The Full Belmonte, 2/3/2022
“Washington (CNN) US Special Forces conducted a ‘successful’ counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria Wednesday evening, the Pentagon said, but offered few other details.
Sources on the ground reported multiple fatalities. At least 13 people were killed in clashes that took place during and after the raid -- including six children and four women -- according to the Syrian civil defense group, the White Helmets. There were no US casualties, according to the Pentagon.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement late Wednesday night that the mission was conducted by US Central Command, which controls military operations and activities in the Middle East.” Read more at CNN
A massive winter storm is pummeling a large swath of the US with snow, ice and sleet.
“More than 100 million people are under winter weather alerts across at least 25 states stretching from the Mexican border to New England as a massive winter storm pummels much of the US. In the South and Midwest, a triple whammy of snow, ice and sleet is hammering the region and could leave many without power. More than 20 inches of snow have piled up in the Colorado Springs area while parts of Illinois and Indiana are inundated with around a foot of snow. Dangerous travel conditions grounded more than 2,300 US flights yesterday and thousands more have already been canceled today. Meanwhile, the price of natural gas is soaring -- causing a spike in home heating costs as millions of Americans crank up the heat to stay warm.” Read more at CNN
“President Joe Biden is sending 3,000 US troops to Poland, Germany and Romania to bolster NATO countries in Eastern Europe as tens of thousands of Russian troops amass along Ukraine's border. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the deployments included roughly 2,000 troops that would deploy from the United States to Poland and Germany. In addition, approximately 1,000 troops currently based in Germany were moving to Romania. Kirby said the moves, which would happen in the coming days, were not permanent and emphasized, ‘These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine.’ The deployments are a show of support to NATO allies feeling threatened by Russia's steady military buildup near the Ukrainian border.” Read more at CNN
Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman testified against then-President Donald Trump during the House impeachment hearings in 2019.
PHOTO:JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS
“Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman has sued Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and other associates, alleging that they conspired to intimidate him from testifying against President Donald Trump during his first impeachment hearing.
Lt. Col. Vindman alleges that Mr. Trump Jr. and Mr. Giuliani along with other White House staffers carried out their intimidation and retaliation campaign through social media and right-wing news sources, and that they purposely harmed his ability to continue a career in national security and foreign affairs.
These alleged efforts violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The act makes it unlawful to interfere with federal officials’ ability to carry out duties or interfere with any witness’s ability to testify.
The defendants ‘waged a targeted campaign against Lt. Col. Vindman for upholding his oath of office and telling the truth,’ the lawsuit said.
In retaliation for Lt. Col Vindman’s willingness to testify, Mr. Trump Jr. and Mr. Giuliani allegedly pushed false claims that he was a spy for Ukraine, questioned his loyalty to the U.S. and falsely accused him of lying under oath, according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys for Mr. Trump Jr. and Mr. Giuliani didn’t respond to requests for comment.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The National Archives decided yesterday that it will turn over former Vice President Mike Pence's records to the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol as early as next month, after former President Donald Trump said he wanted to keep secret more than 100 documents. This is the first set of records related to Pence's office that the Archives has cleared for release. The letters reveal tension over what may be key communications about the insurrection at the capitol and Pence overseeing the Electoral College certification in Congress, which Trump wanted to stop. Pence’s team is cooperating with the investigation, officials said. Separately, former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark and his attorneys met with the House select committee for nearly two hours yesterday, two months after the panel voted to hold him in contempt for his lack of cooperation.” Read more at CNN
“With much of President Biden’s agenda on ice for the time being, Democrats are turning their attention to the looming battle to confirm Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement on the Supreme Court. However, uncertainty clouded that possibility earlier in the week when news emerged that Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) suffered a stroke late last week, sidelining him for the foreseeable future and jeopardizing the Senate’s majority lineup to confirm some nominees.
The party received good news on Wednesday, though, as Luján’s office told reporters that the New Mexico Democrat is expected to return to Washington in four to six weeks (The Hill). No Supreme Court nominee is expected to be named until the end of February, giving Democrats breathing room as they await Luján’s return.” Read more at The Hill
“WASHINGTON — President Biden’s pledge to name a Black woman to fill a coming Supreme Court vacancy has thrust Republicans into a tricky political calculation, forcing them to confront how aggressive to be in opposing the nominee and how to do so without appearing to be racist and sexist.
While Supreme Court battles have become scorched-earth affairs in recent years, Republicans are weighing whether to wage all-out war or take a more tempered approach against Biden’s pick, particularly given that whomever the president chooses to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer will not change the conservative ideological tilt of the court.
Many of them recognize that a divisive fight could provide more fodder for Democrats to try to deepen the wedge between their party and African Americans before this year’s midterm elections. And while some take issue with Biden’s preemptive promise to name the first Black woman to the court, arguing that the choice should be based on merit rather than race or gender, Republicans enter the coming showdown fully aware that the groundbreaking nature of the president’s pick could make challenging the nominee far more fraught.
‘The idea that race and gender should be the No. 1 and No. 2 criteria is not as it should be,’ said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, who is regarded as a potential swing vote in favor of Biden’s pick. ‘On the other hand, there are many qualified Black women for this post, and given that Democrats, regrettably, have had some success in trying to paint Republicans as anti-Black, it may make it more difficult to reject a Black jurist.’” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON—The FBI has identified at least six people of interest in a rash of bomb threats directed at places of worship and historically Black colleges and universities, law-enforcement officials said Wednesday. The incidents are being investigated as racially motivated extremism and hate crimes, authorities said.
Dozens of campuses, churches and Jewish institutions have reported receiving bomb threats since Jan. 4, the officials said, though no explosives have been found at any of the locations. More than 20 HBCUs have received threats since Saturday alone.
The people of interest, all juveniles, are thought to have used a disguised phone number to make the threatening calls, the officials said. Investigators were searching homes and conducting interviews but it couldn’t be determined if any arrests have been made.
The bomb scares put colleges on edge. Federal law-enforcement officials have recently warned of a rise in domestic violent extremism, a threat the Federal Bureau of Investigation says stems in large measure from extremists who advocate the superiority of the white race. The bureau said it was examining the bomb threats as ‘racially or ethnically motivated extremism or hate crimes.’ but declined to say more about the investigation.
‘This investigation is of the highest priority for the Bureau and involves more than 20 FBI field offices across the country,’ the FBI said, adding that terrorism investigators across the country were leading the probe.
The first threat was reported Jan. 4 at Xavier University in Louisiana, where a caller said a bomb was planted and warned of a mass shooting, according to law-enforcement officials. Authorities swept the campus and found no bombs.
Other universities that have reported threats include Howard University in Washington, D.C.; Spelman College in Atlanta; the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, Fla., and Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Law-enforcement officials said there were also bomb threats at several places of worship, which were already on heightened alert after a man took four hostages at a synagogue in Texas last month. Federal authorities have warned of the increased chance of such threats since then and say they have been working closely with faith-based institutions.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Wolf Blitzer and Brian Stelter report on their former boss. Screenshot: CNN
The leaders of CNN, CBS Corp., Fox News and others have all been forced to resign in public scandals over the past six years, pointing to the media's struggle with its own accountability.
“Staffers weren't surprised by the conduct — but that their seemingly invincible bosses were brought down by behavior that was an open secret, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes.
CNN boss Jeff Zucker's resignation, prompted by a relationship with a longtime senior colleague, shocked even top executives.
Zucker's relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN EVP and chief marketing officer, was common knowledge among many media insiders. RadarOnline published a story on it in early January.
Zoom out: Zucker's resignation follows other scandals that have rocked the TV industry in recent years.
Roger Ailes resigned as chairman and CEO of Fox News in 2016 after a sexual harassment lawsuit by former anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Les Moonves stepped down as chairman, president and CEO of CBS in 2018 after reports revealed multiple allegations of misconduct.
John Skipper resigned as president of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks in 2017 following an extortion plot related to his cocaine use.
Reality check: Zucker's failure to disclose his relationship with a subordinate — while a leadership and judgment failure — wasn't a crime.
The latest: Zucker said he resigned. If he hadn't, he would have been terminated, two sources involved in the matter told CNN's Reliable Sources newsletter.
‘He proposed to stay through the WarnerMedia spin-off, or through the launch of CNN+, or through the end of this week.’ But WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said his exit had to happen immediately, the newsletter reported.” Read more at Axios
“WASHINGTON — President Biden unveiled a plan Wednesday to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years — an ambitious new goal, he said, to ‘supercharge’ the cancer ‘moonshot’ program he initiated and presided over five years ago as vice president.” Read more at Boston Globe
“As the U.S. inches up to a 64% vaccination rate for the entire population, only 42% of those eligible for a booster have gotten the extra shot.” Read more at USA Today
“Long COVID is likely keeping a lot of Americans out of the workforce, experts tell Axios' Tina Reed and Emily Peck.
1.6 million workers could be missing from the labor market because of long COVID, accounting for 15%+ of unfilled jobs, estimates Katie Bach, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
What's happening: Long COVID isn't confined to older patients, and its symptoms can vary. The U.S. doesn't have particularly strong support systems for people who need long-term COVID treatment.
Studies estimate long COVID hits anywhere from 5% to 60% of COVID patients.
‘Many of the patients we're seeing are in the 40-year-old range. They're people who are still working ... then they got COVID,’ Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, director of the COVID Recovery Clinic at University Health in Texas, told Axios.
She testifies today before a House subcommittee about the debilitating impacts of long COVID.
Researchers still don't understand what causes long COVID.
Verduzco-Gutierrez said she's seen a wide range of symptoms. Some patients had strokes, some required amputation, some developed asthma, and others developed POTS, which causes their heart rate to rise every time they stand up, she said.” Read more at Axios
“Omicron is finally on its way out, but it's leaving behind a death toll that's still rising, Axios' Sam Baker and Kavya Beheraj report.
New cases are plunging. The U.S. is averaging just under 425,000 new cases per day, down from over 750,000 per day just two weeks ago.
And for the first time since the Omicron wave set in, almost the whole country is sharing in that improvement.
But deaths are still on the rise — the virus is killing roughly 2,600 Americans per day. That's a function of two things:
Deaths are the last number to move, in any wave.
The overwhelming majority were unvaccinated people. The risk of dying from COVID is 60x higher for unvaccinated people than it is for people who are vaccinated and boosted, according to CDC data.” Read more at Axios
“Researchers are developing nasal spray vaccines. Because they protect the airways (where the virus enters the body) they may be better at preventing infections.” Read more at New York Times
“President Joe Biden will meet with New York City Mayor Eric Adams Thursday to discuss combatting gun crime, just weeks after two NYPD officers died in the line of duty. Biden's visit comes amid deepening national concern over public safety and recent attacks on police officers. Adams and other New York officials are asking for several changes, including federal assistance in curbing the flow of guns into the state. The president will speak ‘about the steps the administration has taken so far to reduce crime, gun crime, and how we can be a strong partner for New York City and other cities grappling with increased gun violence,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will also be in attendance for the president’s visit.” Read more at USA Today
“Formal charges against two students in a fatal shooting at an alternative school in Minnesota could be filed Thursday, according to authorities. The two students were in custody Wednesday after a shooting that left one student dead, one critically wounded and a community in shock and mourning. The tragedy outside South Education Center in Richfield stemmed from an undisclosed disagreement involving five students, Police Chief Jay Henthorne said. ‘The shooting was not random,’ Henthorne said at a news conference Wednesday. ‘The five students did know each other. An altercation, possibly related to a previous dispute, took place.’ He also said no other suspects were being sought and that the community was safe.” Read more at USA Today
“A detention hearing is scheduled Thursday for a U.S. woman charged with plotting bomb attacks in the U.S. and training an all-female battalion to fight for the Islamic State in Syria. Allison Elizabeth Fluke-Ekren, 42, a former teacher and resident of Kansas, was charged in 2019 with providing support to a known terrorist organization, according to court records. The case remained sealed until she was caught and transferred to federal authorities in Virginia. Fluke-Ekren rose in stature with ISIS while her former husbands were killed, according to court records. Counterterrorism experts said it is extremely unusual for a woman – especially an American citizen – to participate in an international Islamic terrorist organization.” Read more at USA Today
“The 2018 conviction of former police officer Jason Van Dyke for the killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald was the first time in roughly half a century that a member of the police force was found guilty of murder for an on-duty killing in Chicago. It gave hope to many residents that officers could be held accountable. Van Dyke's scheduled release from prison on Thursday after serving about three years and four months – less than half of his sentence of six years and nine months – show things aren't so simple. The shooting of McDonald by Van Dyke, a white officer, eventually led to a court-ordered consent decree that resulted in several reforms, including the creation of a civilian-led police oversight board and new rules governing probes into police shootings. But reforms have come slower than expected and the city has struggled to meet some of the consent decree's deadlines.” Read more at USA Today
“Meta said the Facebook app lost roughly 1 million daily active users in the most recent quarter — its first-ever drop, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.
Why it matters: The numbers reinforce the sense, inside and outside the company, that the Facebook social network is now a legacy product for Meta, where the focus has shifted to newer realms like messaging, Instagram video and the metaverse.
While Facebook's core app still produces much of the company's revenue, new features — like Facebook's TikTok copycat Reels — are the primary drivers of growth, not the basic News Feed.
On a call with investors, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said there's been a shift of engagement within its apps toward video products like Reels. Those are harder for the company to monetize compared to video products in the News Feed and in Stories (strings of video and text).
Zuckerberg conceded the company expects continued headwinds from increased competition for people's time. He cited TikTok as a big competitor to Reels.
Meta's stock plunged in after-hours trading Wednesday in response to weak revenue-growth forecasts for the first quarter.
Those weak forecasts, attributable to continued headwinds from Apple's privacy changes, show the vulnerability of Facebook's business model being tied to targeted advertising against social networking, as opposed to search.
Google parent Alphabet posted a huge earnings beat, mostly tied to growth of search-based ads + YouTube ads.
What's next: Meta is betting its future on the metaverse. But that vision is still many years away.” Read more at Axios
“An external energy source may explain disorienting and sometimes debilitating symptoms suffered by U.S. government personnel, a panel of experts has found, reaching a conclusion that, while not definitive, suggests a foreign power could have mounted attacks on U.S. diplomats, intelligence officers and military personnel serving overseas.
The findings by the expert panel, which was convened by U.S. intelligence agencies, are the latest attempt to solve the years-long mystery of what, or who, is behind a constellation of symptoms known as ‘Havana syndrome.’ In late 2016, personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba’s capital reported a range of sensations including ringing and pressure in the ears, headaches and dizziness. Personnel in China later experienced similar symptoms, which have now been reported by hundreds of people serving at official posts around the world.
The vast majority of those cases have been attributed to medical conditions or other environmental factors, officials have said.” Read more at Washington Post
“The Washington Football Team, né the Redskins, are now the Commanders. The D.C. NFL team’s new name is an homage to the culture of leadership in the region around the nation’s capital. Its earlier name had been widely seen as a racial slur. The Commanders will continue to wear burgundy and gold.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“WASHINGTON – In an effort to level the playing field for college applicants, two congressional Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday that would ban legacy admissions preferences for institutions that participate in federal student aid programs.
About three-quarters of the most prestigious US colleges consider the alumni status of applicants’ parents or other relatives in the admissions process. Known as ‘legacies,’ those applicants are more likely to be accepted. In the Harvard classes of 2014-2019, a third of legacies were admitted, while other applicants faced a 5.9 percent acceptance rate.
The practice has come under fire because it largely favors white and affluent students. In recent years, several high-profile schools, including Amherst College, have stopped legacy admissions, and Colorado last spring enacted a law banning legacy preference in admissions at all of the state’s public colleges and universities.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Canadian truckers are protesting Covid-19 health restrictions by staging a blockade of 18-wheelers in Ottawa. Police have declared the week-long assembly an ‘unlawful’ occupation of the country's capital and say they're looking at ‘every single option, including military aid’ to bring the situation to an end. The truckers are a part of the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ and are protesting a recent mandate requiring drivers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements. The group is also protesting against other health restrictions, like mask mandates and Covid-19 lockdowns. The dozens of trucks are blocking traffic, and forcing businesses in the area to shutdown, officials said.” Read more at CNN
“Soaring costs | Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is today set to announce measures to cushion the blow of an escalating cost of living crisis in the U.K. Millions of Britons face a record increase in energy bills with the regulator likely to raise prices by 50%. The Bank of England is also expected to raise interest rates in a bid to tame inflation.
A minister in Northern Ireland’s devolved administration ordered a halt on checks on goods entering the region’s ports, a potential breach of the Brexit agreement between the U.K. and the EU.” Read more at Bloomberg
“For almost a decade, records show, a cut of tolls from highways connecting some of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s richest mines flowed to the family of one man: then-President Joseph Kabila. Michael Kavanagh and William Clowes explain the blurred lines between the state and private business and how Chinese companies came to dominate the mining industry in the world’s biggest source of cobalt.” Read more at Bloomberg
Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila.
Photographer: Jerome Delay/AP
“Erdogan in Ukraine. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Kyiv today, where he and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky are expected to sign a free- trade agreement. Erdogan’s visit can be seen in the wider context of his attempts, fruitless so far, to play mediator amid Russia-Ukraine tensions. As Jeffrey Mankoff wrote in Foreign Policy in January, Erdogan’s balancing act of keeping NATO, Russia, and Ukraine all on good terms with Turkey could soon topple.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“China is building a barrier along its 3,000-mile southern border, which it says will help stem the spread of Covid-19. The avowed purpose is to limit the traders, workers and smugglers trying to enter the country, which maintains a zero-Covid strategy. What some people have dubbed the ‘Southern Great Wall’ on social media is a series of barriers featuring barbed wire, lights, surveillance cameras and sensors.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading to Beijing amid the soaring tensions over Ukraine on a trip intended to help strengthen Moscow’s ties with China and coordinate their policies in the face of Western pressure.
Putin’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday will mark their first in-person meeting since 2019, helping cement a strong personal relationship that has been a key factor behind a growing partnership between the two former Communist rivals. After the talks involving top officials from both sides, Putin and Xi will meet one-on-one over lunch before attending the opening of the Winter Olympics.
In an article for the Chinese news agency Xinhua published Thursday, Putin emphasized that Moscow and Beijing play an ‘important stabilizing role’ in global affairs and help make international affairs ‘more equitable and inclusive.’” Read more at AP News
“MIAMI (AP) — Technology to hide a ship’s location previously available only to the world’s militaries is spreading fast through the global maritime industry as governments from Iran to Venezuela — and the rogue shipping companies they depend on to move their petroleum products — look for stealthier ways to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
Windward, a maritime intelligence company whose data is used by the U.S. government to investigate sanctions violations, said that since January 2020 it has detected more than 200 vessels involved in over 350 incidents in which they appear to have electronically manipulated their GPS location.
‘This is out of hand right now,’ Matan Peled, co-founder of Windward and a former Israeli naval officer, said in an interview. ‘It’s not driven by countries or superpowers. It’s ordinary companies using this technique. The scale is astonishing.’” Read more at AP News
“With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care workers.
And it could be just in time.
There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the United States — twice as many as just a few years ago. That’s because U.S. consulates shut down during the coronavirus pandemic weren’t issuing visas to relatives of American citizens, and, by law, these unused slots now get transferred to eligible workers.” Read more at AP News
“43 million — The estimated number of Americans with student debt. Many are waiting on President Biden’s plan to cancel $10,000 per borrower, part of a proposal he’d endorsed as a candidate. Legislation has stalled in the narrowly divided Congress amid broad Republican opposition and skepticism from some Democrats. Borrowers who’d backed Biden’s plan and a number of progressive politicians are losing patience.
14% — The rate at which average monthly rents listed in the U.S. went up year over year in December, according to Redfin data. That’s prompting renters to look to buy homes ASAP, rather than watch their down-payment savings migrate from their bank accounts to their landlords’. (Incidentally, 14% is also the rate at which the median U.S. home price increased year over year as of last month, Redfin found.)” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Brian FloresWilfredo Lee/Associated Press
‘Bigger than football’
Second and even third chances are not that unusual for N.F.L. head coaches. Over their careers, several coaches have run three different teams, and most of them had only mixed records of success before getting the third job. If they had excelled in one of the earlier two jobs, after all, they might have still had it.
The list of coaches to have run at least three teams without having won a Super Bowl includes John Fox, Ted Marchibroda, Wade Phillips, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer and Norv Turner.
Football fans might notice something about that list: All the coaches on it are white. No Black man has ever been the head coach of three N.F.L. teams. (Romeo Crennel is the closest, having been the coach of two teams and the interim coach of a third team, for part of a season.)
But there are certainly Black coaches whose records resemble those of the white coaches who have had multiple coaching chances. Jim Caldwell, Marvin Lewis, Anthony Lynn, Lovie Smith and, in an earlier era, Dennis Green and Art Shell all won more games than they lost and took teams to the playoffs. They never got a third chance or, in some cases, a second chance to be a head coach.
The Flores lawsuit
Brian Flores seemed as if he might be following this path. Three years ago, he took over the Miami Dolphins, after the team had only one winning season in the previous 10. Under Flores, Miami had a winning record each of the past two years, coming close to the playoffs both times. Still, the Dolphins fired him last month, and no other team has hired him.
On Tuesday, Flores sued the N.F.L. for racial discrimination. It was a remarkable act of defiance: Flores is only 40 years old, and he is probably hurting his chances of getting another job in the insular, conservative N.F.L. — which also happens to be arguably the country’s most popular form of entertainment.
‘It’s hard to speak out,’ Flores said on CBS yesterday. ‘But,’ he added, ‘this is bigger than football. This is bigger than coaching.’
Robert Griffin III, a former quarterback, tweeted: ‘Brian Flores effectively had to end his chances at coaching in the N.F.L. to point out what we already know about discrimination in the hiring process for head coaches in the N.F.L.’
The details of the lawsuit read like something out of a television drama. They include screenshots of an alleged text exchange last month in which Bill Belichick, the league’s most successful coach, mistakenly congratulated Flores on getting the job as the head coach of the New York Giants. (Belichick has not confirmed that the exchange happened.)
Flores believes that Belichick meant to send the text to a different coach named Brian — Brian Daboll, who is white. Flores said that when he received the text, he was preparing for his own interview with the Giants. When he realized the text was not intended for him, he understood that Giants executives had already chosen somebody else.
The text exchange included as part of Flores’s lawsuit. An obscenity has been obscured.
Why might the Giants have wanted to interview Flores after having decided to hire Daboll? The N.F.L. requires every team to interview at least one nonwhite candidate for any head coaching job. By conducting a pro forma interview with Flores, the Giants would have been technically following the rule.
Lewis, the former coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, said yesterday that he once had a sham interview with the Carolina Panthers. Lewis said that they had already decided to hire Fox — one of the white coaches who would eventually run three different teams.
Evidence of racism
Finding ironclad proof of racial discrimination is rarely easy, especially in an individual case. And not every allegation of racism is accurate or fair. But the evidence that the N.F.L. has engaged in a pattern of discrimination against Black coaches is strong:
A 2019 academic analysis commissioned by the N.F.L. confirmed that Black coaches were less likely to receive second chances. ‘In the NFL,’ The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill recently wrote, ‘Black coaches are expected to perform miracles quickly, and when they don’t, it usually costs them their job.’
In a 32-team league where most players are Black — and that has long been the case — only one current head coach is Black. He is Mike Tomlin, who has one of the highest winning percentages of any active coach.
Teams have also been reluctant to hire Black coaches as offensive coordinator — a job that often leads to head coaching positions, as Tyler Tynes noted in The Ringer. An academic study concluded that the low rate at which teams hired Black candidates for coordinator jobs was the No. 1 reason that white head coaches dominate the league.
Even when Black coordinators succeed in those jobs, they are sometimes passed over for white candidates with weaker résumés. In last year’s Super Bowl, both offensive coordinators — Eric Bieniemy of the Kansas City Chiefs and Byron Leftwich of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — were Black. Neither has become a head coach, even as 14 teams have hired new coaches since the end of last season.
For more
Kurt Streeter has written about Bieniemy’s sterling coaching credentials, and Robert O’Connell has explained Leftwich’s success.
The Times has broken several stories on emails among prominent N.F.L. figures — involving racist remarks from Jon Gruden, a longtime coach; and a joke by the N.F.L.’s top lawyer that outreach to Latino fans would be less relevant after the construction of a border wall.” Read more at New York Times
“The N.C.A.A. said Wednesday that it was uncertain whether a new U.S.A. Swimming policy for transgender athletes, which increases the burden of proof for transgender women to show that they do not have a competitive advantage against cisgender women, would be adopted ahead of next month’s N.C.A.A. swimming championships.
The N.C.A.A. had revised its own policies with regard to transgender athletes last month, requiring transgender women to submit to testosterone testing and, pending reviews, deferring to the policy of each sport’s governing body, or, if no such guidance exists, the International Olympic Committee.
But that eagerness to align with governing bodies is being put to an early test by U.S.A. Swimming’s more stringent policies, which halve the permissible limit for testosterone in transgender women and call for an extensive review of other physical characteristics before they can compete at the elite level.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: Monica Vitti starred in a series of 1960s masterpieces directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, including “L’Avventura.” She died at 90.” Read more at New York Times
“Groundhog Day 2022: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning we're in for six more weeks of winter.” Read more at USA Today
Groundhog handler AJ Derume holds Punxsutawney Phil, who saw his shadow, predicting a late spring during the 136th annual Groundhog Day festivities on Feb. 2, 2022 in Punxsutawney, Pa.Jeff Swensen, Getty Images
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A wandering chicken was caught sneaking around a security area at the Pentagon, a local animal welfare organization said.
The loose hen was found early Monday morning near the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Virginia, wrote on social media.
‘Apparently, the answer to ‘why did the chicken cross the road’ is to get to the Pentagon,’ the group posted.
The chicken was taken into custody by one of the league’s employees.
Chelsea Jones, a spokesperson for the organization, said in an email that she couldn’t reveal the precise location where the bird was spotted.
‘We are not allowed to disclose exactly where she was found,’ Jones said. ‘We can only say it was at a security checkpoint.’” Read more at AP News