The Full Belmonte, 2/9/2022
“Prosecutors have provided a revealing glimpse of their strategy for the first trial stemming from the attack on the Capitol, unveiling an inventory of the extensive evidence they intend to introduce, including surveillance videos, police communications, text messages, geolocation data and testimony from a Secret Service agent and the defendant’s own children.
The defendant in the trial, set to begin on Feb. 28, is Guy Wesley Reffitt, an oil industry worker who prosecutors say was a member of the Texas Three Percenters, a far-right group connected to the gun rights movement. Mr. Reffitt stands accused of storming the Capitol with a pistol at his waist. The charges against him include interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder and obstructing Congress’s duty to certify the results of the 2020 election.
The trial — the earliest of several related to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, scheduled this year — will mark a major turning point in the Justice Department’s vast investigation of the Capitol attack. About 200 people have pleaded guilty so far to charges connected to the violent assault that disrupted the peaceful transfer of power. Of those, nearly 90 have already been sentenced.
The Reffitt trial, which will take place in Federal District Court in Washington, is expected to be the first time that prosecutors will publicly offer evidence of the allegations they have made against scores of other similar defendants. Under what is sure to be enormous scrutiny, the prosecutors will have to demonstrate that law enforcement officers were ‘adversely affected’ by the riot and that Mr. Reffitt was part of a pro-Trump mob that illegally stopped the work of Congress.” Read more at New York Times
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the White House in 2021.
“The top two Republican leaders in Congress were at odds yesterday over the Republican National Committee's resolution to censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. The RNC referred to that day as ‘legitimate political discourse’ in the resolution, but in a rare break with the RNC, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said what occurred was ‘a violent insurrection.’ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, defended the RNC's choice of words. Separately, liberal activists are mounting a legal case to block Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn from running for reelection in North Carolina, arguing he stoked violence by telling the insurrectionists it was ‘time to fight’ days before the attack.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON – FBI agents arrested a New York couple this morning for allegedly conspiring to launder most of the cryptocurrency stolen during the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange that is now worth a whopping $4.5 billion.
Justice Department officials called it a record-shattering amount of stolen currency – digital or otherwise – and said that they have seized at least $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to that hack that they will now try to return to its rightful owners.
So far, authorities have not publicly linked Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, to the actual hack of the cryptocurrency, saying the investigation is ongoing. They are accused of laundering the $3.6 billion through a series of complicated financial transactions, and diverting unspecified millions to accounts that they controlled.” Read more at USA Today
“States are pulling back on Covid-19 restrictions despite warnings from the CDC that it is too early to do so. There are about 290,000 new coronavirus cases every day and hospitalization rates are higher than they were at the peak of the Delta surge, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said yesterday, stating it’s too early to lift mask mandates. Despite calls to keep restrictions in place, several states -- including California and Delaware -- have already announced updated guidance to drop indoor mask mandates in the coming days.” Read more at CNN
“Gov. Kathy Hochul will drop New York’s stringent indoor mask mandate on Wednesday, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require mask wearing at all times, and marking a turning point in the state’s coronavirus response, according to three people briefed on her decision.
The decision will eliminate a rule that prompted legal and interpersonal clashes over mask wearing, especially in conservative parts of New York. It was set to expire on Thursday and would have required renewing.
Ms. Hochul’s decision will let the mask mandate lapse just as a crushing winter surge in coronavirus cases is finally receding. But it was not yet clear whether the governor would renew or drop a separate mask mandate in New York schools that is set to expire in two weeks.
The easing of New York’s pandemic restrictions on businesses comes as Democratic-led states from New Jersey to California have announced similar moves this week, in a loosely coordinated effort that is the result of months of public-health planning, back-channel discussions and political focus groups that began in the weeks after the November election.” Read more at New York Times
“Pfizer and federal officials are scrambling to speed up COVID vaccines for kids under 5. But polls indicate plenty of parents may be on the fence about getting their child vaccinated right away, Axios' Tina Reed writes.
Why it matters: Officials are trying to get first shots into the littlest arms to protect against severe disease and hospitalization — which, while rare for young kids, is still a real threat. But many parents of younger children are leery.
In a Harris poll of 306 parents of kids under 5 provided exclusively to Axios, 73% of vaccinated parents said they're likely to vaccinate their kids under 5, while only 35% of unvaccinated parents would.
‘When I looked at these numbers, I thought: 'Buckle up, PTAs. Toddler vaccines are the next culture war,'‘ John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll, told Axios.
Context: The push to vaccinate young children comes as even Democratic governors have announced plans to stop masking kids in schools.
The bottom line: If and when Pfizer's vaccines become available for the youngest kids, officials will have a job ahead of them convincing many parents to take advantage, even after two years of waiting.” Read more at Axios
“A wave of polls taken as the Omicron variant crested across much of the United States shows new signs that the public’s resolve to combat the coronavirus pandemic is waning.
The surveys depict an increasingly frustrated and pessimistic nation that is as worried by the specter of an endless pandemic as it is fearful of the disease. While a majority of voters remain concerned about the coronavirus, the balance of recent polling suggests that the desire to return to normalcy has approached or even overtaken alarm about the virus itself.” Read more at New York Times
“A judge in San Antonio has ordered the United States Air Force to pay more than $230 million in damages to the survivors and families of victims of a Texas church shooting in 2017, where 26 people were killed and 22 injured by a former airman.
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez described in his judgment how, in a span of seven minutes and 24 seconds, the gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, fired 450 rounds using an AR-556 rifle. Worshipers at the small First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., scrambled to take cover under pews during the routine Sunday service, and the massacre left children among the dead and multigenerational gaps in some families.” Read more at Washington Post
“The big Covid-19 pandemic baby bust has gone bust.
There were about 7,000 fewer U.S. births through the first nine months of 2021 compared with the same period the year prior, according to the CDC’s provisional data, which could change as much as 2% when the final numbers come out. Some economists point to government assistance, such as stimulus checks and boosted unemployment benefits, as a reason for the not-so-dire numbers. Despite inaccurate predictions and more babies, the U.S. fertility rate remains historically low; for example, the number of babies born in this country in 2020 (Wait! Remember how many months long pregnancies last.) was the lowest since 1979.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The House of Representatives yesterday passed a sweeping bipartisan bill that would overhaul the US Postal Service's finances and allow the agency to modernize its service after years of crippling losses. The Postal Service Reform Act would require retired postal employees to enroll in Medicare when eligible, while dropping a previous mandate that forced the agency to cover its health care costs years in advance. Those two measures would save the USPS nearly $50 billion over the next decade, according to the House Oversight Committee. The US Postal Service's ‘dire financial condition’ has kept the agency from modernizing and prevented plans to replace the vast majority of its aging vehicle fleet with electric trucks, according to a USPS spokesperson. The bill, which cleared the House by a 342-92 vote, now heads to the Senate, where it's expected to be voted on by the end of next week.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday approved legislation to keep the government funded through mid-March, temporarily averting a shutdown as lawmakers struggle to reach a longer-term agreement on spending for federal agencies and departments for the remainder of the year.
With funding set to lapse on Feb. 18, the decision to pass a three-week extension was an admission that private negotiations between Republicans and Democrats have so far failed to bridge disagreements over how to allocate billions of dollars in federal spending.
Under the bill passed on Tuesday, by a vote of 272 to 162, the new deadline for a deal is March 11.
The measure now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it before the Feb. 18 deadline.” Read more at New York Times
“The U.S. trade deficit increased 27% last year to an all-time high of $859.1 billion, underscoring the strength of the nation’s economy and its continued hefty dependence on imports from China and other countries.
The 2021 trade deficit in goods and services well exceeded the previous record of $763.53 billion in 2006, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Annual trade-balance records, which aren’t inflation-adjusted, date to 1960.
The trade deficit with China grew 14.5% for the full year to $355.3 billion, reversing the decline that followed then-President Donald Trump’s policies aimed at reducing the deficit with tariffs and purchase targets. Last year’s deficit was still below the record trade deficit of $418.2 billion that the U.S. set with China in 2018, when Mr. Trump was in office.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“President Biden isn't just about to lose the window for Democrats to pass legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He could also lose a president's best backup leverage — the ability to cut them through executive and regulatory actions, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.
Why it matters: Biden may soon find himself hamstrung by unfavorable court rulings, including West Virginia v. EPA — a Supreme Court case scheduled for oral arguments on Feb. 28.
Environmentalists are watching the case closely: They fear the court's new conservative majority may be willing to go far toward dismantling the EPA's regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act.
That's on top of the collapse of Build Back Better, the best vehicle Democrats had for cutting emissions.
Between the lines: The White House might not have the option of turning to the executive and regulatory approach that President Obama used on climate after running into his own congressional roadblocks.” Read more at Axios
The Supreme Court chisels away at voting rights
Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
“The Supreme Court — at least temporarily — restored an Alabama congressional map a lower court had ruled diminished the power of the state’s Black voters. Beyond diluting the voting power of Black Alabamians, the decision could signal further dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters from discrimination.” [Vox] Read more at New York Times / Adam Liptak
“The Court’s 5-4 vote means Alabama can’t draw any new maps until the Supreme Court hears the full case in its fall term. So the current maps, which the lower court determined to be an illegal racial gerrymander, will remain in place for the 2022 midterm elections.” Read more at Vox/ Ian Millhiser
“Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent for the liberal justices, arguing the Court’s decision does a ‘disservice to Black Alabamians,’ who account for 27 percent of the state’s voting population but only have a majority in one of seven districts in the current map.” [Vox] Read more at NBC / Pete Williams
“Five of the Court's conservative justices said nine months before an election was too close to redraw Alabama’s map. ‘Late judicial tinkering with election laws can lead to disruption and to unanticipated and unfair consequences for candidates, political parties, and voters, among others,’ Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion.” [Vox] Read more at CBS / Aaron Navarro
“Should the court ultimately rule to uphold the maps, the power of Black and Hispanic voters, who tend to lean Democratic, could be greatly diminished by states gerrymandering their electoral maps to favor the GOP.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Amber Phillips
“WASHINGTON — During the summer of 2018, as Richard Seddon, a former British spy, was trying to launch a new venture to use undercover agents to infiltrate progressive groups, Democratic campaigns and other opponents of President Donald J. Trump, he turned for help to a longtime friend and former colleague: Erik Prince, the private military contractor.
Mr. Prince took on the role of celebrity pitchman, according to interviews and documents, raising money for Mr. Seddon’s spying operation, which was aimed at gathering dirt that could discredit politicians and activists in several states. After Mr. Prince and Mr. Seddon met in August 2018 with Susan Gore, a Wyoming heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune, Ms. Gore became the project’s main benefactor.
Mr. Prince’s role in the effort, which has not been previously disclosed, sheds further light on how a group of ultraconservative Republicans employed spycraft to try to manipulate the American political landscape. Mr. Prince — a former C.I.A. contractor who is best known as the founder of the private military firm Blackwater and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was Mr. Trump’s education secretary — has drawn scrutiny over the years for Blackwater’s record of violence around the world and his subsequent ventures training and arming foreign forces.
His willingness to support Mr. Seddon’s operation is fresh evidence of his engagement in political espionage projects at home during a period when he was an informal adviser to Trump administration officials.
Mr. Seddon’s recruitment of Mr. Prince to help him secure funding is just one of the new details about Mr. Seddon’s operation revealed in documents obtained by The Times and interviews with people familiar with his plans. They provide additional insight into the ambition of the operation to use undercover operatives to target Republicans seen as insufficiently conservative, as well as to, as one document describes it, ‘research, penetrate and infiltrate the radical left networks.’
The Times previously reported that, in 2016 and 2017, Mr. Prince recruited Mr. Seddon to join the conservative group Project Veritas to teach espionage skills to its operatives and manage its undercover operations. Mr. Prince also allowed Project Veritas to use his family’s Wyoming ranch for training. Mr. Seddon launched his privately funded spying effort after leaving Project Veritas in 2018.
It is unclear how many potential donors Mr. Prince might have approached for money for Mr. Seddon’s venture besides Ms. Gore. Separately, Ms. Gore unsuccessfully tried to raise money for the project from Foster Friess, a billionaire Wyoming businessman, during a January 2019 meeting, three people said.
During the 2018 meeting with Ms. Gore, according to one person familiar with it, Mr. Prince and Mr. Seddon said the goal of the private spying operation was to gather dirt both on Democrats and ‘RINOs’ — slang in conservative circles for ‘Republicans in name only.’ The plan was to begin in Wyoming, they said, and expand operations from there.
Over two years, Mr. Seddon’s undercover operatives also developed networks in Colorado and Arizona, and made thousands of dollars in campaign donations posing as Democrats, both to the Democratic National Committee and individual campaigns. Funneling money surreptitiously to campaigns through other donors — known as straw man donations — would violate federal campaign finance laws.” Read more at New York Times
“A second U.S.-Canada land crossing was disrupted by protesters from the self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ demonstrating against coronavirus restrictions including vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers, further paralyzing crucial trade routes connecting the United States and its northern neighbor.
Both north- and southbound lanes at the Coutts border crossing, which links Canada’s Alberta with Montana, were shut down by protesters, the provincial Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday.
The blockage came as the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international crossing in North America, linking Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, was temporarily closed on the same day for passengers and commercial traffic, though local police said ‘limited traffic’ was being allowed into the United States late Tuesday.” Read more at Washington Post
'“In Canada — yes, Canada — the confederacy of anti-vaxxers came out of the shadows for ‘Freedom Convoy 2022,’ a protest of angry truckers that snowballed in the Ottawa winter to include a wider class of the governmentally aggrieved. At their worst, demonstrators have urinated on the National War Memorial and danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. But despite the lack of widespread violence, the diverse alliance of outraged citizens — from Confederate flag wavers to dancing libertarian hipsters — appear to share common purpose: shutting down the Canadian capital on a quest to end vaccine mandates.
In the United States, Republican glee at the spreading, city-paralyzing protests in ‘liberal Canada’ came under fire from Canadian officials, who insist they won’t budge on the spark that lit the demonstrations — a vaccination mandate for truckers transiting the U.S.-Canadian border. But as the convoy gains international traction — from social media to European and Australian streets — Canada is becoming an unlikely symbol of the radicalization of the anti-vaccination movement in the West that shares more than a few similarities with the militancy of Trump Republicans.
The seemingly endless pandemic has brought together diverse civic forces furious over perceived government overreach. They’ve protested mandates and lockdowns as well as vaguer notions of encroachment into public life. But the scope, nature and tactics of such protests are escalating, becoming increasingly uncivil and more aggressive around the world. They include outbursts of anger and violent threats against specific politicians, far-right imagery at demonstrations, violent melees with police and, in the surprising case of Canada, the shutting down of entire cities.
Death threats, mock hangings and a used condom: Anti-vaxxers target Australian politicians
Parallels to the Jan. 6 insurrection may be limited in Ottawa — protesters are not knocking down the doors of Parliament. But anti-government slogans flooding Ottawa’s streets suggest similar grievances, even as their trucks serve as a flashback to the Trump caravans that menaced U.S. highways during the 2020 campaign.
The absence of widespread violence in Ottawa also does not mean residents of the Canadian capital don’t feel threatened.” Read more at Washington Post
“LONDON — With more than a dozen Conservative lawmakers calling on him to quit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain shuffled his top team on Tuesday and hired a new chief whip to contain a mutiny within his party over a swirling scandal over lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
So determined is the prime minister to hang on to his job that, according to his new media chief, Guto Harri, Mr. Johnson burst into an impromptu rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s song, “I Will Survive” at a recent meeting.
Despite those efforts by Mr. Johnson, and his resolve, analysts are wondering whether it is too late to rescue the authority of a prime minister now under investigation by police for breaches of the lockdown laws he himself made.” Read more at New York Times
“BRUSSELS—A European Union proposal to increase microchip production could unleash tens of billions of dollars in funding for research and new production facilities, part of the bloc’s economywide effort to boost its commercial independence.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, introduced a plan on Tuesday to make available about $49 billion in public and private funding for the chip-making industry. The proposal would also give the Commission power, under some circumstances, to demand that companies give priority to specific products where there is a shortage.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“ROME — Responding to a report that he mishandled four cases involving the sexual abuse of minors while he was an archbishop in Germany decades ago, retired Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged on Tuesday that “abuses and errors” had taken place under his watch and asked for forgiveness, although he denied any misconduct.” Read more at New York Times
“Denmark, which is highly vaccinated and boosted, has lifted all its Covid restrictions.” Read more at New York Times
“A short-lived program in the early 2000s allowed married couples to consolidate their student loans for a lower interest rate. But for couples who break up, it's impossible to separate the loans after a divorce.” Read more at NPR
“The city of Colorado Springs will pay nearly $3 million to the family of De'Von Bailey, a 19-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by police in 2019.” Read more at USA Today
“Peloton co-founder John Foley is stepping down as CEO and will become executive chairman. The new CEO and president, effective tomorrow, is Barry McCarthy, the ex-CFO of Spotify and Netflix; he’ll join the board, too. The fitness company also is cutting an estimated 2,800 jobs as it struggles to cycle back to popularity with gyms reopening.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The popular social media platform TikTok said it will strengthen efforts to regulate dangerous content, including harmful hoaxes and videos that promote eating disorders and hateful ideologies. The move comes after a viral TikTok hoax last year warned of forthcoming real-world violence in schools. While the threats were vague, they resulted in school shutdowns across the United States. TikTok also announced a new ‘dangerous acts and challenges’ campaign that will ask creators to make videos asking their followers to follow specific steps when viewing content: stop, think, decide and act. TikTok's move comes at a time when Spotify is under scrutiny for podcast host Joe Rogan's rhetoric on race and Covid-19.” Read more at CNN
“For her first day of graduate school at Harvard, Lilia Kilburn arrived at her adviser’s office by bike. She said she felt a tremor of discomfort when the adviser, John Comaroff, a respected anthropologist and an expert on South Africa, complimented her on her helmet.
She remembered, she later said in an interview, how he had planted a kiss on her mouth during another campus visit. So she told him that she had gone on a trip with her partner that summer, she said, and made a point of using female pronouns to describe her partner, to deflect unwanted attention.
In the interview, she recalled how Dr. Comaroff launched into a harangue about how she could be subjected to ‘corrective rape,’ or even killed, if she were seen in a lesbian relationship in certain parts of Africa. But he said it with ‘a tone of enjoyment,’ Ms. Kilburn said, adding, ‘This was not normal office hours advice.’
On Tuesday, Ms. Kilburn and two other female graduate students filed a lawsuit in Boston federal court against Harvard University, accusing the university of both ignoring allegations that Dr. Comaroff had sexually harassed students for years, and of allowing him to intimidate students by threatening their academic careers if they reported him. The rape comments that Ms. Kilburn said he made are a centerpiece of the lawsuit.
Lawyers for Dr. Comaroff disputed the accusations against him. ‘Professor Comaroff categorically denies ever harassing or retaliating against any student,’ they said in response to the complaint. He didn’t kiss or touch Ms. Kilburn inappropriately, the statement added, and said that his comments about rape were advice about staying safe while traveling with her same-sex partner in Cameroon, which criminalizes homosexuality.
The lawsuit is the latest strike in more than a year of allegations being parried back and forth in the case against Dr. Comaroff, many of them initially detailed in The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. It expands on what has become a public campaign by the three women, and includes anonymous charges that date back to his days as a professor at the University of Chicago, before he arrived at Harvard in 2012.
The women have already succeeded in some ways. Harvard found that Dr. Comaroff had engaged in verbal conduct that violated policies on sexual and gender-based harassment and professional conduct. But he was not found responsible for unwanted sexual contact.
He was placed on administrative leave for at least the spring semester and barred from teaching required courses through at least the next academic year.” Read more at New York Times
“The regents of the University of California have agreed to pay more than $240 million to settle claims from 203 women who say that a former gynecologist-oncologist at the University of California at Los Angeles sexually abused them.
It was the second settlement involving James Heaps, who was affiliated with UCLA for decades, until 2018. Last summer, a California district court approved a $73 million agreement on behalf of former patients.
It is also one of several massive settlements in recent years by universities to resolve sexual abuse complaints against doctors, in many cases with plaintiffs claiming that university officials failed to take action over years. Allegations have rocked schools including the University of Michigan, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, Michigan State University and the University of Southern California.” Read more at Washington Post
“Apple is set to transform iPhones into contactless credit-card readers and payment processors later this year, report Ryan Lawler of Axios Pro Fintech Deals and Axios Closer co-author Hope King.
Why it matters: The ‘Tap to Pay’ feature — announced yesterday — will make it easier for merchants to conduct their business and accept contactless payments without any extra equipment.
How it works: Tap to Pay is powered by near-field communications, or NFC, which is used today by contactless credit cards and in payments made from phones to point-of-sale terminals.
The technology has been present in the iPhone since 2014, though use has been limited until recently to using the phone to make payments via Apple Pay.
The actual payment processing will be handled by Apple partners, the first of which will be fintech startup Stripe.
The intrigue: It's a shot across the bow at Square, which pioneered an iPhone accessory for accepting payments.” Read more at Axios
“CNN journalists have waged a campaign to defend the reputation of their ousted boss, Jeff Zucker. The network's former president resigned last week after acknowledging a consensual relationship with a fellow top executive.” Read more at NPR
“Ryan Cochran-Siegle's scorching-fast run earned him a silver medalin the Super G alpine skiing event — 50 years after his mom won a gold medal skiing.
Eileen Gu, who is American-born but is representing China in the Games, became the first woman to win a gold medal in the inaugural freeski big air event.” Read more at NPR
Lindsey Jacobellis celebrates winning the gold medal in the women’s snowboard cross.
Jack Gruber, USA TODAY Sports
“ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Lindsey Jacobellis is finallygolden, and so is Team USA.
Jacobellis, the most decorated athlete in her sport, won gold in women's snowboardcross at the Beijing Olympics. Chloe Trespeuch of France took silver and Canada’s Meryeta Odine came in third.
Until Wednesday, Jacobellis' Olympic legacy had been marred by an image of hubris.
In 2006, a then-20-year-old Jacobellis was cruising to gold in the snowboardcross when she grabbed her board on the final jump and fell. It cost her gold, and she settled for silver. Jacobellis never made it back to an Olympic podium, most recently finishing fourth in Pyeongchang.
Sixteen years later, at the age of 36, Jacobellis dominated all of her heats in Beijing and now has her gold medal. She is the oldest U.S. woman to win a medal of any color at the Winter Olympics, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon. The medal is also Team USA's first gold of the Beijing Games.” Read more at USA Today
“This year’s Oscar nominations are out. ‘The Power of the Dog’ scored 12 noms, including for best picture. If the psychological Western wins that category, it’d be a first for Netflix. But the film already made history, thanks to Jane Campion’s Oscar nod for best director. She’s the first woman ever to be nominated twice in that category, after her 1993 movie ‘The Piano.’” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Snubbed! Ben Affleck, Jennifer Hudson, Lady Gaga and Leonardo DiCaprio were some of the big names who missed out on Oscar nominations.” Read more at USA Today