The Full Belmonte, 2/4/2022
ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi's compound in northwest Syria after a US counterterrorism raid.
“Washington (CNN)US Special Forces killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning.
It was the the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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.
‘Last night at my direction, US military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place,’ Biden said in a statement. ‘Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi -- the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation.’
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.
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.
The three-sentence Pentagon statement did not disclose a target for the special operations mission or whether there was any indication of civilian casualties. But witnesses and rescue workers told CNN that shelling and explosions preceded an airdrop of US forces shortly after midnight and targeted a house in the Syrian-Turkish border area of Atmeh, in the rebel enclave of Idlib.” Read more at CNN
“US officials say Russia is planning to stage a fake attack by Ukraine in order to justify an invasion. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that the US believes the Russian government is creating ‘a very graphic propaganda video’ that would depict an attack by Ukrainian military or intelligence forces that would include corpses, actors depicting mourners, and images of destroyed locations. Moscow has continued its buildup up of forces and military equipment along the countries' shared border, despite diplomatic efforts by the US and allies to de-escalate the situation. Russian Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told CNN yesterday that Moscow is not planning any false flag operations to invade Ukraine.” Read more at CNN
“The Winter Olympics in Beijing begin today and excitement is building around the opening ceremonies scheduled to kick off later today. About 3,000 athletes will be competing in 15 disciplines across 109 events through February 20. Politics have dominated the build-up to the Games though, with several countries -- including the US -- imposing diplomatic boycotts to protest China's alleged human rights abuses. Tensions in Eastern Europe are also impacting the atmosphere at the Olympics as Russia threatens to invade Ukraine. And Coronavirus concerns are at the forefront after a total of 308 Olympic-related cases were reported yesterday, 111 of which involve athletes or team officials, the Beijing Olympic Committee said. Participants are currently confined to a ‘closed loop system’ and will compete, eat and sleep within that bubble without making any contact with the wider Chinese population until the Games end.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON — Food prices have skyrocketed globally because of disruptions in the global supply chain, adverse weather and rising energy prices, increases that are imposing a heavy burden on poorer people around the world and threatening to stoke social unrest.
The increases have affected items as varied as grains, vegetable oils, butter, pasta, beef and coffee. They come as farmers around the globe face an array of challenges, including drought and ice storms that have ruined crops, rising prices for fertilizer and fuel, and pandemic-related labor shortages and supply chain disruptions that make it difficult to get products to market.
A global index released on Thursday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization showed food prices in January climbed to their highest level since 2011, when skyrocketing costs contributed to political uprisings in Egypt and Libya. The price of meat, dairy and cereals trended upward from December, while the price of oils reached the highest level since the index’s tracking began in 1990.
Maurice Obstfeld, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who was formerly chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said that food price increases would strain incomes in poorer countries, especially in some parts of Latin America and Africa, where some people may spend up to 50 or 60 percent of their income on food.” Read more at New York Times
“The extent to which Omicron's rapid spread leaves the world better off in the fight against COVID depends in part on how long infection-induced immunity actually lasts, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports.
Why it matters: Vaccinations and infections at high enough levels can form an immunity wall against the future spread of the virus. But if Omicron infections ultimately don't contribute much, that leaves much of the world still vulnerable.
What's happening: It'd be an Omicron silver living if the variant's soaring global caseloads raised the level of global immunity to the point that the virus isn't able to easily spread.
But for that to happen, Omicron infections would have to translate into significant additional protection against future infection — which isn't a given.
What we're watching: Omicron may have limited effectiveness against other variants, because Omicron is so different from those that originated before it.
Reality check: For people who have been vaccinated or infected with another variant — which is a very sizable population at this point — an Omicron infection could end up working as an effective booster.” Read more at Axios
“The White House is facing pressure from prominent lawmakers over its pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration, with abortion foes urging Republican senators to reject the nominee, Dr. Robert Califf, and with key Democrats withholding support over opioid policies and his industry ties.
Nearly six years after Dr. Califf received overwhelming bipartisan support to lead the agency in the final year of the Obama administration, lawmakers and aides are struggling to lock up the votes he needs to clear an evenly divided Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris serves as the tiebreaking vote.
Few, if any, nominees to the F.D.A. have faced as much opposition on both sides of the aisle, and the agency has been without a permanent commissioner for more than a year. The agency’s agenda includes a series of significant issues: oversight of drugs, tests and devices related to Covid-19; the pandemic-related decline in inspections of drug and device manufacturers; and the popularity of flavored e-cigarette products among teenagers.
Administration officials have been trying to rally support for Dr. Califf and say he continues to have the support of President Biden and top health officials. Senate Democratic leaders also continue to back him publicly. But a date has not been set for his confirmation vote before the full Senate. At least five Democrats are publicly opposing his nomination, so Dr. Califf needs at least five Republicans to support him.” Read more at New York Times
“Medicare will start paying for home Covid-19 tests beginning this spring. Last month, the Biden administration began requiring health insurers to cover the cost of home tests. Medicare was not initially included in the directive, sparking an outcry from seniors. This move will allow the 36 million senior citizens and Americans with disabilities in the traditional Medicare program to get reimbursed for tests purchased at participating pharmacies and retailers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told CNN. Separately, a new spinoff of the Omicron variant, called BA.2, has been found in at least 49 countries, including the United States -- but medical professionals say there's no need to worry because there is no evidence that it causes more severe sy than the original Omicron variant.” Read more at CNN
“One of the men convicted of murder in the chase and fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, says he plans to stand trial for a second time in the killing rather than plead guilty to a federal hate crime. Greg McMichael reversed course late Thursday on a planned guilty plea, days after a U.S. District Court judge rejected terms of a plea deal that he and his son, Travis McMichael, had negotiated with prosecutors. That deal was met with passionate objections by Arbery's parents. Travis McMichael was scheduled to appear in court Friday morning to announce his decision. The McMichaels and a neighbor, William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, were convicted of murder in a Georgia state court in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison. Separate from that case, the three white men were also indicted on charges that they violated Arbery's civil rights and targeted him because he was Black.” Read more at USA Today
Alphonso David, then-president of the Human Rights Campaign, in Atlanta during a visit in support of Democratic U.S. Senate candidates on Dec. 9, 2020. (Elijah Nouvelage for The Washington Post)
“The former president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, sued the organization Thursday, contending that a pattern of racial discrimination led to his firing last year after he advised the office of then-New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on its response to sexual harassment allegations.
Alphonso David, a Black civil rights attorney, describes in the legal complaint a ‘racist, biased culture’ at the organization he led for more than two years.
He claims that board members told him that he was initially paid less because he was Black. He says he was encouraged by a board member to stop mentioning his race in public comments. He also recounts being told by a senior HRC executive that his public support for racial justice risked alienating White donors and specifically ‘white gay men.’
The same senior executive, according to the complaint, criticized a Black staff member for meeting with a Black-owned consulting firm without a White person present because the firm’s employees might perform worse if they think they are working for people of their race.
‘HRC underpaid David, and then terminated him, because he is Black,’ David’s lawyers wrote in the complaint, which was filed at 8 a.m. in federal court in New York.
The HRC had no immediate comment on the filing Thursday morning.
The lawsuit is likely to add fuel to simmering frustrations at HRC and within the broader liberal activist community about accusations within their ranks of overt and implicit workplace discrimination and bias. The Washington-based organization, founded as a political action committee for gay rights in 1980, has faced criticism over the last decade for falling short on its commitment to racial diversity and transgender rights. David arrived in 2019, after working for Cuomo.” Read more at Washington Post
“Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times began in Manhattan federal court. The GOP former vice presidential candidate says the paper falsely suggested she helped incite violence that resulted in a 2011 mass shooting. Six people were killed and 16 others injured, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.). The Times denies the allegations. The trial was supposed to begin Jan. 24, but was delayed when Palin, who is unvaccinated, tested positive for Covid-19.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“SALT LAKE CITY — Republican leaders forged an agreement this week to potentially fund a challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming, and party members are expected to formally condemn her for her work on the Jan. 6 committee Friday, an unprecedented rebuke of an incumbent member of Congress.
As the party met in Salt Lake City this week, the leaders of the Wyoming GOP privately signed a special letter that would allow the national party to financially support Harriet Hageman, Cheney’s primary challenger. The letter officially recognizes Hageman as the presumptive nominee for the seat.
In response to the party passing the ‘Rule 11’ resolution that could fund Cheney’s challenger, a spokesman for Cheney said: ‘Wyoming Party Chairman Frank Eathorne and the Republican National Committee are trying to assert their will and take away the voice of the people of Wyoming before a single vote has even been cast.’” Read more at Washington Post
“Paths to power and winning elections inside the GOP are changing rapidly and radically, spawning a new generation of kingmakers while diminishing the clout of many who lorded over the party for years, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Lachlan Markay write.
Why it matters: Fourteen of the Republican Party's top consultants and operatives across the country spoke in detail with Axios about how profoundly primary races have changed since 2014 — the last pre-Donald Trump midterm election, and the last midterms in which a Democrat occupied the White House.
What we found: Those sources — whose clients range from as Trumpy as they come to establishment Republicans — described a clear shift in the party's power brokers. They spoke of changes to the ecosystem across four categories — institutions, endorsements, media and donors.
Who had the power:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The NRA
The Koch network
Heritage Action
The Drudge Report
National Review
Conservative movement groups, including Tea Party Express, FreedomWorks and the Senate Conservatives Fund.
Who has power now:
Donald Trump
Tucker Carlson
Family and former aides to Trump
Fox News
Club for Growth
Daily Wire
Breitbart News
Online influencers, including Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino, Joe Rogan, Jack Posobiec, Charlie Kirk and Marjorie Taylor-Greene.
Steve Bannon
Susan B. Anthony List.
Between the lines: Most of these changes weren't gradual. They were triggered by the shockwave of 2016, when Trump was elected.
Much of the institutional GOP worked against Trump in 2016. Much of the heft they believed their endorsements carried evaporated as voters saw in real-time how Trump had little need for them.
Said one top consultant: ‘You wouldn't know that these groups were paper tigers — unless you ever ran against one of them.’” Read more at Axios
Screenshot: Fox News
“As the news media fragmented overall, traditional conservative media was usurped in GOP primaries by New Wave populist-nationalist media — while some once-influential institutions died off or faded, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Lachlan Markay write.
The Drudge Report used to be able to shape multiple conservative news cycles with one headline alone. These days, after a long fight with Trump, it's viewed skeptically if not unfavorably by many Republicans.
Republicans used to covet the cover of National Review. But after the publication opposed Trump in 2016, every operative we asked told Axios it's become irrelevant in GOP primaries. One with several high-profile GOP primary candidates said: ‘I would argue there's more people who'd be turned off by NR writing positive pieces.’
‘I don't know who said that,’ National Review editor Rich Lowry told us, ‘but I guarantee you if we ran a negative item of any sort on one of his or her clients ... we would hear from that campaign pushing back almost immediately.’
Fox News still dominates. GOP operatives work as hard as ever to book their candidates on Fox. Getting on the evening primetime shows — ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,’ ‘Hannity’ and ‘The Ingraham Angle’ — nets low-dollar donations and visibility with primary voters and Trump himself.
Some disgruntled Trump fans have turned instead to the even more fervently pro-Trump networks, OAN and Newsmax. But those two networks face growing distribution problems as providers cut them off.
Tucker Carlson is the king of the GOP's media wing — the person whose support GOP primary candidates most want and whose opposition is to be desperately avoided because it can ‘move numbers,’ in the words of one operative who has seen the Tucker effect up close.
One operative told Axios there are two other media entities candidates don't want working against them in GOP primaries: ‘You don't want Bannon on your f---ing ass’ and ‘you don't want Breitbart on your ass.’
An important shift is accelerating online: Many GOP primary voters now get their information directly from influencers including Candace Owens, Dan Bongino, Joe Rogan, Dave Portnoy, Charlie Kirk, Marjorie Taylor Greene — and websites including Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire and Breitbart, which dominate Facebook.
The hardest-core of Trump's election-denying base listen to Bannon's War Room — a podcast that has become an audition stage for GOP candidates, and a venue that consultants say is a goldmine for their candidates' digital fundraising.
The bottom line: Several operatives said they could easily go a whole primary without needing to engage at all with the mainstream media.
When they do, they're often trying to provoke outlets the GOP base despises — such as CNN — to gain street cred with primary voters.” Read more at Axios
Photo: Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
“Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping issued a thinly veiled joint statement condemning Western "interference in the internal affairs" of other countries, as they met for a highly choreographed summit ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony.” Read more at Axios
“LONDON (AP) — Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor wasn’t born to wear the crown. But destiny intervened.
The woman who became Queen Elizabeth II will mark 70 years on the throne Sunday, an unprecedented reign that has made her a symbol of stability as the United Kingdom navigated an age of uncertainty.
From her early days as a glamorous young royal in glittering tiaras to her more recent incarnation as the nation’s grandmother, the queen has witnessed the end of the British Empire, the advent of multiculturalism, the rise of international terrorism, and the challenges posed by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. In a world of relentless change, she has been a constant — representing the U.K.’s interests abroad, applauding the nation’s successes and commiserating in its failures, and always remaining above the fray of politics.” Read more at AP News
“Johnson’s troubles. Four senior aides to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned on Thursday, three of whom appeared to have quit their posts largely due to their participation in controversial office parties and as an offering to Conservative party members clamoring for a shake-up in Downing Street leadership. The fourth, policy chief Munira Mirza, left over Johnson’s comments earlier in the week, when he falsely claimed opposition leader Keir Starmer had let a known pedophile walk free during his time as a prosecutor.
Even if the clearout does take the heat off calls for Johnson’s resignation, a cost of living crisis looms next, with British households expected to pay 54 percent more for their energy costs from April onwards.” Read more at Axios
The likening of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to white-ruled South Africa is growing more widespread in the US mainstream
“At the beginning of the year, Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid reflected on the diplomatic challenges for 2022.
‘We think that in the coming year, there will be debate that is unprecedented in its venom and in its radioactivity around the words ‘Israel as an apartheid state’,’ he told Israeli journalists. ‘In 2022, it will be a tangible threat.
Lapid pointed to two United Nations investigations he said were likely to conclude that Israel’s governance of occupied Palestinian territory amounts to the crime of apartheid under international law.
Several Israeli and international human rights organisations have reached exactly that view, including Amnesty International with the release of a report this week, Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: a Cruel System of Domination and a Crime Against Humanity.
Israel is also facing an international criminal court investigation into actions in the occupied territories, such as the confiscation of Palestinian land to build Jewish settlements, that Amnesty International and others have said breach international laws against apartheid.
But Israel is also concerned that the breaking of the longstanding taboo in the US on comparing its rule over the Palestinians to white South Africa’s racist repression of its black population is evidence of a slower-moving – but potentially more dangerous –threat: the fracturing of once rock-solid backing for Israel within its most important ally.
The Israeli foreign ministry’s director general, Alon Ushpiz, placed protecting longstanding bipartisan support for the Jewish state in the US at the top of a list of Israel’s diplomatic priorities this year as opinion polls show eroding support among Democrats, in part driven by changing narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For years, polls showed that Democrats sympathised with the Israelis at twice the rate of support for the Palestinians. But since the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2014, backing for the Jewish state has fallen and support is now about evenly divided.
That change is accentuated among younger Americans, with adults under 35 far less well-disposed towards Israel than older generations.
A separate survey last June found that half of Democrats want Washington to shift policy toward more support for the Palestinians.
Support for Israeli government policies is even falling within the US Jewish community, with a poll last year finding that 25% of American Jews agreed that ‘Israel is an apartheid state.’” Read more at The Guardian
“Afghanistan's public universities have reopened to female students for the first time since the Taliban took over the country last year. Female students were allowed back on university campuses this week, but on the condition they were separated from male students. Under the Taliban's previous rule from 1996 to 2001, women and girls were barred from education. But the group has been vague on its plans for the education of girls and women since the hardline government resumed power on August 15. In many provinces, young girls are still being excluded from secondary schools, prompting aid groups to sound the international alarm for swift action.” Read more at CNN
“Costa Rica’s up in the air election. Costa Rica’s presidential vote, set for this Sunday, is expected to go into a second round, with a crowded field of 25 candidates unlikely to produce a clear victor. The frontrunners are uncertain, with almost a third of voters undecided ahead of the poll, which will also include legislative elections.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Contentious cabinet | Peruvian President Pedro Castillo is facing protests and losing support he needs to fend off impeachment over a group of controversial cabinet picks. They include Prime Minister Hector Valer, who has denied allegations of domestic violence against his wife and daughter, as well as a minister of women who has spoken against gender equality and an environment chief with no public management experience.” Read more at Bloomberg
“19 vaccine similar to Moderna’s mRNA offering, the first to be made using just publicly available sequence data and without the original developer's assistance.” [Vox] Read more at Reuters / Wendell Roelf
“Nigeria announced birth-control measures including expanded access to family planning to address high fertility rates in Africa’s most populous country.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Amazon’s profits nearly doubled this holiday season. The online retailer reported $14.3 billion, up from $7.2 billion a year ago. Amazon has benefitted from the tremendous growth in online shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic, though it also faced supply-chain and labor issues.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Amazon is raising the price of its Prime membership for the first time since 2018. An annual membership will go up $20 from $119 to $139 and the monthly fee will go up $2 from $12.99 to $14.99.” Read more at USA Today
“Four men face charges that they were members of the drug distribution crew that supplied a deadly mix of drugs to Michael K. Williams, the renowned actor from ‘The Wire.’” Read more at USA Today
“Filmmaker Spike Lee is directing a documentary about Colin Kaepernick. The former NFL quarterback and activist famously knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice. Former ESPN anchor and writer Jemele Hill is one of the ESPN Films project’s producers.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Lives Lived: Robin Herman, a Times hockey reporter, was one of the first female journalists in North America to enter the locker room of a men’s pro team. She died at 70.” Read more at New York Times
Eileen Gu qualifying for the Olympics in Colorado.James Stukenberg for The New York Times
“The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics takes place this morning. Here’s a preview of a few events:
Snowboarding: Chloe Kim — the breakout star of the last Winter Games — is a favorite to win gold in the halfpipe again. Shaun White, 35, the three-time gold medalist, is back for what he says will be his final Olympics.
Speedskating: Last year, Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a speedskating World Cup event. But she almost didn’t make the Olympics because of a stumble in her qualifying tournament. Her teammate Brittany Bowe gave up her spot in the 500 meters for Jackson. Bowe will compete in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters.
Figure skating: At 22, Nathan Chen has won nearly everything but a gold medal, after a disastrous routine kept him off the podium in 2018. He is a favorite again.
Freestyle skiing: Eileen Gu grew up in San Francisco, but she will compete for China, her mother’s home country, where she is a budding superstar. The 18-year-old phenom has a shot at three gold medals.
Bobsled: Among the new events this year is the monobob, a one-woman bobsled race. Elana Meyers Taylor, an American, would be a favorite in the event, unless a positive Covid test keeps her out of the race.” Read more at New York Times