The Full Belmonte, 1/9/2022
“The U.S. ended 2021 with 6.4 million more jobs than at the end of 2020 — a record increase for any year on record since at least 1940 (81 years).
Reality check: The nation is still 3.6 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels, The Wall Street Journal notes.” Read more at Axios
“Negotiators for the United States are planning to show up to talks with their Russian counterparts Monday with proposals to discuss the placement of missiles and scope of military exercises in Europe, according to a senior administration official and others familiar with the plans.
The White House is looking to test whether Moscow is serious about ending the Ukraine crisis through diplomacy or is making unworkable demands as a delay tactic or pretext for a new invasion.
The bilateral talks in Geneva — with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman leading the U.S. delegation and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov serving as lead representative for the Russians — come as Moscow continues to mass forces and materiel on the border with Ukraine, threatening to take military measures if Washington and its allies fail to address the Kremlin’s security concerns.
A timeline: Why the rifts between Russia and the West keep on growing
The Geneva talks will be followed by a special meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Wednesday and a session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna on Thursday — chances for the United States to engage Russia together with its allies and partners.” Read more at Washington Post
“Just when Americans thought they understood the basics about the coronavirus, Omicron has left them with a new set of calculations to make.
The highly contagious new variant, which has been circulating in the U.S. for at least five weeks, has ushered in a new and disorienting phase of the pandemic. In response to the surge, public health officials have shortened the isolation period for people with positive tests and have instructed Americans to upgrade their masks from cloth to medical-grade when possible, for greater protection.
‘Omicron has turned, quickly, into something that is just different,’ said Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s top health official.
The pace of daily new infections of the coronavirus has nearly doubled globally in the past week, exceeding a staggering two million cases a day. Case counts have reached record highs in the U.S., but a fresh perspective on these metrics is necessary as a faster but less severe variant tears through the country. Here’s how to interpret the latest trends.” Read more at New York Times
“Cities and states have no coherent strategy for monitoring the results of at-home rapid COVID tests as Omicron surges across the country, Axios Local reporters found.
Why it matters: The patchwork system means the official COVID case counts are almost certainly a vast undercount. Many cities don't have an accurate sense of just how prevalent COVID is as they make decisions about mask mandates, school closures and other restrictions.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, for instance, Fort Worth's Tarrant County has an extensive self-reporting tool. But Dallas County just refers back to CDC general guidance on home testing.
One of the better systems is run by the District of Columbia, where the city has established a portal to report positives from an at-home rapid test, allowing a contact tracer to get in touch.
Colorado has a similar portal. The city of Austin has an email address to report at-home positives.
Reality check: Many residents don't know about these options. And they can be difficult to track down even for those inclined to use them.
There's also no requirement to report an at-home positive result, even if the service is available.
Many areas have no system. Chicago says at-home tests are a helpful diagnostic tool but "are not included in official COVID-19 case counts."
In Des Moines, the Polk County Health Department counts only cases verified using a PCR test.
In the Twin Cities, the Minnesota Department of Health cites lack of ‘a good way to verify the results’ as the reason for not tracking at-home results.” Read more at Axios
“It’s a stressful time for school systems around the U.S. as they wrestle with how to go back to class amid the Omicron wave.
Nowhere has the situation been more rancorous than in Chicago, where the teachers’ union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are in a standoff over virus precautions and testing. Teachers’ unions elsewhere are agitating for change, citing staffing and testing shortages. The tensions are putting pressure on Democrats, who have vowed to keep schools open.
Interviews with families across Chicago revealed a wide range of views on what should happen next. Families and educators were similarly divided on the topic in New York City. ‘We’re just trying to get by,’ one high school math teacher said.
The situation in the U.S. is similar to that in England: Staffing shortages are dire enough that retirees have been urged to return to duty.” Read more at New York Times
“Senate Minority Whip John Thune, the No. 2 Republican leader, will run for reelection next year, after months of speculation about his political future.
The 61-year-old South Dakotan, currently serving his third term, is widely viewed as a potential successor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- who has publicly encouraged Thune to run again.
Former President Donald Trump has suggested he might work against Thune, and encouraged one potential GOP challenger, after the senator disparaged Trump's attempts to contest his loss in 2020.” Read more at POLITICO
Kazakhstan’s president authorized police officers to shoot to kill protesters this week in Almaty.Vladimir Tretyakov/NUR.KZ, via Associated Press
“The former head of Kazakhstan’s powerful intelligence agency was arrested on suspicion of treason.
Karim Masimov, the former leader of the agency, has been regarded as a key ally of the former long-serving president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The announcement by the agency seemed to fuel talk that the people fighting in the streets this past week were proxies for feuding factions of the political elite.
Kazakhstan was plunged into crisis after protests over a fuel price hike spread from a remote town and turned its biggest and most prosperous city, Almaty, into a war zone. At a critical point during the upheaval, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the current president, formally requested help from Russia. That choice could alter the balance of power in Central Asia.” Read more at New York Times
“A hearing tomorrow will determine whether Novak Djokovic can take part in the Australian Open after the tennis star was denied entry over his Covid vaccine status.
In a court filing, lawyers for Djokovic said he had tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-December and that the Australian government had erred this week in canceling his visa over a vaccine requirement. Djokovic, the world’s top tennis player, was denied permission to enter the country on Thursday after arriving at a Melbourne airport.
Djokovic has been isolating in a Melbourne hotel where asylum seekers have been held for over a year under a detention program that has been widely criticized.
Djokovic is the latest target of a public outcry against vaccine skeptics and stars wanting special treatment.” Read more at New York Times
“At least 10 children are among the dead Saturday after a snowstorm near a Pakistani resort town stranded thousands in their vehicles overnight on a highway in the country’s northeast.
So far, 22 people — 10 men, 10 children and two women — had been found dead, most from hypothermia, Atiq Ahmed, an Islamabad police officer, told the Associated Press, after thick snow fell fast near Murree, a popular vacation destination in the mountains about 40 miles northeast of the capital. Eight of them were from the family of a fellow officer Ahmed identified as Naveed Iqbal, who he said also died in the cold.” Read more at Washington Post
Sunset paints a fiery Capitol this week. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
“We know both sides have a bleak view of the country's direction. But check out this finding by New York Times deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy from a pair of focus groups with voters:
‘The Democrats largely rated the health of our democracy as in 'critical condition,' while the Republicans veered largely between 'poor' and 'fair.’’
Healy was synthesizing a pair of focus groups for the Opinion section, moderated with Republicans by Kristen Soltis Anderson and with Democrats by Margie Omero. Three takeaways:
‘Several Democrats were focused on blaming the system of government and politics in America for the state of democracy and the events of Jan. 6., and there was strong hunger among them for radical change — amendments to the Constitution, the abolition of the Electoral College, more term limits, lobbying reform.’
‘For some Republicans, the threat to democracy came more from government mandates and guidance on COVID-19, and an unfounded claim that Democrats would use the pandemic to push for more mail-in voting in 2024.’
‘Republicans were frustrated with G.O.P. officials whom they viewed as driven purely by self-interest. Several Republicans were willing to criticize Donald Trump, but they did not like the shows of disloyalty by his cabinet members and allies who publicly criticized him.’
This is where we are: ‘Not only Republicans, but Democrats had some empathy for some of the Americans who stormed the Capitol, seeing them ordinarily as people who had real, understandable frustrations with 'the system.’’
‘The rioters took it too far, but their frustrations, with the parties, with Washington, seemed recognizable to some of the Democrats.’
The bottom line: ‘[W]hat unites the left and the right is a mistrust in people at the top.’” Read more at Axios
“The winners of this year’s Golden Globes will be announced tonight to a ballroom devoid of stars at the Beverly Hilton, and the results will be tweeted in real time. NBC decided not to televise the normally star-studded affair because of ethical issues surrounding the group that hands out the awards.
While the Academy Awards remain scheduled for March 27, Hollywood is again largely losing its annual season of self-congratulation. The movie business’s best form of advertising is also being undercut in a year when films desperately need it. That could have far-reaching effects on the types of movies that get made.” Read more on New York Times
“Marilyn Bergman, an Oscar-winning lyricist who collaborated with her husband, Alan Bergman, on some of the most enduring pop songs heard at the movies, among them ‘The Way We Were’ and ‘The Windmills of Your Mind,’ died Jan. 8 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 93.
The cause was respiratory failure, said her daughter, Julie Bergman.
The Bergmans wed in 1958 and spent a lifetime marrying memorable words to melodies by Michel Legrand, Marvin Hamlisch, Quincy Jones, John Williams and Dave Grusin. Their songs, many of them full of romance and regret, were interpreted by entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Neil Diamond and — most frequently — Barbra Streisand.
‘Their spectacular marriage gives their lyrics an authenticity,’ Streisand wrote in the liner notes of her 2011 album ‘What Matters Most,’ filled with Bergman-penned songs, ‘making them both deeply personal and, at the same time, completely universal.’” Read more at Washington Post
Mike Pompeo in his home gym in Virginia on Jan. 5. Photo: Samuel Corum for N.Y. Post. Licensed by Axios
“Former SecState Mike Pompeo, who started early on the '24 circuit, tells Salena Zito for the N.Y. Post how he lost 90 pounds in six months:
It all started on June 14, 2021, when Pompeo stepped on the scale and saw he was just pounds away from 300 for the first time in his life.
The next morning, he said, he woke up and told his wife, Susan: ‘Today is the day.’
Pompeo, 58, said he ‘started exercising, not every day, but nearly every day, and eating right and the weight just started to come off.’
Pompeo, who chairs CAVPAC (short for Cavalry), said he put a home gym in his basement, with dumbbells and an elliptical.
‘I tried to get down there five, six times a week and stay at it for a half-hour or so. And that was nothing scientific,’ he said. ‘There was no trainer, there was no dietician. It was just me.’” Read more at Axios
“When Library of Congress film expert Mike Mashon heard about newly found reels of Rolling Stones concert footage, he thought they were copies from a show the band did in London in 1969.
But when the silent, color film was sent to be digitized, his technicians contacted him, and said, ‘You gotta come see this,’ he said.
The footage was not from the London concert that July. It was from the notorious show five months later at the Altamont Speedway near San Francisco, where one fan was killed, three others died and, many believe, the social revolution of the 1960s began its end.
‘Every once in a while in a film archive you get this thrill of discovery,’ Mashon said.
The films have never been publicly seen before, he said.
The free concert on Dec. 6, 1969, featured other rock superstars such as Santana, the Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Grateful Dead were supposed to play, but backed out when they heard about the violence.
Altamont ended the '60s with chaos and death
The show drew about 300,000 people, and lots of drugs and alcohol. Crowd control was handled by the Hells Angels motorcycle gang — a ‘constant and menacing presence’ in the footage, Mashon said.
Fights quickly broke out. Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger was punched in the face shortly after he arrived. The Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin was slugged and knocked out.
Members of the Hells Angels beat concertgoers with pool cues. And an African American teenager who pulled a gun during a melee was stabbed to death.
‘Gimme Shelter,’ a famous 1970 documentary made by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, captured much of the chaos.
But none of the newly discovered film appears in that documentary, said Mashon, head of the library’s moving image section at its campus in Culpeper, Va.
‘I don’t think there’s really anything in the film that adds to our understanding of the tragic events of Altamont,’ he said. ‘But it’s definitely a new perspective …[and] a wonderful artifact to have of a time and place and an event.’” Read more at Washington Post