested Hannity ‘had advance knowledge regarding President Trump’s and his legal team’s planning for January 6th.’
That information also showed Hannity expressed concerns and provided advice to Trump and White House staff members about that planning, wrote Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the chair and vice chair of the committee, respectively.” Read more at Washington Post
“The number of times workers quit their jobs reached a fresh high in November while job openings stayed close to record levels, signs the labor market remained tight late last year.
The Labor Department on Tuesday said there were 10.6 million job openings at the end of November, a decrease from 11 million the prior month. The total number of quits reached 4.5 million after slightly falling in October from the previous month. The quits rate was 3%, up from 2.8% the prior month and returning to a record rate last seen in September.
Separately, more recent private-sector job openings analysis showed demand for workers increasing at the end of December. There were 12 million job openings in the U.S. at the end of December, according to estimates from job-search site Indeed.
The figures lag behind private-sector data by about a month and won’t reflect any impact from the Covid-19 surge from the Omicron variant, which started building in December and is creating disruptions in parts of the economy.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“[MOSCOW] China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin on Monday.
It said that the five countries - who are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - consider it their primary responsibility to avoid war between the nuclear states and to reduce strategic risks, while aiming to work with all countries to create an atmosphere of security.
‘We declare there could be no winners in a nuclear war, it should never be started,’ the Russian-language version of the statement read.” Read more at Business Times
“Democrats are facing a wave of exits in the House ahead of the critical midterm elections. Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush and Michigan Rep. Brenda Lawrence both announced they will not be seeking reelection in the fall, bringing the total number of Democrats planning to retire to 25. Eleven other members -- six Democrats and five Republicans -- are also planning to leave their posts to run for Senate or governor. Democratic leaders worry that the wave of resignations, along with redistricting efforts and low morale in the House, could bring more challenges to an already uncertain election season. Republican Devin Nunes, a close Trump ally who represented California for nearly 20 years, has just resigned from the House as well. He announced last month that he would be leaving Congress at the end of 2021 to become CEO of the Trump Media & Technology Group.” Read more at CNN
“Former President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a news conference he’d scheduled to coincide with observances of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Former President Donald J. Trump endorsed Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, on Monday, formally pledging his ‘complete support’ to a far-right foreign leader who has touted turning his country into an ‘illiberal state.’
Mr. Orban and his party have steadily consolidated power in Hungary by weakening the country’s independent and democratic institutions — rewriting election laws to favor his Fidesz party, changing school textbooks, curbing press freedoms, overhauling the Constitution and changing the composition of the judiciary.
The actions have caused consternation in the European Union, to which Hungary belongs, but also made Mr. Orban something of a cause célèbre in conservative American political circles, following years of an aggressive influence operation to bolster his image in the United States.
Last fall, Tucker Carlson, the top-rated Fox News host, broadcast from Budapest for a week, calling the nation a place ‘with a lot of lessons for the rest of us.’ Former Vice President Mike Pence visited Hungary last year for a conference on conservative values. And the American Conservative Union has been promoting plans for a gathering there, dubbed #CPACHungary, later this year.
Mr. Orban was an early supporter of Mr. Trump, endorsing him in the summer of 2016. After he won, Mr. Trump granted Mr. Orban a meeting in the Oval Office in 2019. The Hungarian leader had been denied such an audience since 1998.
After that meeting, Mr. Trump said Mr. Orban was ‘probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s OK.’
Mr. Orban again publicly backed Mr. Trump in 2020. Now, Mr. Trump is doing the same for Mr. Orban ahead of the Hungarian elections, scheduled for this spring.
In his endorsement on Monday, Mr. Trump hailed Mr. Orban as a ‘strong leader’ who has ‘done a powerful and wonderful job in protecting Hungary, stopping illegal immigration, creating jobs, trade, and should be allowed to continue to do so in the upcoming election.’
It is Mr. Trump’s second endorsement of a foreign leader since leaving the White House. He endorsed Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, last year.” Read more at New York Times
“Hundreds of motorists were trapped for hours — in some cases an entire day — along a 50-mile stretch of I-95 in Virginia after parts of the highway were closed due to heavy snow on Monday morning. A series of disabled trucks along the route made the situation even worse. People stuck in the massive backup described rationing heat in their cars and trading much-needed foodas the hours ticked by and night set in. Among those in the snowy nightmare was Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who spent 27 hours in the backup. The Virginia Department of Transportation, with the help of federal highway officials, had to remove dozens of stranded vehicles, aid disabled trucks and plow snow-covered stretches to relieve the congestion. Thankfully, no fatalities or injuries were reported as a result of the ordeal.” Read more at CNN
“ALBANY, N.Y.—Albany County prosecutors said Tuesday that they wouldn’t move forward with a misdemeanor sex crime charge against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, removing the most immediate legal threat to the embattled Democrat.
Mr. Cuomo was charged last October with forcibly touching his assistant Brittany Commisso during a 2020 encounter at the Executive Mansion in Albany. Ms. Commisso spoke to investigators working for Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, whose office filed the charge against Mr. Cuomo without coordinating with the district attorney, P. David Soares, officials said.
A lawyer for Mr. Cuomo didn’t return requests for comment. He has denied the charge and his lawyer said Mr. Apple’s timing was politically motivated. The former governor was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Albany City Court.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s medical team ruled out the need for intestinal surgery for now as his condition improved after a day of clinical treatment.” Read more at Bloomberg
“In the days before Christmas, U.S. officials in Boston unveiled insider trading charges against a Russian tech tycoon they had been pursuing for months. They accused Vladislav Klyushin, who’d been extradited from Switzerland on Dec. 18, of illegally making tens of millions of dollars trading on hacked corporate-earnings information.
Yet as authorities laid out their securities fraud case, a striking portrait of the detainee emerged: Klyushin was not only an accused insider trader, but a Kremlin insider. He ran an information technology company that works with the Russian government’s top echelons. Just 18 months earlier, Klyushin received a medal of honor from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. had, in its custody, the highest-level Kremlin insider handed to U.S. law enforcement in recent memory.
Klyushin’s cybersecurity work and Kremlin ties could make him a useful source of information for U.S. officials, according to several people familiar with Russian intelligence matters. Most critically, these people said, if he chooses to cooperate, he could provide Americans with their closest view yet of 2016 election manipulation.
According to people in Moscow who are close to the Kremlin and security services, Russian intelligence has concluded that Klyushin, 41, has access to documents relating to a Russian campaign to hack Democratic Party servers during the 2016 U.S. election. These documents, they say, establish the hacking was led by a team in Russia’s GRU military intelligence that U.S. cybersecurity companies have dubbed ‘Fancy Bear’ or APT28. Such a cache would provide the U.S. for the first time with detailed documentary evidence of the alleged Russian efforts to influence the election, according to these people.
Klyushin’s path to the U.S. — his flight from Moscow via private jet, his arrest in Switzerland, and his wait in jail as Russia and the U.S. competed to win his extradition — is described in U.S., European and Swiss legal filings, as well as in accounts of more than a half-dozen people with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity to speak about Moscow’s efforts and its causes for concern.
According to these accounts, Klyushin was approached by U.S. and U.K. spy agencies in the two years before his exit from Russia and received heightened levels of security in Switzerland. He also missed a final chance to appeal his extradition, an omission that baffled many observers in Moscow. His transfer to the U.S. represents a serious intelligence blow to the Kremlin, several of the people said, one that would deepen if Klyushin decides to seek leniency from U.S. prosecutors by providing information about Moscow’s inner workings.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Facebook groups swelled with at least 650,000 posts attacking the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory between Election Day and the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol, with many calling for executions or other political violence, an investigation by ProPublica and The Washington Post has found.
The barrage — averaging at least 10,000 posts a day, a scale not reported previously — turned the groups into incubators for the baseless claims supporters of President Donald Trump voiced as they stormed the Capitol, demanding he get a second term. Many posts portrayed Biden’s election as the result of widespread fraud that required extraordinary action — including the use of force — to prevent the nation from falling into the hands of traitors.” Read more at Washington Post
“TORONTO — Canadian officials said Tuesday they have reached $31.5 billion in agreements in principle with Indigenous groups to compensate First Nations children who were unnecessarily taken from their homes and put into the child welfare system, a major development in a dispute that’s long been a sticking point in Ottawa’s efforts to advance reconciliation with Indigenous people.
Under the agreements, half of the money would go to children and families harmed by an underfunded and discriminatory child welfare system on First Nations reserves and in the Yukon, while the rest would be earmarked over five years for long-term reforms, the Indigenous services ministry said in a statement.
Final details are to be settled between the government and Indigenous advocates over the coming months. A final agreement will be submitted to a federal court and human rights tribunal for approval.” Read more at Washington Post
“The US has arrested a Colombian man and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise last July. Mario Palacios was extradited to the US from Panama this week, and is alleged to be among the group of attackers who stormed Moise's private Port-au-Prince residence, killing the President and injuring his wife. It’s not clear how Palacios escaped Haiti after the attack. Authorities have said dozens of people were involved in Moise's death, including 26 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans. Senior agents from both the US and Colombia are involved in investigations, but key details -- such as what exactly happened inside Moise’s home and who masterminded the attack -- remain unclear.” Read more at CNN
“ADIOS! — Good riddance to 2021, a dumpster fire of a year that featured extreme weather, the endless pandemic, rising inequality, supply chain disasters and political violence.
This year has got to be better, right? Here are some positives to look forward to.
The number of electric vehicle models that will be available for sale in the U.S. in 2022, up from 62 last year, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit research group. Americans are warming to the idea of owning an EV, too. A Morning Consult survey found that 51 percent would consider buying an EV in the next decade, up from 39 percent at the start of 2021.
The amount of money that will start flowing into states and cities this year under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that President Joe Biden signed into law in November. In addition to historic levels of funding available for roads, transit, rail and more, states and cities that share the administration’s priorities on climate resilience, safe streets and social equity will be well-positioned to benefit.
The number of S&P 100 companies that disclose, or have committed to disclose, workforce diversity data to the public. That’s a sixfold increase from July 2020, when New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer launched a shareholder campaign for greater transparency. Companies with more than 100 employees are already required to disclose the race, ethnicity and gender of their workforce to the federal government, but that information typically isn’t made public.
The share of U.S. electricity that will be generated by renewable sources in 2022, including wind and solar, according to the Energy Information Administration. Yes, that’s a long way from the White House goal of 100 percent carbon-free power by 2030. But let’s call it a glass half-full. It would mark the biggest use of renewables to date. That’s not to say the energy transition is linear. Globally, greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector reached an all-time high in 2021 as recovering economies relied on coal and natural gas to meet demand. Still, clean energy is expected to account for 90 percent of new capacity in the coming years.
On average, 77 percent of adults across 33 countries are optimistic that 2022 will be better than 2021, according to a survey from market research firm Ipsos Group. That’s despite expectations of fast-rising prices and extreme weather. In the U.S., the outlook is slightly less positive, with about 71 percent upbeat about 2022. Only in Japan, Belgium, Turkey, France and Germany are people more pessimistic. By contrast, 94 percent of people in China are wearing rose-tinted glasses.” Read more at Politico
“Toyota Motor Corp. has for the first time overtaken General Motors Co.as the U.S.’s top-selling car company in 2021, a change driven largely by a global computer-chip shortage that dealt an uneven blow to the car business.
The Japanese auto maker, which for decades has worked to expand its presence in the U.S., outsold GM by roughly 114,000 vehicles in the full-year 2021. Toyota’s total U.S. sales of 2.3 million were up about 10% compared with 2020, the company said Tuesday.
By contrast, GM reported a nearly 13% slide in results for a total of 2.2 million vehicles sold in 2021, as the semiconductor shortage took a bigger toll on its manufacturing operations and left dealers with fewer vehicles to sell. GM had been the no. 1 auto-seller in the U.S. for decades.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Tesla has opened a new showroom in the capital of Xinjiang, a region at the heart of years-long campaign by Chinese authorities of repression and assimilation against the Uyghur people.
Tesla announced the opening in Urumqi with a Weibo post on 31 December saying: ‘On the last day of 2021, we meet in Xinjiang. In 2022 let us together launch Xinjiang on its electric journey!’
The post was accompanied by photos of the opening festivities including people holding placards which read ‘Tesla [heart] Xinjiang’.
The US has enacted a range of sanctions and regulatory and other measures against China over its continuing human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including restrictions on US business dealings with local operators and suppliers.
President Joe Biden last month signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and the US government intends to conduct a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
Uyghur rights groups criticised the opening of the showroom, reportedly Tesla’s 211th in China. The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged its immediate closure, and the cessation of what it alleged ‘amounts to economic support for genocide’.” Read more at The Guardian
Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images
“The NCAA transfer portal shoved that whole opt-out narrative from the spotlight Monday with two seismic moves:
Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams — arguably the nation’s most exciting returning passer — announced his entry into the portal, sending a shockwave through the Sooner fan base and across the sports world. Oklahoma is so not worried about this that they issued a lengthy press release to tell us how unfazed they are.
Former UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who had committed to transfer to UCLA, flipped to Oklahoma hours later, despite Williams saying in his announcement that returning to the Sooners was still an option. Gabriel clearly doesn’t think that’s a reality. It’s the biggest transfer flip I can remember, and a reminder that transferring players don’t sign letters of intent with their new school. They aren’t officially on the team until they’re enrolled in classes.
This is truly free agency, and I’m here for it. Williams essentially took a player option, opted to test the free-agent waters and find the best place for him after his coach left. Embrace it.” Read more at The Athletic
“Victim of a crime: "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider said she is feeling ‘fine’ after she was robbed of her credit cards, ID and phone over New Year's weekend.” Read more at USA Today
“Betty White’s agent is still working hard on behalf of his former client and close friend, debunking a claim that the 99-year-old’s death was linked to a recent COVID-19 booster shot. ‘Betty died peacefully in her sleep at her home,’ Jeff Witjas told People magazine in a Monday statement. ‘People are saying her death was related to getting a booster shot three days earlier but that is not true. She died of natural causes. Her death should not be politicized—that is not the life she lived.’ The Associated Press had previously proved false a quote attributed to White that began to circulate on social media following her death last Friday: ‘Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today.’ The quote, purported to have been given by White three days before her death, is fake, according to Witjas. ‘Betty never said this,’ the agent told the AP in a Sunday email. At that time, he did not elaborate on White’s cause of death.” [Daily Beast] Read more at People
“A judge has tossed a lawsuit alleging the image of a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s hit album Nevermind was a product of child sexual abuse. The lawsuit, filed by Spencer Elden, the man who appeared as a baby in the photo, claimed the band had engaged in child sexual exploitation by using the image. Elden said he had suffered ‘extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations’ as a result of his likeness being used. But after lawyers for Nirvana’s estate filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Elden’s lawyers failed to respond on time, leading to Judge Fernando Olguin dismissing the case Monday ‘with leave to amend.’ Elden will now have until Jan. 13 to refile and reverse the dismissal.” [Daily Beast] Read more at The Guardian
“The bachelor brigade is mourning the loss of another fallen soldier. Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle are engaged, and have been for ‘nearly a year,’ both the Daily Mail and Page Six have confirmed. The Mail reported Monday that Trump Jr., 44, got down on one knee on New Year’s Eve 2020. ‘They’ve been together for almost four years now and have been friends for 15 years,’ a source close to the happy couple said, adding, ‘They’ve kept it private for the past year as they settled into life in Florida after moving from New York.’ Other motivations for keeping things hush-hush have reportedly been their children—six between the pair—and the frenetic pace of their work. Speculation over an engagement arose over the weekend when Guilfoyle, 52, posted a photo to Instagram wearing a sizable rock on her left hand. ‘I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together,’ the ex-Fox News personality wrote. Apparently the best is indeed yet to come.” [Daily Beast] Read more at Daily Mail
“Pabst Brewing Company has expressed regret for a series of titillating tweets regarding Dry January, the annual alcohol-free movement, published to the brand’s social-media account on Monday. ‘Not drinking this January?’ it asked in a now-deleted tweet. ‘Try eating ass!’ A string of crude replies to delighted Twitter users were also fired off, perhaps most notably when the brand shot back, ‘Ask your mom,’ to a user who asked, ‘PBR or ass? What’s the difference?” The account also made reference to its ‘Wet January’ campaign in a similarly bizarre manner earlier this month. ‘We apologize about the language and content of our recent tweets,’ Nick Reely, Pabst Blue Ribbon’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement. ‘The tweets in question were written in poor judgment by one of our associates.’ Reely added that the company was ‘handling the matter internally.’ Since deleting (or being forced to delete) its more vulgar tweet, Pabst Blue Ribbon’s official Twitter account has only had one thought to add on the matter since: ‘Beer.’” [Daily Beast]
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