The Full Belmonte, 2/7/2022
“WASHINGTON — Two senators working on an overhaul of the little-known law that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election pledged on Sunday that their legislation would pass the Senate, saying that recent revelations about the plot made their work even more important.
In a joint interview on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Senators Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said their efforts to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 were gaining broader support in the Senate, with as many as 20 senators taking part in the discussions.
‘Absolutely, it will pass,’ Mr. Manchin said of an overhaul of the law, which dictates how Congress formalizes elections.
He said efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to exploit ‘ambiguity’ in the law were ‘what caused the insurrection’ — the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That misreading of the statute led to a plan by Mr. Trump and his allies to amass a crowd outside the Capitol to try to pressure Congress and Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over Congress’s official count of electoral votes, to overturn the results of the election.
Ms. Murkowski said the rewrite could be expanded to include other protections for democracy, such as a crackdown on threats and harassment against election workers.
‘We want to make sure that if you are going to be an election worker,’ Ms. Murkowski said, ‘you don’t feel intimidated or threatened or harassed.’
A bipartisan group of at least 15 senators — which includes Mr. Manchin and Ms. Murkowski and is led by Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine — recently began discussions with another group that features top Democrats who have studied the issue for months. That group includes Senator Angus King, independent of Maine; Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota; and Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.
Mr. King’s group last week released draft legislative text for a rewrite of the Electoral Count Act that would address deficiencies exposed by Mr. Trump’s plan. The bill would clarify that the vice president has no power to reject a state’s electors and ensure that state legislatures cannot appoint electors after Election Day in an effort to overturn their state’s election results.
It would also give states additional time to complete legitimate recounts and litigation; provide limited judicial review to ensure that the electors appointed by a state reflect the popular vote results in the state; enumerate specific and narrow grounds for objections to electors or electoral votes; raise the thresholds for Congress to consider objections; and make it harder to sustain objections without broad support by both chambers of Congress.” Read more at New York Times
“OTTAWA — Ottawa announced a ‘state of emergency’ Sunday after hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters, many in big-rig trucks, disrupted the capital city for the second weekend in a row.
The meaning of the declaration was not immediately clear. ‘Declaring a state of emergency reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,’ said the late afternoon announcement from the city’s mayor, Jim Watson.
Earlier in the day, Watson pleaded for help, saying authorities were ‘outnumbered’ and are ‘losing this battle’ against the raucous demonstrators. The city’s police department also warned Sunday that anyone attempting to bring ‘material’ support to the trucks, including gasoline, would be subject to arrest. Throughout the protests, people had been seen lugging cans of gas to keep the blockade trucks’ engines running.
Protests over coronavirus public health measures Saturday and Sunday included the massive road blockades, shooting off fireworks, driving on sidewalks, high-decibel nonstop horn-honking by truckers and what the Ottawa police department called other forms of ‘extremely disruptive and unlawful behavior. ... We continue to advise demonstrators not to enter Ottawa, and to go home,’ the department said in a statement.
Demonstrations in solidarity with the self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ also broke out during the weekend in other cities across Canada, including Toronto, Quebec City and Vancouver.
Authorities in Vancouver reported late Saturday that rocks and eggs were being thrown, cars kicked, ‘and nails being strewn on roadways’ as several hundred vehicles rode through the city en route to the downtown core. Five arrests were made.” Read more at Washington Post
Trucks are parked near Parliament Hill in Ottawa as truckers and supporters continue to protest coronavirus vaccine mandates on Feb. 4 (Lars Hagberg/Reuters)
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to the White House on Monday amid stirrings of war by Russia over Ukraine and questions of German resolve in Washington. The meeting comes after a report that Russia has assembled at least 70% of the military firepower it plans to have in place to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Scholz is facing criticism over Germany's economic ties with Russia, particularly the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that would directly run from Russia to Germany, increasing Europe's dependence on Moscow for its energy. Also Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Moscow for a one-on-one meeting with Putin.” Read more at USA Today
“The three white men convicted last November of murdering Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery will return to court Monday, with jury selection set to begin in their federal hate crime trial. Last week, Travis McMichael, 35, pleaded guilty to a charge of interference with rights that would have given him a sentence of 30 years in federal prison to serve concurrently with his life-plus 20 years sentence for Arbery's murder. McMichael withdrew that plea Friday. His father, 65-year-old Gregory McMichael, also withdrew his plea agreement in court filings filed late Thursday. The withdrawals come after a judge rejected the initial terms of the binding agreements, saying she did not have enough information to conclude it was a fair deal. Arbery's family urged her to reject the deal. The hate crime case will continue against the McMichaels and William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, the neighbor who filmed Arbery's killing in Brunswick, Georgia, in February 2020.” Read more at USA Today
“Marc Short, the former chief of staff for Mike Pence, says the former vice president chose to rebuke former President Donald Trump last week because his comments about Pence's ability to overturn the 2020 election ‘merited response.’ Pence called out his former boss by name on Friday, saying that ‘President Trump is wrong’ in claiming that the then-vice president had the right to overturn the election on January 6, 2021. Short said yesterday he does not believe the riot was ‘legitimate political discourse,’ contrary to a recent statement from the Republican National Committee. Separately, as the House select committee steadily moves forward with its investigation into the insurrection, newly obtained records show Trump spoke with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan the day of the riot. This revelation has prompted the committee to consider moving forward with a subpoena for Jordan after he refused to voluntarily appear for an interview.” Read more at CNN
“Spotify Technology SA Chief Executive Daniel Ek apologized to employees for the backlash that has followed the emergence of Joe Rogan’s use of a racial slur in previous podcast episodes.
He said in a letter shared with The Wall Street Journal by a company spokesman that he has no plans to remove the star podcaster from the streaming platform and committed to spending $100 million on music and audio content from what he called historically marginalized groups.
‘There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ controversy continues to impact each of you,’ Mr. Ek said to Spotify staffers on Sunday, referring to Mr. Rogan’s podcast. ‘Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful, I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.’
The Spotify executive’s comments doubled down on his statements last week that Spotify is an open platform despite its exclusive deal to distribute Mr. Rogan’s podcast and that silencing Mr. Rogan isn’t the right choice. Mr. Ek’s letter follows Spotify’s acknowledgment that it was delayed in addressing outcry sparked by rocker Neil Young over Mr. Rogan’s shows about the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines.
Mr. Ek said in his letter that Mr. Rogan chose to remove some episodes from Spotify following discussions with the company and Mr. Rogan’s own reflections. Tracking site jremissing.com says 113 of Mr. Rogan’s episodes have been taken off Spotify since Friday.
Mr. Rogan apologized for the second time in a week on Saturday after a compilation video emerged showing how he and some of his guests used the N-word numerous times on his show. In a video on his Instagram account, Mr. Rogan said he offered ‘my sincere and humble apologies’ for ‘the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.’” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Tens of thousands of people were still without power Sunday, mostly in the hard-hit Memphis, Tenn., area, days after a snow and ice storm hit a swath of the southern and eastern U.S.
In Tennessee, municipal utility Memphis Light, Gas and Water still had about 79,400 customers offline by late Sunday afternoon—down from more than a quarter million initially after Thursday’s storm. The utility said it could take until the end of day Thursday to get power restored to all customers but hopes to get it back for most by late Monday night.
The most lasting damage is likely in parts of the city dense with trees, which took a beating in the storm, utility officials said at a press conference Sunday. About 1,000 workers, including hundreds from other utilities who came to help, are working on repairs, officials said.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“MOSCOW (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold talks in Moscow Monday in a bid to to help de-escalate the tense situation around Ukraine.
The concentration of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fueled Western worries that it heralds a possible offensive, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warning Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine ‘any day,’ triggering a conflict that would come at an ‘enormous human cost.’
Russia has denied any plans to attack its neighbor, but is urging the U.S. and its allies to bar Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations from joining NATO, halt weapons deployments there and roll back NATO forces from Eastern Europe. Washington and NATO have rejected the demands.
Macron, who is set to meet in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin before visiting Ukraine Tuesday, said last week that his priority is ‘dialogue with Russia and de-escalation.’” Read more at AP News
FILE - China's Peng Shuai serves to Japan's Nao Hibino during their first round singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2020. The whereabout of Peng remains a pressing question at the Beijing Olympics. Peng’s accusations of sexual assault months ago against former vice premier Zhang Gaoli, once a member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, were scrubbed almost immediately from the internet in China. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill, File)
“BEIJING (AP) — Nothing to see here, move on.
That was the message that Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai delivered Monday in a controlled interview in Beijing that touched on sexual assault allegations she made against a former high-ranking member of China’s ruling Communist Party. Her answers - delivered in front of a Chinese Olympic official - left unanswered questions about her well-being and what exactly happened.
The interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe and an announcement that International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach met Peng for dinner this weekend seemed aimed at defusing sustained international concerns about the three-time Olympian and former No. 1-ranked tennis doubles player. Those concerns have threatened to overshadow the Winter Olympics underway in Beijing.
Peng told L’Equipe that the concerns were the result of ‘an enormous misunderstanding.’ But the format of the interview appeared to allow for no sustained follow-ups, with questions submitted in advance and a Chinese Olympic committee official sitting in on the discussion, translating Peng’s comments from Chinese.” Read more at AP News
“Peru’s political turmoil. Peruvian President Pedro Castillo is seeking his fourth government in six months after his most recent prime minister resigned within four days of taking the post. Hector Valer stepped down from his position on Saturday over allegations he had beaten his wife and daughter. Castillo has not said whether Valer will leave his cabinet and when a new one will be announced.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Iraq’s presidential vote. The selection of Iraq’s next president, previously scheduled for today, has been indefinitely delayed after the Supreme Court blocked the bid of Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish businessman, over corruption charges against him. Threats to boycott today’s parliament session from such a large number of lawmakers mean the body is unlikely to have the numbers to approve a new president today. The episode further delays the formation of a government led by Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement, the largest group in Iraqi parliament.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Iceland is set to wind down its commercial whaling industry, its fisheries minister Svandos Svavarsdottir said last Friday, citing its dwindling economic benefits and said there were ‘few justifications to authorize the whale hunt beyond 2024.’
Iceland’s whale hunters have faced challenges since Japan reauthorized commercial whaling in 2019 and have had to sail farther for catches due to an extended no-fishing zone around the island. Only 14 boats continue the practice today, bringing in 575 whales—less than half the allowed quota—in 2021.
If Iceland bans whaling, it will leave Norway and Japan as the only countries where commercial whaling remains legal.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“After being denied several million dollars raised on GoFundMe, organizers of a trucker-led protest disrupting life in Canada’s capital have found a new platform: a Christian crowdfunding site where they raised more than $3.5 million in two days to demonstrate against the country’s vaccine mandate.
The new fundraiser hosted by GiveSendGo, which describes itself as the ‘#1 free Christian crowdfunding site,’ reported Sunday that the ‘Freedom Convoy’ campaign had raised several million dollars two days after GoFundMe announced that it was freezing more than $8 million in donations to the cause, a move that led Republican officials in the United States to announce investigations.
The rapid influxes of donations have prompted questions about the origin of the funds and sparked concerns among analysts about the use of the online platforms for financing fringe organizations that could allow the interference of foreign entities.” Read more at Washington Post
“SYDNEY — Australia will reopen to vaccinated international tourists later this month, effectively bringing to an end one of the world’s longest and strictest coronavirusborder closures even as the country wrestles with an outbreak of the omicron variant.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Monday that the country would welcome double-vaccinated overseas tourists starting Feb. 21, almost two years after Australia’s near-complete border restrictions earned it the nicknames of ‘Fortress Australia’ and the ‘Hermit Kingdom.’
With omicron outbreaks across the country and Australians among the most immunized people in the world, Morrison said it no longer made sense to keep out tourists who have had at least two shots.” Read more at Washington Post
“KAMPALA — A former Ugandan ethics minister who championed a bill to introduce the death penalty for same-sex relationships and sought to regulate what women could wear died on Saturday, officials said.
Simon Lokodo — a one-time Catholic priest ex-communicated by the church, whose homophobia attracted global condemnation — died aged 64 in a hospital in Geneva.
Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo announced the news of Lokodo’s death during a radio program on Saturday.
The country’s National Human Rights Commission, where Lokodo served after a decade as ethics minister, expressed ‘great shock and pain’ at losing their colleague.
President Yoweri Museveni said Lokodo ‘served the nation gallantly’ and would be missed.
His ‘firmness against immorality & his desire to enforce culture exceedingly stood out’, Museveni said in a tribute posted on Twitter.
Lokodo was best known internationally for drafting legislation that could have imposed the death penalty for homosexual relations in his homeland.
A watered-down version of the so-called ‘Kill the Gays’ bill was quashed by a top court in 2014.
But the setback didn’t stop the fervent Christian from railing against what he saw as a foreign conspiracy to import homosexuality into Uganda.
A hated figure among the gay community, Lokodo threatened to lead attacks against the police facilitating Pride parades or declining to prosecute attendees at LGBT bars.
He also drew the ire of feminists when in 2014 he sought to outlaw certain items of clothing, prompting attacks on women wearing miniskirts.
The move sparked angry demonstrations and the bill — which Lokodo said was misinterpreted — was eventually quashed.
Lokodo was widely ridiculed in 2016 when he announced he had secured a deal to import an “anti-porn machine” which would detect and block online pornography, a plan which never materialized.
In 2018, he attempted to ban a four-day international music festival on the banks of the Nile River, accusing revelers of engaging in sex, bestiality and devil worship.
This crusade was overruled by ministerial colleagues.
In 2016, British broadcaster Stephen Fry, who is gay, revealed that he attempted suicide after interviewing Lokodo in 2012.” Read more at The Inquirer
“New Jersey’s Democratic governor will lift the state’s school mask mandate.” Read more at New York Times
“Republican candidates, wooing Trump voters, are stepping up their attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci.” Read more at New York Times
“RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s campaign lashed out at a high school student as well as Democrat Ralph Northam on Twitter this weekend, tweeting out the teen’s name and photo after the boy shared a news story about part of the Executive Mansion where enslaved workers once lived.
On Saturday afternoon, Ethan Lynne, 17, retweeted a report from the Richmond public radio station VPM suggesting that Youngkin (R) might be scrapping efforts pursued under two previous governors, Northam and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, to highlight the history of enslaved people at the mansion. The report contained an error, which Lynne noted on Twitter hours later, when VPM issued a correction.
But by then, ‘Team Youngkin’ — the official Twitter account for Youngkin’s campaign — had attacked Lynne, posting a photo of the teen with Northam taken at a Democratic fundraiser in October.
‘Here’s a picture of Ethan with a man that had a Blackface/KKK photo in his yearbook,’ Team Youngkin tweeted a little before 5 p.m., pairing the October photo with a racist picture from Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook that surfaced in 2019.
The tweet drew immediate backlash from Democrats, who called on Youngkin to apologize to Lynne. The attack on Youngkin’s predecessor drew less notice since Northam is a public figure and adult, although it ran counter to Youngkin’s public expressions of thanks toward the Democrat for an ‘incredibly cooperative’ transition.
Team Youngkin removed the tweet late Sunday morning but offered no apology.
‘A governor’s campaign account has attacked a minor — to me that was a new low,’ Lynne said in an interview Sunday morning. ‘And they just now took it down. It was up for over 12 hours. I received no apology, no communication, nothing.’” Read more at Washington Post
“Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides are intensifying an effort to revive his public standing, including discussing how to make his first public appearance since resigning in August, according to people close to him.
Mr. Cuomo and his remaining aides have been calling former allies and political operatives to complain about New York Attorney General Letitia James, who oversaw an investigation that concluded Mr. Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, including current and former state employees. The former Democratic governor has denied touching anybody inappropriately and said the investigation was politically motivated.
The former governor’s lawyer, Rita Glavin, has held press briefings to release information about his accusers that she says undermines their credibility. Mr. Cuomo has been attempting to determine the right forum for a speech or appearance that would mark his return to public life, according to the people close to him.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Housing will probably keep getting more expensive, despite the Fed's efforts to cool the market, Axios Markets co-author Matt Phillips reports.
The supply of houses for sale plunged to record lows in recent months — and even if you can win the bidding war for one of them, the cost of a mortgage is on the rise.
What's happening: Housing prices have surged over the last two years as house-bound Americans took advantage of record low mortgage rates.
The price of an existing home jumped from roughly $275,000 at the end of 2019 to $358,000 in December 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The Fed has recently signaled it will lift interest rates to try to clamp down on inflation. Mortgage rates have jumped sharply in response.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rates rose from 2.98% in November to 3.55% late last month, per Freddie Mac.
By itself, such an increase would add roughly $200 to the monthly mortgage payment on the median priced home in the U.S., S&P estimates.” Read more at Axios
Sarah Palin and Sen. John McCain at a rally in Hershey, Pa., on Oct. 28, 2008. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
“At the moment the late Sen. John McCain green-lit Sarah Palin as his presidential running mate in 2008, he told top advisers: ‘F--- it. Let’s do it.’
McCain balled up a fist and shook it as if rolling dice, N.Y. Times political reporter Jeremy W. Peters reveals in his forthcoming book, ‘Insurgency: How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted.’
The conversation in August 2008 — which took place outside, at the water's edge near a hawk's nest on McCain's ranch in Sedona, Arizona — was confirmed for Axios by a top McCain source.
Why it matters: The incident gives new vividness to how impulsively McCain made a fateful decision that badly diminished him in his race against then-Sen. Barack Obama.
Here's how Peters tells the story in his book (out Tuesday from Crown), which traces the Trumpification of the Grand Old Party over a three-decade arc, stretching back to Pat Buchanan in 1992:
‘Mark Salter, a longtime aide to McCain, cautioned him that voters could see a Palin pick as discordant with the message of readiness and experience that the campaign had been focusing on as a contrast with Obama, a forty-seven-year-old first-term senator. 'There’s worse things, John, than losing an election. You could lose your reputation,' Salter told him.’
Steve Schmidt, a top campaign strategist often blamed for pushing Palin, ‘also thought Palin was a risk but said maybe it was one worth taking,’ Peters writes:
[Schmidt] told McCain he should consider whether it would be worth it if he chose Palin and lost, but also knew in the end that he’d lost because he did something bold. "What you’ve got to decide," Schmidt told the senator, "is would you rather lose by seven going for it?"
McCain turned to his wife, Cindy. "John, it's a gamble," she said.
This made McCain's face light up. "Well, I wish you hadn’t said that," he said. McCain, an avid craps player, balled up his fist and blew on it, then shook it like he was about to roll a pair of dice. "F--- it," he said. "Let's do it."
Between the lines: Schmidt thought that to have a chance at winning, McCain needed to be ahead coming out of the September convention.
Schmidt couldn't see that happening with either of the other finalists — Mitt Romney or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.” Read more at Axios
The two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin.Doug Mills/The New York Times
“The American skier and defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin fell and was disqualified from the giant slalom.” Read more at New York Times
“The Dutch speedskater Ireen Wüst became the first person to win individual golds at five Olympics.” Read more at New York Times
“Team USA took home the silver in the team figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics after Madison Chock and Evan Bates turned in a season-best score in the ice dancing free program.” Read more at USA Today
“Kylie Jenner is a mom again! The Kylie Cosmetics founder announced she gave birth to her second child with boyfriend Travis Scott in a social media post.” Read more at USA Today
“New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara was arrested Sunday by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and charged with ‘battery resulting in substantial bodily harm,’ a news release from the department said.
The investigation began when officers were dispatched to a hospital Saturday around 5:50 p.m. ‘where a person was reporting a battery,’ Las Vegas police said.
‘The victim reported being battered at a nightclub located in the 3500 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard,’ the release said. Police said their investigation led them to charge Kamara.
He was located Sunday and taken into custody without incident, police said.
Kamara, 26, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and posted bail of $5,000, according to the Clark County Detention Center's website.
Kamara is expected to make his initial court appearance Monday afternoon.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and are asking anyone with information to contact their office.
Shortly before the arrest, Kamara participated in the NFL Pro Bowl in Las Vegas as one of the top running backs in the league. Kamara has been named to the Pro Bowl in each of his five seasons in the NFL since being drafted in the third round by the Saints in 2017.” Read more at CNN
“Eighteen people were rescued from an ice floe that separated from land near Catawba Island in Lake Erie, the US Coast Guard said Sunday.
A sheet of floating ice broke away while the individuals were snowmobiling, according to the Coast Guard.
Authorities used a Coast Guard Station Marblehead airboat and an Air Station Detroit helicopter to rescue the stranded group, the Coast Guard said earlier in a tweet. A "good Samaritan" with an airboat also assisted with the operation.” Read more at CNN