The Full Belmonte, 2/18/2022
“As the weekend approaches, Russia and the United States are no closer to resolving tensions over Ukraine, as U.S. intelligence officials cast doubt on Russia’s apparent military withdrawal.
On Thursday, the Kremlin threatened ‘military-technical measures’ after it deemed U.S. responses to Russian security demands unsatisfactory.
U.S. President Joe Biden warned that Russia could begin an invasion of Ukraine ‘within the next several days’ as his top diplomat, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his case to the U.N. Security Council.
As FP’s Colum Lynch, Robbie Gramer, and Jack Detsch report, the United States and Russia continue to fight a battle for world opinion as Blinken warned the U.N. body of ‘Russia’s looming aggression’ in Ukraine while Russia’s representative simply scoffed.
Blinken outlined the ways Russia could fabricate a pretext for war, including ‘false flag’ terrorist bombings in its own territory, invented mass grave discoveries, or even chemical weapons attacks. A Russian military operation would then be launched in the name of protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine, Blinken predicted.
It didn’t help that the worst U.S. intelligence prediction in recent memory, that of Saddam’s Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, hung over the room. Blinken even tried to preempt the comparison to his predecessor Colin Powell. ‘I am mindful that some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out. But let me be clear: I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one,’ Blinken said.
Blinken will have the chance for more diplomacy next week in Europe, when he meets with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The U.S. State Department said the meeting was contingent on whether an invasion occurs first.
It’s still not clear whether all these warnings, as well as Russia’s buildup, are just part of competing great power negotiating strategies, but the incentives are aligned to any outcome: If there is a Russian invasion, then the U.S. will be vindicated in its warnings and Moscow can say it is protecting its Russian-speaking people. If there’s more diplomacy, then the dire warnings can be praised as savvy pressure tactics by Washington, and examples of U.S. hysteria by Moscow.
Caught in between is Ukraine, where all eyes will be on the line of contact in its eastern Donbass region, a place where Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned could ‘ignite at any moment.’ The OSCE monitoring mission there saw a jump in cease-fire violations on Thursday, 591 in total, compared to 153 the day before. The number includes 316 explosions, compared to 88 on Wednesday.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 600 points Thursday, its steepest one-day loss of 2022, as geopolitical tensions and the prospect of tighter monetary policy ahead roiled markets.
The blue-chip index slid 622.24 points, or 1.8%, to 34312.03, its worst session on a point and percentage basis since November. The S&P 500 fell 94.75 points, or 2.1%, to 4380.26. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 407.38 points, or 2.9%, to 13716.72.
The losses were broad-based. Tesla fell 5.1%, Morgan Stanley dropped 4.9% and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. slid 4.1%. Nine of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 declined, led by the technology and communication services groups, which both fell about 3%.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Former President Donald Trump and two of his adult children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., were issued civil subpoenas as part of a probe into the elder Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization.
PHOTO: MANDEL NGAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“Former President Donald Trump, as well as his children Ivanka and Donald Jr., must sit for depositions in the New York attorney general’s investigation into their business practices, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled yesterday. The judge also rejected an attempt to freeze the work of Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating whether Trump misled lenders, insurers or others in his family business' financial statements. Trump argues that sitting for testimony in the civil investigation would undermine his family’s constitutional rights, but the judge expressed skepticism towards those claims. That argument ‘completely misses the mark,’ Engoron said, noting that the Trumps have the right to refuse to answer specific questions in the civil probe, as Eric Trump did when he sat for a previous deposition.” Read more at USA Today
“The Biden administration plans to roll out a new rule that aims to eliminate hurdles for immigrants using public benefits and for those seeking legal status. The Trump administration had previously modified the decades-old ‘public charge’ rule in a way that made it more difficult for individuals to obtain legal status. Under the new proposed rule, the Department of Homeland Security would consider benefits, like cash assistance for income maintenance and some other services, a government expense, according to a notice sent to Congress. Separately, more than 100 congressional Democrats have urged President Joe Biden to review the ‘disparate treatment of Black migrants’ throughout the immigration system and end the public health order that allows authorities to turn away migrants at the US southern border.” Read more at USA Today
“U.S. defense spending. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to request an increased defense budget of $770 billion for the next fiscal year, a number that may even balloon to $800 billion. U.S. defense spending, already the highest in the world by a large margin, shows no signs of decreasing even after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as the rationale behind the money shifts from the war on terrorism to countering China and Russia. The budget of the next highest spender, China, is estimated at roughly $250 billion.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Technicians at the Arak heavy water reactor near Arak, Iran, in 2019.
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran/AP
“The Iran deal. The sequencing phases in a potential return of the U.S. and Iran to the strictures of the 2015 nuclear deal are becoming clearer, according to a draft text seen by Reuters. In the draft, which is still subject to negotiation, Iran will agree to stop uranium enrichment above the 5 percent level and release certain Western prisoners held in Iran, while $7 billion in Iranian funds held in South Korean banks would become unfrozen. Those initial steps would pave the way for further sanctions, particularly on Iran’s oil sector, to be lifted.
The overall deal is expected to fall short of a U.S. guarantee to never leave the deal, with a provision agreed that Iran would instead be allowed enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity in the event of a U.S. pullout.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“A pair of new whistleblower complaints filed the with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February allege Facebook misled investors about its efforts to combat climate change and covid-19 misinformation, according to redacted copies of the documents viewed by The Washington Post.
Filed by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit representing former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, the complaints allege that the company made ‘material misrepresentations and omissions in statements to investors’ about its efforts to combat misinformation. The complaints, which have not been previously reported, build on Haugen’s congressional testimony and filings her lawyers submitted to the financial regulator last year, and draw from thousands of internal documents that she took before leaving the company in May.
One complaint alleges that climate change misinformation was prominently available on Facebook and that the company lacked a clear policy on the issue as recently as last year, despite Facebook executives’ committing to fight the ‘global crisis’ during earnings calls. A second, companion complaint argues that while Facebook executives were publicly touting their efforts to remove harmful covid-19 misinformation, internal documents ‘paint a different story.’ The complaint cites internal company communications about the spread of vaccine hesitancy in comments, and internal surveys that showed the proliferation of covid misinformation on the service.” Read more at Washington Post
“A subvariant of Omicron known as BA.2 is spreading fast and may cause severe disease, research from Japan suggests. New lab experiments show BA.2 is capable of thwarting some of the key weapons we have against Covid-19, including being able to escape the immunity created by vaccines. It also appears to be resistant to some monoclonal antibody treatments currently being used to fight Omicron. BA.2 is highly mutated when compared with the original virus that emerged in Wuhan, China. It has been detected in 74 countries and 47 US states, and about 4% of Americans with Covid-19 now have infections caused by BA.2, according to data from the CDC.” Read more at USA Today
“America is accelerating a return to pre-pandemic life — though millions aren't yet comfortable abandoning pandemic precautions, or feel downright threatened by the rapid reversal, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes.
Businesses and governments nationwide are removing mask and vaccine mandates, loosening COVID protocols and setting return-to-work dates.
Governors — including in many blue states — are lifting mask mandates, as are many school districts. D.C. will dial back its indoor mask requirements on March 1.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday became the first governor to announce an ‘endemic’ COVID policy, emphasizing quick reaction to outbreaks over mandated masking and business shutdowns.
The CDC hinted this week that it'll soon revise its guidance.
‘We'll soon put guidance in place that is relevant,’ CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. ‘We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when these metrics are better, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen.’” Read more at Axios
“A winter storm is moving through the Northeast US today as more than 90 million people remain under high wind advisories. Heavy snow and rain are wreaking havoc across a span of at least 1,000 miles stretching from Alabama to Maine, creating dangerous conditions for ground and air travel. Areas from the Great Lakes to northern New England can expect even more snow and a treacherous icy wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain today, the National Weather Service says. Alabama has already seen damage, where the rooftop of a BP gas station appeared to have been blown over. Gusty winds and reduced visibility have also created a traffic nightmare in some areas, including Illinois, where a 100-vehicle pileup shut down a 30-mile stretch of snowy highway.” Read more at USA Today
“The former Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright while yelling ‘Taser’ during a traffic-stop-turned-arrest in a Minneapolis suburb will be sentenced Friday. A Minnesota jury found Kim Potter guilty late last year of first- and second-degree manslaughter in the April shooting in Brooklyn Center. The incident happened during the nearby trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and sparked days of protests and looting and inflamed nationwide tensions over police violence. The family of Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, are expected to make victim impact statements during sentencing. Attorneys for Wright's family have asked for the ‘strongest and most just sentence possible’ for Potter, a veteran officer who had been with the police department for 26 years.” Read more at USA Today
“Amazon will see the results of two pivotal union votes within days of each other. Thousands of Amazon workers at a Staten Island warehouse as well as workers at another warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., are voting on unionization.” Read more at NPR
Armando Solis/AP
“Avocados are about to get more expensive and a lot harder to find. After a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector received a threat, a temporary ban was placed on avocados from Mexico.” Read more at NPR
“Twenty-two crew members were forced to abandon a ship carrying Porsches and Volkswagens from Germany to the U.S. after the ship caught fire.” Read more at NPR
“Lead exposure is posing a threat to eagles, likely due to ammunition fragments in their food sources. Bald eagle population-growth rates are being suppressed by 3.8% across North America, while golden eagles’ rates are stunted by almost 1%, according to a new study in the journal Science. The U.S. government took bald eagles off the Endangered Species list in 2007.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) are suing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aiming to strike down the mask mandate for air travel.” [Vox] Read more at Texas Tribune / Sneha Dey
“Sofía Jirau is making history as the first Victoria's Secret model with Down's Syndrome. The Latina model is part of the Love Cloud collection, which features models from a ‘myriad of backgrounds.’” Read more at NPR
Sofía Jirau joins 17 others women in the company's new underwear line and campaign, Love Cloud Collection.USA TODAY
“Eric Prescott Kay, a former communications director for the Los Angeles Angels, has been found guilty of supplying the drugs that killed pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019.” Read more at NPR
“Cal State Chancellor Joseph Castro has resigned, two weeks after a USA TODAY investigation revealed he mishandled years of complaints against a senior administrator while he was president of CSU Fresno.” Read more at USA Today
“Lives Lived: The American airman Gail Halvorsen became known as the Candy Bomber for dropping chocolate and chewing gum, wrapped in tiny parachutes, during the Berlin airlift. He died at 101.” Read more at New York Times
“It’s one of the enduring mysteries of covid-19: Why didn’t the pandemic hit low-income African nations as hard as wealthy countries in North America and Europe?
There is no simple answer to that question. But this week, two new studies added to our understanding of it. One suggested that the number of covid-19 cases may be vastly undercounted across the continent; another found good evidence that the number of deaths in at least one country could be significantly undercounted.
Neither study necessarily changes our current big picture understanding of the pandemic — that wealthy countries often saw worse outcomes than developing nations.
However, they could have a big impact on the debate about how and why African nations were forgotten by wealthy nations during the pandemic — especially as the European Union and the African Union meet in a joint summit in Brussels and the World Health Organization pushes for wealthy nations to back a South African facility that aims to share mRNA technology.
‘In Africa, 83 percent of people still have not received a single dose,’ WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday at a Vaccine Equity for Africa event in Germany. ‘This is not only a moral failure, it is also an epidemiological failure, which is creating the ideal conditions for new variants to emerge.’
The coronavirus ravaged almost all corners of the earth, including wealthy nations like the United States and Britain. In Africa, things went differently. The continent “appears to have bucked the doomsday predictions of global health experts,” my colleagues wrote in December 2020.
Even after the fast-spreading omicron variant, first identified in southern Africa late last year, that trend has largely held up. One-fifth of the world’s population lives in Africa, but the continent has accounted for only a tiny sliver of confirmed cases around the world.
According to Our World in Data, as of mid-February, 2.7 percent of all confirmed covid-19 cases were found on the continent. By comparison, North America saw 22 percent of all global cases; Europe more than a third.
But reliable public tracking of new daily covid-19 cases rests on something important: easy access to coronavirus tests and the expensive infrastructure to administer and track their results. Throughout the pandemic, many African nations had neither.
In a preprint study released this week, a team of researchers with WHO backing tried to tackle that problem by looking at available data about people with covid-19 antibodies across the continent. These studies, known as seroprevalence surveys, use bloodwork to show who has some level of immunity to the coronavirus — whether through vaccinations or a previous infection.
The study found that levels of immunity in Africa appeared to be vastly higher than could be explained by official case numbers, even when combined with the continent’s paltry vaccination levels. Every nation surveyed had far higher levels of immunity than official figures showed; Nigeria had a ratio of 958 to 1.
By September 2021, over 65 percent of the continent had some form of immunity to covid-19, the study estimated. This, the authors write, suggests there had not been 8.2 million cases across the continent by that time — but 800 million.
If this was accurate, did no one notice? One possibility, raised by the WHO-backed study, is that many of the cases in Africa may have been asymptomatic — perhaps more than two-thirds. Compared with Europe and North America, most African countries have relatively young populations that are less likely to see serious illness from the coronavirus.
The comparatively low number of deaths recorded from covid-19 across the continent seems to support this idea. Just 4 percent of deaths globally were recorded in Africa, according to Our World in Data.
There are many signs that not all deaths from covid-19 are caught in official figures. Even in the United States, the number of ‘excess deaths’ recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that are not directly attributed to covid-19 is roughly 100,000.
Most African nations do not collect the data needed to estimate excess mortality. But a small and innovative study released by the World Bank this week used an unusual method to estimate pandemic deaths in Kenya: a popular obituary website.
By looking back at several years on the website — which was used because better data did not exist — the researchers were able to see how past trends compared to the pandemic years. Their conclusion was that since the start of the pandemic, there have been roughly 28,000 ‘excess deaths’ during the pandemic period, compared with just 5,520 recorded in official government figures.
Neither study provides anything like a full accounting of covid-19 in Africa. Instead, they add to a better understanding of the many gaps in knowledge about covid-19 that remain two years into the pandemic.
If we take the idea that both cases and deaths in Africa were significantly undercounted, it has some surprising knock-on impacts. In some cases, it may mean that demand for coronavirus vaccines across Africa could be lower. A number of groups, including the WHO’s Africa branch, have already suggested that the worst is over for the continent. Any plan for manufacturing on the continent will have to deal with this factor, as a recent analysis by the Center for Global Development argued.
More broadly, it refutes the idea that covid-19 was simply a disease for rich countries. As other studies have shown, there was a range of experiences among wealthy nations. And when excess deaths are evaluated on a global scale, the vast majority of them may have been in the developing world. Africa wasn’t miraculously spared from the pandemic, and there’s little reason to think it could not be hit far harder next time.” Read more at Washington Post
“The Canadian police have begun arresting protest organizers in Ottawa after weeks of gridlock.” Read more at USA Today
“Munich opens. The Munich Security Conference opens today at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in the Bavarian capital. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will open proceedings, which will include addresses from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over the course of the weekend. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is also expected to attend the event.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“A court in India has sentenced to death a record 38 people for a deadly terror attack in the Indian city of Ahmedabad in 2008, in which up to 20 bombs were set off across the city in hospitals, shopping centres and parks, leaving 56 dead.
It was the first time so many accused have received death sentences in a single case in the country. The sentence must be confirmed by a higher court. Judge AR Patel also sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment in the case.
Executions are relatively rare in India. The last people to be executed were the four accused in the notorious 2012 Delhi rape case, who were hanged in March 2020.
The convictions, handed down at a special court, were in connection to a terrorist attack in July 2008 in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, when as many as 20 bombs were set off across the city, including at several hospitals, in parks and on buses, killing 56 people and injuring more than 200.” Read more at The Guardian
“Prince Harry ‘does not feel safe’ when he is visiting the UK, a place that ‘is, and always will be, his home,’ his legal team have told the high court.
The prince’s desire to return to see family and friends was emphasised on the first day of a legal hearing related to his claim over the Home Office’s decision not to allow him to pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK.
The Duke of Sussex wants to bring his children to visit from the US, but he and his family are ‘unable to return to his home’ because it is too dangerous, a legal representative previously said.
A hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which the duke did not attend, took place on Friday to hear an application by lawyers for Harry and the Home Office for the court to take steps to ensure some matters concerning arrangements for the security of public figures in the UK, including royals, should remain confidential.” Read more at The Guardian
“PARIS — France announced on Thursday that it would pull out its troops from the West African nation of Mali, bringing to a bitter end a nine-year military mission that has failed to quash a terrorist threat in the increasingly unstable region and has undermined France’s once dominant standing in many of its former African colonies.
The announcement followed a rapid breakdown in relations between France and Mali’s military rulers, and it threw into uncertainty regional antiterrorism operations spearheaded by France and backed by Western allies.
Jihadist groups have continued to spread across Mali and neighboring countries, as France’s military presence has grown increasingly unpopular. Mali’s leaders, to France’s great chagrin, have turned for help to Russia — a resurgent power on the continent that had already supplanted France’s dominance in another former colony, the Central African Republic.
France’s pullout from Mali had been dreaded in Paris, not only for its geopolitical implications, but also for its powerful symbolism: a humiliating withdrawal of French soldiers from a part of the world where its influence long stood unchallenged, but where it is quickly eroding before newcomers that include China, Turkey and Germany — as well as Russia.” Read more at New York Times
“India-UAE ties. India and the United Arab Emirates are set to sign a trade and investment deal today that aims to double trade in goods to $100 billion by 2027, cementing the Gulf nation as India’s third-largest trading partner. The announcement comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan hold a virtual summit.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Data: Gallup. Chart: Baidi Wang/Axios
“The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as LGBTQ doubled over the past decade to 7.1%, driven by Gen Z's coming of age, Gallup polling finds.
People who identify as LGBTQ could make up 10% to 15% of the adult population ‘in the not-too-distant future,’ Jeff Jones, author of the Gallup study, told Axios' Erin Doherty.
Gen Z adults who identify as LGBTQ have increased from 10.5% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2021.
Millennials identifying as LGBTQ increased from 5.8% in 2012 to 10.5% in 2021.
Between the lines: Gen Z women are roughly 3x more likely than men to identify as LGBTQ, according to Jones.
Millennial women are about 2x more than millennial men to identify as LGBTQ.” Read more at Axios
“Senate Democrats are bracing for a potentially lengthy showdown over President Biden’s Federal Reserve nominees after Republicans boycotted a key committee vote Tuesday — and they are preparing for the possibility that the GOP might use the same bare-knuckle tactics against other high-profile nominees, including Biden’s forthcoming Supreme Court pick.
Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee, led by Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.), did not attend Tuesday’s planned meeting in protest of Democrats’ intention to advance Sarah Bloom Raskin, Biden’s nominee for vice chair for supervision at the Fed, citing concerns about her work for a financial technology start-up, denying Democrats a majority quorum.
Raskin was among six Biden nominees who were set to be advanced to a floor vote who are now sitting in limbo because of the boycott. Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) made clear Wednesday that Democrats have no plans to separate Raskin’s confirmation from the others, which include a new four-year term for Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell.
‘If Toomey gets his way on this, it’s the way they will stop nominee after nominee after nominee: ‘Sorry, they didn’t answer right, so we’re not going to show up and provide a quorum,'' Brown told reporters Wednesday. ‘You can’t govern that way.’” Read more at Washington Post
“Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) died Thursday night following a battle with kidney cancer, his wife announced in a Facebook post on Friday. He was 59.” Read more at Washington Post
“Nicholas Kristof, a former Times columnist, ended his campaign for governor of Oregon after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that he hadn’t lived there long enough.” Read more at New York Times
“John Durham, the special counsel looking into the government's investigation of Russian election interference, distanced himself from reports in conservative media that a motion he filed last week implied Hillary Clinton's campaign paid to spy on Trump White House servers, the N.Y. Times' Charlie Savage reports.
In a filing yesterday, Durham disavowed responsibility for how the filing was interpreted: ‘If third parties or members of the media have overstated, understated or otherwise misinterpreted facts contained in the government’s motion, that does not in any way undermine the valid reasons for the government’s inclusion of this information.’
Hillary Clinton tweeted that Trump, who called the filing ‘bigger than Watergate,’ is ‘spinning up a fake scandal to distract from his real one.’” Read more at Axios
“The hard-left politics of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and the so-called ‘Squad,’ once a dominant theme for vast numbers of elected Democrats, is backfiring big-time on the party in power, top Democrats tell us.
Why it matters: The push to defund the police, rename schools and tear down statues has created a significant obstacle to Democrats keeping control of the House, the Senate and the party's overall image.
‘It's what we've been screaming about for a year,’ said Matt Bennett, co-founder of center-left Third Way, which launched Shield PAC to defend moderate Democrats.
‘It's a huge problem.’
The latest sign of the backlash was the landslide (70%+) recall this week of three San Francisco school board members, who were criticized for prioritizing issues like the renaming of 44 public schools — including ones honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — over a return to in-person classes.
Other factors like an abrupt admissions change to a prestigious high school were at play (all politics is local).
But the most liberal city in the most liberal state decided that liberal activists had gone too far.
It's part of a barrage of evidence that the progressive activism of the Squad pushed the party's image way left of where most voters are — even most Democratic voters.
This is a seismic shift from just a year ago. The signs have built steadily throughout President Biden's 13 months in office that Squad politics are problematic when you control everything:
30 House Democrats — the most in decades — have announced they'll retire instead of running in November's midterms. They see little hope of keeping the majority in this environment.
Democrats lose poll after poll of generic House matchups, which ask voters if they'd prefer an R or a D if the election were held today.
Republicans' decisive sweep of statewide offices in Virginia was powered in part by Democrats' failure to appreciate parents' skepticism about public schools' mask mandates, policies on transgender rights and approach to teaching about race.
Also in November, voters in liberal Minneapolis rejected a proposal designed to radically constrain police.
Zoom out: House Democrats' own polling and focus groups show many swing voters think the party is too ‘preachy,’ ‘judgmental’ and ‘focused on culture wars,’ according to documents obtained by Politico.
An Axios-Ipsos Latino Poll found crime and gun violence are leading worries for Hispanics, whose once-reliable support for Democrats has cooled in part because of ‘fears of Democrats embracing socialist policies,’ The New York Times reported.
Already in midterm races, Democrats in swing districts are scrambling to distance themselves from far-left movements to ‘defund the police’ and ‘abolish ICE,’ The Washington Post found.
Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota says her fellow Democrats are hurting themselves by not speaking out more forcefully against liberal positions that alienate rural America.
Heitkamp — who heads the One Country Project, dedicated to energizing rural voters — told AP: ‘Now, the brand is so toxic that people who are Democrats, the ones left, aren't fighting for the party.’” Read more at Axios
Antonin Thuillier/AFP via Getty Images
“In a shocking turn of events, Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who had finished the women's short program in first place, fell during her free skateand finished fourth in the event. Her fellow skaters Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver respectively. Valieva, who has been at the center of a doping scandal, was in tears after her routine.
Olympic Committee leader Thomas Bach expressed concern over how Valieva's coach treated her after she left the ice. ‘You could see this chilling atmosphere, this distance,’ he said.
The doping scandal has led to skaters and coaches to call for a higher age minimum for skaters to compete.
Outside of figure skating, the U.S. saw some losses:Mikaela Shiffrin crashed during the slalom portion of the alpine combined race, dashing her hopes of an individual medal this year. She will still compete in the team events.
Canada defeated the U.S., its longtime rival and defending Olympic champions in the women's hockey final.” Read more at NPR
“Skier Eileen Gu won a second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics today, further cementing her position as a sporting hero in China, the country she represents. In the U.S., where the 18-year-old was born, she faces a right-wing backlash.” Read more at Bloomberg
Photo: Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press via USA Today Network
“‘One of Michigan's most eminent buildings — the white wooden clubhouse of the famed Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township — burned to the ground, ... taking with it a century of golf history,’ the Detroit Free Press reports.
The 750-member club has ‘many rules and traditions — proper attire is required, shirttails must be tucked and, if in doubt, dress up, not down.’
The cause isn't yet known. Oakland Hills has hosted six U.S. Opens.