The Full Belmonte, 2/13/2024
Former President Donald Trump
PHOTO: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES
Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause a recent ruling that denied him blanket immunity for alleged crimes he committed as president.
“The appeal could further delay proceedings on federal charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Two lower courts have rejected the former president’s argument that exposing him to a criminal trial would force future presidents to worry about prosecution for their official work, limiting the bold actions they would otherwise take in the public interest. Today was Trump’s deadline to appeal to the Supreme Court.” [Wall Street Journal]
Texas megachurch shooter used rifle bearing word ‘Palestine,’ police say
“The woman who was fatally shot at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston on Sunday was carrying an assault style-type rifle with a sticker on the stock that read ‘Palestine,’ police said today.
The shooter entered the church and ‘immediately’ began firing in the hallway just before 2 p.m. Sunday, Commander Christopher Hassig of Houston Police Department Homicide Division said at a news conference this afternoon.
The woman had a 7-year-old boy with her who suffered a gunshot to the head, and he is in critical condition Hassig said. The shooter is believed to be the boy’s biological mother, according to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.
The shooter used an AR-15 rifle to open fire, and also had a bag containing a .22-caliber rifle, according to authorities.
Police have uncovered antisemitic writings by the shooter, and they believed this incident may stem from a dispute she had with her ex-husband’s family, some of whom are Jewish, Hassig said.
The shooter, who has a history of mental health issues, is believed to have acted alone, according to authorities.
Investigators said several chemicals have been found at the shooter’s home, and they are trying to determine whether they could have been used to help make an explosive device or devices, three people briefed on the matter tell NBC News.” [NBC News]
Boy critically injured in Texas megachurch shooting is son of suspect in attack, police say
“The boy, who authorities described as a 7-year-old, remained in critical condition Monday with a gunshot wound to the head. He had been described as a 5-year-old on Sunday.” Read More at AP News
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
POLITICS
House speaker casts doubts on aid package as senators grind toward final vote
“Senate leaders, trying to send a message that the U.S. remains committed to its allies, were looking to overcome marathon speeches from a determined group of Republican senators and hold a vote to pass aid for Ukraine, Israel and civilians in Gaza in the early morning hours Tuesday. Read more.
Why this matters:
It was the latest — and potentially most consequential — sign of conservative lawmakers’ opposition to the $95.3 billion aid package. House Speaker Mike Johnson late Monday sharply criticized the package, casting serious doubts about the future of the bill, and calling it ‘silent on the most pressing issue facing our country.’
Mounting opposition to military aid was just the latest example of how the Republican Party’s stance on foreign affairs is being transformed under the influence of Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee.
Even if the package passes the Senate, as is expected, it faces an uncertain future in the House, where Republicans are more firmly aligned with Trump and deeply skeptical of continuing to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia.” [AP News]
Super Bowl ad for RFK Jr. stirs Democratic and family tension over his independent White House bid
“Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential ambitions resulted in public family drama after a political action committee aired a Super Bowl ad invoking the Democratic family’s legacy to implicitly compare the independent candidate to his assassinated uncle, President John F. Kennedy.” Read More at AP News
The race for George Santos' congressional seat could offer clues to how suburbs will vote this year
“A special election in the suburbs of New York to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos could offer clues about the mindset of suburban voters everywhere as 2024 election contests ramp up across the country.” Read More at AP News
Republican Michigan lawmaker loses staff and committee assignment after online racist post
“State Rep. Josh Schriver, who is white, shared a post on X — formerly known as Twitter — that showed a map of the world with Black figures greatly outnumbering white figures, along with the phrase, “The great replacement!”” Read More at AP News
“The father whose family’s gender reveal sparked the deadly El Dorado Fire in 2020 in Southern California has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors said.” [NBC News]
Israel wants to create sprawling tent cities as part of an evacuation plan before it invades Rafah.
“Some 1.2 million Palestinians are sheltering in the southern Gaza city, which Israel says is the last bastion of Hamas. The proposal came as the Biden administration warned against going in without a detailed plan to protect civilians, but Israel said that a ground offensive is necessary to eradicate the U.S.-designated terror group. Egypt hasn’t commented publicly on the plan, but Cairo has threatened to suspend a 1979 peace treaty with Israel if Palestinians flee across its border. Early today local time, an Israeli rescue operation freed two hostages in Rafah. Israel says many of the remaining hostages captured during an Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack are being held there.” [Wall Street Journal]
‘Total Victory’ Remains Priority
Palestinians inspect a damaged building where two hostages were reportedly held before being rescued by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Feb. 12.Said Khatib/AFP
“Israeli forces rescued two hostages in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Monday. Hamas militants kidnapped dual Israeli-Argentine citizens Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, from Nir Yitzhak kibbutz during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Monday’s mission was Israel’s second successful hostage rescue operation since the war began. Marman and Har are reportedly in stable condition.
The small but symbolic Israeli victory drew criticism for its high casualty count. At least 74 Palestinians were killed in the operation, including women and children. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 68,000 others wounded in the past four months. Around 47 percent of those killed have been children, ministry authorities told The Associated Press.
The plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza remains one of Israel’s top priorities, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under growing public pressure to secure the freedom of the more than 100 people still in Hamas captivity. An Israeli intelligence report released to the New York Times last Tuesday said around one-fifth of the remaining hostages are dead. Netanyahu, however, rejected a Hamas cease-fire proposal last week that would have included the release of all remaining hostages (both alive and killed), arguing that Israel must have the right to completely eradicate Hamas.
‘Only the continuation of the military pressure, until total victory, will bring about the release of all of our captives,’ Netanyahu said on Monday.
However, not everyone agrees with the prime minister’s approach. Last month, Gadi Eisenkot, a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet and a former Israeli military chief of staff whose son was killed during fighting in Gaza in December 2023, said in a TV interview that whoever speaks of Hamas’s ‘absolute defeat is not speaking the truth’ and that ‘the hostages will only return alive if there is a deal, linked to a significant pause in fighting.’
Israeli forces are expected to launch a ground offensive in Rafah in the near future to combat Hamas’s last alleged stronghold in Gaza. The city currently hosts more than half of the area’s 2.3 million residents, many of whom were forced to flee there to escape Israeli bombardments. The international community, including U.S. President Joe Biden, has urged Netanyahu not to conduct a Rafah assault without a ‘credible and executable plan’ to evacuate civilians, with rights groups warning that an Israeli ground offensive there would be a ‘bloodbath.’ Netanyahu said in a Sunday interview that he is working on a ‘detailed plan’ to move Palestinians north of Rafah but did not provide specifics.
Fearing that a Rafah offensive could worsen the region’s humanitarian crisis, Egypt reinforced its border with the city to prevent Palestinian refugees from entering the country. Two Egyptian officials also warned on Sunday that any actions to destabilize the area could threaten Cairo’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.” [Foreign Policy]
The World This Week
“Tuesday, Feb. 13: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
U.S., Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari intelligence chiefs meet in Cairo to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.
Wednesday, Feb. 14: The World Trade Organization holds a General Council meeting in Switzerland.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosts Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
The U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group convenes in Brussels.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Cairo.
Indonesia holds presidential and legislative elections.
Thursday, Feb. 15: NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva travels to Egypt for a two-day visit.
Friday, Feb. 16: Russia’s central bank determines its interest rate.
Saturday, Feb. 17: African Union leaders begin a two-day summit in Ethiopia.
Sunday, Feb. 18: Galicia, an autonomous region in Spain, holds regional elections.” [Foreign Policy]
“Vote-rigging allegations. Thousands of Pakistanis blocked highways on Monday to protest alleged vote-rigging in the country’s Feb. 8 parliamentary elections. According to official results published on Sunday, independents backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won 95 out of 264 seats despite both Khan and the PTI being barred from running. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secured only 75 seats even with the military’s support.
Both Khan, who is in prison, and Sharif have declared victory, but with no party winning a majority, negotiations are underway to form a coalition government that will select the next prime minister. Sharif’s PML-N and candidate Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, which secured 54 seats, agreed to cooperate following the election, leading some experts to suspect that the two leaders will try to form a coalition government to undermine the PTI’s influence.
Although PTI-backed candidates far outperformed expectations, the party claims that its affiliated candidates won even more seats than the official results showed and has alleged systematic fraud occurred in the counting and recording of votes. The party organized protests across the country at electoral commission offices in constituencies where PTI-backed candidates lost. In several locations, riot police clashed with demonstrators.
A new generation of voters are demanding a break from Pakistan’s status quo, journalist Omar Waraich writes in Foreign Policy. ‘These voters want to have the power to choose their own leaders, not leave the country in the hands of the powerful military that has maintained a granitic grip on politics for most of its history.’” [Foreign Policy]
“Finland’s new president. In a close presidential runoff on Sunday, former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb narrowly beat former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto with 51.6 percent of the vote. Haavisto conceded that evening, and Stubb thanked the former minister for a ‘fair, great race.’
Both Stubb and Haavisto campaigned on maintaining a hard line with Russia, which shares an 832-mile border with Finland; strengthening security ties with the United States; and continuing to support Ukraine. Finland joined NATO in April 2023.” [Foreign Policy]
Longtime NPR 'Morning Edition' host Bob Edwards dies at age 76
“Bob Edwards, the news anchor many Americans woke up to as founding host of National Public Radio's “Morning Edition” for nearly a quarter-century, has died.” Read More at AP News