The Full Belmonte, 3/10/2022
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An injured woman was carried on Wednesday from a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, which was hit by a Russian strike.
PHOTO: EVGENIY MALOLETKA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“A Russian artillery assault devastated a maternity and children's hospital complex in the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
The Mariupol City Council posted video on social media of the battered buildings.
‘The destruction is enormous,’ the council said in a statement. ‘The building of the medical institution where the children were treated recently was completely destroyed. Information about the affected children is being clarified.’
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said people were still trapped in the wreckage. He once again urged the West to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
‘Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?’ Zelenskyy said in a Twitter post. ‘Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.’” Read more at USA Today
“The U.S. commitment to NATO and defense of its members is ‘ironclad’ and America is deeply appreciative of Poland's efforts to aid refugees fleeing the carnage in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday in Poland.
‘This is a moment that requires severe and swift consequences for Russian aggression against Ukraine,’ Harris said during a joint news conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. ‘What is at stake, this very moment, are some of the guiding principles around the NATO alliance.’
The meeting came after the Biden administration rejected a plan from Poland to provide fighter jets to Ukraine. And despite repeated pleas from Ukrainian leaders, U.S. defense officials also have distanced themselves from military requests that the White House believes would run the risk of escalating the conflict: A NATO-backed no-fly zone over Ukraine and any plans to funnel jets to Ukraine.” Read more at USA Today
“Foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia failed to come to an agreement today after a meeting in Turkey — the highest-level negotiations since the Russian invasion began. ‘We will define Ukraine's destiny by ourselves,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a press conference.” Read more at NPR
“Things get worse for Russians. The country’s iconic car maker, Lada, halted production because Western sanctions have made it hard to get parts and supplies. Thousands of workers were placed on leave. Wealthy Russians have been feeling the pressure, too, after the U.K. froze all assets tied to oligarchs with mansions in London, shut down a visa program that provided rich foreigners a quick path to citizenship and is introducing rules that make it harder for property buyers to stay anonymous.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“In a rare show of bipartisanship, the House voted to write into law a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil and energy products to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.” Read more at USA Today
“Twitter has launched a privacy-protected version of its site to bypass surveillance and censorship after Russia restricted access to its service in the country.
Russia has blocked access to Facebook and has limited Twitter in an attempt to try to restrict the flow of information about its war in Ukraine. Both companies have said they are working on restoring access to people inside Russia even as they restrict the country’s state media from their services.
Known as an ‘onion’ service, users can access this version of Twitter if they download the Tor browser, which allows people to access sites on what is also referred to as the ‘dark web.’ Instead of .com, onion sites have a .onion suffix. Regular websites, including Twitter.com, are also accessible on Tor, but the .onion versions are made specifically for Tor and prevent the site from being spoofed by malicious actors.” Read more at AP News
“The House of Representatives passed a massive government funding bill that includes $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine. The tight time frame to reach an agreement on funding before Friday’s deadline had already frustrated some lawmakers -- and then House Democrats became embroiled in an intra-party fight about whether additional Covid relief money should be included in the package. Ultimately, facing pushback from both sides, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the Covid-19 relief would be stripped from the government funding package. House Democrats later introduced a $15.6 billion stand-alone coronavirus relief bill, but it is expected to face GOP opposition in the Senate and will have a difficult time getting the 60 votes needed in that chamber to overcome a filibuster.” Read more at CNN
“The Russian police have arrested more than 13,000 antiwar protesters.” Read more at New York Times
“The letter Z has spread widely as a symbol of support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But what does it mean? Its origins are somewhat of a mystery.” Read more at NPR
“David Bennett, 57, who received a pig heart in January in place of his own failing one, died Tuesday.
It's not yet clear precisely what caused Bennett's death, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he received the transplant Jan. 7 and had been recovering since. He began deteriorating in recent days and the hospital announced his death Wednesday.
Bennett was the first patient ever to receive an animal organ genetically modified to prevent rejection in a person.
There was no obvious cause identified at the time of his death, hospital spokeswoman Deborah Kotz said, and researchers plan to conduct a thorough review of his death and publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal.
‘We are devastated by the loss of Mr. Bennett. He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end. We extend our sincerest condolences to his family,’ Dr. Bartley Griffith, surgeon who led Bennett's transplant said in a statement. ‘Mr. Bennett became known by millions of people around the world for his courage and steadfast will to live.’” Read more at USA Today
Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, at a campaign stop in Cheonan, South Korea, on March 3. (Yonhap/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
“SEOUL — Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol was elected the next president of South Korea, in the most contested presidential election in the country’s democratic history. The election results announced early Thursday capped off an unpredictable campaign season that saw remarkable turnout despite record covid-19 cases throughout the country.
The victory of Yoon, formerly the country’s top prosecutor, marks a return to power for the conservative party after five years of Democratic Party rule. He would significantly shift the country’s policies in the face of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and China’s rise — amid South Korea’s growing cultural and economic influence and deepening domestic chasms over income and gender inequality.” Read more at Washington Post
“Their advocacy helped send Purdue Pharma into bankruptcy and is forcing the family that has controlled the company for generations to relinquish ownership and provide billions of dollars for communities to combat opioid addiction.
But what victims of opioid abuse and those who have lost loved ones to America’s long battle with addiction have wanted most was a chance to confront members of the Sackler family, who they blame for touching off a crisis that has cost some 500,000 lives over the past two decades.
On Thursday, some of them will finally get their chance.
In a hearing that will be virtual but is certain to be packed with emotion, roughly 20 people whose lives and families have been wracked by opioid abuse will give statements in U.S. Bankruptcy Court with some members of the Sackler family listening. They are likely tell about the pain of losing children after years of trying to get them adequate treatment, about their own journeys through addiction and about caring for babies born into withdrawal and screaming in pain.” Read more at AP News
“A federal judge said yesterday he will review emails about the 2020 presidential election between right-wing lawyer John Eastman, former President Donald Trump and others before determining if the documents should be turned over to the House select committee investigating January 6 attack at on the US Capitol. The decision is a small step forward in the fast-moving lawsuit in which the House panel is seeking access to Eastman's emails from Chapman University, his former employer, and Eastman is trying to protect his discussions about or with Trump and his presidential campaign. Separately, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit yesterday against the House select committee to stop a subpoena for donor and supporter data from the software company Salesforce. The Trump campaign and Trump's PAC in 2020 also used the software, according to the subpoena.” Read more at CNN
“A plane carrying former president Donald Trump suffered engine failure late Saturday evening over the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Orleans shortly after taking off from the city.
The plane carrying Trump was forced to immediately return to the airport and make the unscheduled landing in Louisiana shortly before 11 p.m., according to people familiar with the episode. The plane was attempting to take Trump home to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., from the Four Seasons Hotel in New Orleans, where he spoke to some of the party’s top donors at a private event.
The incident was first reported by Politico. A Trump spokesman declined to comment.
The flight had gone approximately 75 miles after taking off from New Orleans Lakefront Airport, reaching an altitude of about 28,000 feet before turning around, according to tracking data from ADSBexchange.com. The Dassault Falcon 900 carried a retinue of Secret Service agents, other support staff, Trump and some of his advisers, the people said. One of the plane’s engines failed, according to people familiar with the episode.” Read more at Washington Post
“President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to review a number of issues related to cryptocurrency, including consumer and investor protection, preventing the use of cryptocurrency for illicit finance, and exploring the possibility of a US central bank-backed cryptocurrency. The move is widely seen as a precursor to government regulation of the industry.” [Vox] Read more at White House
“The order is a first step at creating ‘an American approach to digital assets,’ as National Economic Council director Brian Deese and national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a Wednesday statement. The order also directs an investigation into cryptocurrency’s effect on the overall financial system and mitigating inequity.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Tory Newmyer
“The order takes an interconnected approach to regulation, involving a variety of different regulatory agencies, a radically different approach from preceding administrations. Up to now, according to cryptocurrency expert Louis Lehot, ‘We’ve seen a complete lack of any strategic direction or thought from the federal government for years.’” [Vox] Read more at NYT / Katie Rogers and Ephrat Livni
“Though the order has been in process for months, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine added a new sense of urgency to the administration’s efforts to put up guardrails around crypto; some legislators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have expressed concern that the Russian government could exploit cryptocurrency to skirt heavy sanctions imposed on the country. Although its lack of regulation has been part of its appeal for some users, many in the industry are welcoming the clarity that government regulation will bring to an industry many liken to the ‘Wild West.’” [Vox] Read more at AP / Fatima Hussein
“Bitcoin prices surged by about 10 percent on news of Wednesday’s executive order, reaching just over $42,000 by Wednesday noon. While many crypto advocates were expecting Wednesday’s announcement to be one of heavy regulation, Biden’s move is ‘as close to an embrace of crypto as you could have hoped for from this Biden administration, if you’re pro-crypto,’ according to Lee Reiners of Duke University School of Law’s Global Financial Markets Center.” [Vox] Read more at WSJ / Paul Kiernan and Andrew Duehren
“On Thursday, the Labor Department will issue its inflation report, which economists expect will show that prices for U.S. consumers leapt 7.9% in February compared with a year ago, according to data provided by FactSet to the Associated Press. That would be the biggest gain in four decades. Consumer prices jumped 7.5% in January from a year earlier. Shortages of supplies and workers, heavy doses of federal aid, ultra-low interest rates and robust consumer spending combined to send inflation accelerating in the past year. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in congressional hearings last week that it wasn't yet clear what impact Russia's invasion of Ukraine would have on the U.S. economy. It has already pushed up gas prices above $4.25 a gallon, on average, across the country, according to AAA. But he said the Fed had planned before the war to initiate a series of rate hikes next week, and for now would ‘carefully’ follow that plan.” Read more at USA Today
“Pfizer began testing its Covid-19 pill in high-risk children under age 18. The drugmaker is trying to determine if the five-day treatment Paxlovid, in use among people 12 years and older, can also keep newly infected kids out of hospitals. This would be a boon for children with underlying health conditions who can’t be vaccinated or whose parents don’t want them to get shots.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Starting Thursday, visitors going from the U.S. to Puerto Rico will no longer need to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to enter. The island is dropping nearly all travel-related COVID-19 restrictions for domestic travelers as case counts continue to fall. Businesses like restaurants and bars will no longer need to screen customers for proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test before allowing entry. Certain areas, such as health facilities, will still require masks. Travelers will also still need to wear a mask on the plane ride to Puerto Rico because the U.S. federal mask mandate is in effect until at least March 18.” Read more at USA Today
“Police detained the ‘Black Panther’ director Ryan Coogler in January after employees at a Bank of America branch mistook him for a robber.” Read more at New York Times
“The legal saga surrounding ex-’Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett's claim in 2019 that he was the target of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago will culminate Thursday with his sentencing . Smollett, 39, was found guilty on five counts of disorderly conduct in December 2021 – one count for each separate time he was charged with lying to police in the days immediately after the alleged attack, which Smollett reported in January 2019. He was acquitted on a sixth count of lying to a detective in February 2019, weeks after Smollett said he was attacked. Disorderly conduct is a class 4 felony that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison, but experts predicted Smollett would likely be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.” Read more at USA Today
“Disney CEO Bob Chapek acknowledged the outrage from employees to the company's failure to denounce Florida's ‘Don't Say Gay’ bill. He said Disney leaders are opposed to the bill, which would limit discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, but felt it was better to work behind the scenes with lawmakers.” Read more at NPR
“Smaller cities are the new Silicon Valley. Upstarts such as Virginia Beach, Va.; Madison, Wis.; and Durham, N.C., are seeing strong growth in new tech jobswhile traditional tech hubs are seeing growth rates decline, according to a Brookings Institution report. The smaller the city, the more likely the increase is related to remote work.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The kindergarten crisis of last year, when millions of 5-year-olds spent months outside of classrooms, has become this year’s reading emergency.
As the pandemic enters its third year, a cluster of new studies now show that about a third of children in the youngest grades are missing reading benchmarks, up significantly from before the pandemic.
In Virginia, one study found that early reading skills were at a 20-year low this fall, which the researchers described as ‘alarming.’
In the Boston region, 60 percent of students at some high-poverty schools have been identified as at high risk for reading problems — twice the number of students as before the pandemic, according to Tiffany P. Hogan, director of the Speech and Language Literacy Lab at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston.” Read more at New York Times
“A Colorado county clerk who embraced election-fraud conspiracy theories has been indicted on state criminal charges following an investigation into her alleged efforts to secretly copy hard drives from Dominion Voting Systems equipment, officials said Wednesday.
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (R), who is now seeking the GOP nomination for secretary of state, is accused not of fixing the election but of allegedly breaking the law as she sought to investigate whether someone else did.
Proponents of baseless fraud claims are increasingly seeking local and state roles overseeing elections, and experts are concerned about the risk some could pose as security threats to the nation’s voting systems.
In an 18-page indictment, a county grand jury accused Peters of sneaking someone who was not a county employee into secure areas of her office in May, before and during a manual update of Dominion voting machines known as a ‘trusted build.’
She has been under investigation since August, when the data copied from Mesa County’s machines surfaced in the hands of conspiracy theorists.
Peters was charged Tuesday evening with 10 counts, seven of them felonies. They include conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and attempting to influence a public servant, stemming in part from her allegedly attempting to deceive state elections officials.
Her deputy, Belinda Knisley, was also indicted. ‘We certainly thank the grand jurors for their work. As you know, a grand jury does not receive all the evidence in the case,’ Knisley’s lawyer, R. Scott Reisch, told The Washington Post. ‘Only the evidence the district attorney believes favors their case is presented. We look forward for all the evidence being considered by a jury.’
Neither Peters nor her attorney immediately responded to messages seeking comment.” Read more at Washington Post
“A state judge in New York ruled that voting software company Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News to proceed on Tuesday. Smartmatic has alleged that Giuliani, ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, and several Fox stars ‘created a story about Smartmatic,’ using network airtime to ‘defame and disparage Smartmatic and its election technology and software’ with debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. In a 61-page decision issued Monday, State Supreme Court Judge David Cohen rejected bids by Fox and hosts Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs to get Smartmatic’s claims dismissed. Cohen dismissed some, but not all, claims against Rudy Giuliani, and all of the claims aimed at Powell and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.” [Daily Beast] Read more at Reuters
“Two months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a plan for a powerful elections police force that would answer to him, state lawmakers on Wednesday passed a watered-down version that barely resembles what the governor asked for but still worries voting rights advocates.
DeSantis (R) had asked for nearly $6 million to hire 52 people, including sworn officers, to investigate alleged violations of elections laws. The GOP-led House and Senate instead gave him about $2.5 million for the new Office of Election Crimes and Security.
The agency will be the first of its kind in the nation. Its staff of 25 will be part of the Department of State, which answers to DeSantis. Both chambers approved its creation by wide margins after debate that had Democrats invoking the name of the late civil rights leader John Lewis and a Republican representative making reference to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The governor has indicated he will sign the measure into law.” Read more at Washington Post
“MIAMI (AP) — Pressure is building on the Biden administration to begin unwinding sanctions on Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro freed two American prisoners and promised to resume negotiations with his opponents.
Maduro’s goodwill gesture came during a weekend trip to Caracas by senior White House and State Department officials that caught off guard Maduro’s friends and foes alike.
While the Biden administration is saying little about what was discussed behind closed doors, a smug Maduro — who has sought face-to-face talks with the U.S. for years — bragged that careful protocol was followed, with the flags of the two nations ‘beautifully united, as they should be.’
For the past five years, the U.S. has, with little success, tried everything from punishing oil sanctions to criminal indictments and support for clandestine coups in its campaign to remove Maduro and restore what it sees as Venezuela’s stolen democracy.” Read more at AP News
“Australia’s climate emergency. Australia declared a national emergency on Wednesday after weeks of severe flooding slammed the country’s eastern coast, killing at least 20 people. With roughly 60,000 people under evacuation orders, the government said that the declaration would allow authorities to quickly deliver aid to the hardest hit regions.
‘We are dealing with a different climate to the one we were dealing with before,’ Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday. ‘Australia is getting hard to live in because of these disasters.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
Reproduced from Pew Research. Graphic: Axios
“Low pay was the top reason workers quit during the Great Resignation of 2021, Axios' Emily Peck writes from a Pew survey out yesterday.
People also quit because they felt disrespected.
Why it matters: Americans quit their jobs at record-high numbers last year. The pace of quits has slowed only slightly in 2022.
Between the lines: Quitters aren't leaving the workforce; they're likely getting different (presumably better) jobs, as economist Elise Gould points out in this Twitter thread.
78% of those who quit a job say they are still employed, according to Pew's self-administered web survey.” Read more at Axios
“Lives Lived: The Russian general Evgeny Maslin persuaded Ukraine and other countries to give up their nuclear weapons after the fall of the Soviet Union and helped the U.S. dismantle thousands of them. He died at 84.” Read more at New York Times
“Raise your tiny powdered donuts in salute, for a cake luminary’s candle has flickered out. Charles E. Entenmann, who catapulted his family name into grocery aisles across the nation with a signature line of white boxes and delicious baked goods, died of heart complications on Feb. 24, according to his son. He was 92. His company, Entenmann’s, offered more than 100 varieties of cakes, cookies, donuts, and brownies and were a staple of Saturday morning cartoon rituals. That empire was carefully cultivated by Entenmann from his family’s humble bakery in Bay Shore, New York. His grandfather, an immigrant from Germany, had launched the business out of Brooklyn in 1898, according to Newsday. Entenmann, who was born in 1929 and went by Charlie, grew up working at the bakery alongside his two brothers. The trio worked to grow the family business into a national behemoth, selling wholesale to supermarkets and introducing the brand’s signature see-through packaging before the family sold the business for $233 million in 1978. But, according to his son, Charlie wasn’t one for indulging in his own products. ‘He just wasn’t a dessert guy,’ he told Newsday.” [Daily Beast]
“A spider as big as the palm of your hand could soon invade the East Coast, scientists say.” Read more at USA Today
The predominately yellow spider, called the Joro spider, was first spotted in the U.S. in Georgia in 2013.