The Full Belmonte, 3/23/2022
A Ukrainian military truck drives near barricades on a road in Kyiv.
“As Ukrainian forces aggressively fight to take back their territory, President Joe Biden will depart for Europe today on one of the highest-stakes presidential trips in recent memory to rally the West at a pivotal moment for Ukraine -- and his presidency. At the emergency summits in Brussels, US and NATO allies will focus on ways to continue cracking down on Russia while providing support to Ukraine. For Biden, the talks are also a venue to demonstrate the foreign policy credentials he promised as a candidate, when he vowed to restore American leadership and repair broken alliances. While there, Biden is expected to announce additional sanctions on Russia, but so far, the measures seem to have done little to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia is now refusing to rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons, and their troops have begun firing on the city of Mariupol from ships in the Sea of Azov, according to a senior US defense official.” Read more at CNN
“KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian leaders accused Russia of seizing 15 rescue workers and drivers from a humanitarian convoy trying to get desperately needed food and other supplies into the bloodied port city of Mariupol, which also came under naval attack after weeks of air and land strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated that 100,000 civilians remained in Mariupol, scene of some of the war’s worst devastation, as Russia presses a nearly month-old offensive by bombarding cities and towns. Those made it out described a shattered city.
‘They bombed us for the past 20 days,’ said 39-year-old Viktoria Totsen, who fled into Poland. ‘During the last five days, the planes were flying over us every five seconds and dropped bombs everywhere — on residential buildings, kindergartens, art schools, everywhere.’
Zelenskyy, speaking Tuesday in his nightly video address to his nation, accused Russian forces of blocking the aid convoy despite agreeing to the route ahead of time. He said they seized one convoy, near Manhush, just outside Mariupol, taking the emergency workers and drivers captive and that authorities are trying to win their release.” Read more at AP News
“The battle for Mariupol continued with street-to-street fighting. Some residents fled to Zaporizhzhia. If captured, the heavily bombarded southern city of Mariupol would be the first major Ukrainian city to fall. The nation’s forces have been fighting using ambush and skirmish tactics, an insurgency-style strategy, because they’re less equipped than their Russian invaders. The Ukrainians’ air defenses—which combine Soviet-era long-range anti-air systems, U.S. Stinger missiles and clever tactics—has so far enabled them to hold their own against Russia’s air force.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Russia’s battlefield failures are creating fissures among its leadership. Six Russian generals have died in combat, Ukraine says, and a top intelligence official is reportedly under house arrest.” Read more at New York Times
“The Ukrainian military recaptured a town outside the capital, Kyiv, and is trying to retake Kherson, a southern region bordering Crimea.” Read more at New York Times
“Russia’s ‘combat power’ has dipped below 90 percent of its original strength, according to the Pentagon. Still, Russian forces continued to bombard civilian areas.” Read more at New York Times
“About 10 million have fled their homes. ‘The Ukrainian people are enduring a living hell,’ António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, said.” Read more at New York Times
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill yesterday.Doug Mills/The New York Times
“The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a third day of confirmation hearings today for Biden's Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Facing Republican skepticism, Jackson -- who currently sits on DC's federal appellate court -- defended her judicial record yesterday as she answered questions from lawmakers and was grilled on some sentencing decisions. Jackson also outlined what she described as her ‘methodology’ for approaching cases. As long as Senate Democrats keep their caucus unified behind Jackson, they will have the 50 votes they need for her confirmation. If confirmed, Jackson will fill Justice Stephen Breyer's upcoming vacancy and become the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court.” Read more at CNN
“The storm system that spawned deadly tornadoes across Texas and Louisiana earlier this week will continue to push east today, leaving a large swath of the country under the threat of more severe weather. Search and rescue teams were combing through debris and damaged neighborhoods in the New Orleans area overnight after a tornado slammed the region yesterday, killing at least one person. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said state and local agencies are working together to assess the damage. On Monday, the same storm system brought 25 tornadoes to Texas, including two that may have damaged about 1,000 homes. A tornado watch has been issued today for parts of Alabama and Florida, where quarter-size hail and powerful gusts up to 70 mph are possible, officials said.” Read more at CNN
“ARABI, La. (AP) — A tornado tore through parts of New Orleans and its suburbs Tuesday night, flipping cars, ripping roofs off homes and killing at least one person in an area of Louisiana pummeled by Hurricane Katrina 17 years ago.
Other tornadoes spawned by the same storm system had hit parts of Texas and Oklahoma on Monday, killing a woman north of Dallas and causing multiple injuries and widespread damage, before moving eastward.
Parts of St. Bernard Parish, which borders New Orleans to the southeast, appeared to take the brunt of the weather’s fury, and that is where the fatality occurred. St. Bernard Parish officials gave no details on how the person died; they said multiple other people were injured.
Rescue workers were searching through the suburban parish for more people in need of assistance, according to Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann. St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis said the tornado caused widespread damage throughout the parish.” Read more at AP News
Data: JAMA Network. Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios
“Alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. rose 25% from 2019 to 2020, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.
The largest spike was among 35- to 44-year-olds.
Between the lines: Alcohol-related deaths in 2020 outnumbered COVID-19 deaths among adults younger than 65, The New York Times notes.
Pandemic-induced stress and delayed treatment contributed to the spike in deaths, according to research published in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association.’
Alcohol-related liver disease was the top underlying factor for a spike in deaths, followed by overdoses from alcohol, along with overdoses of other drugs where alcohol was involved.” Read more at Axios
“Scientists are searching for a test to help people measure their current levels of immunity against Covid-19. This comes as millions of Americans -- not just those with weakened immune systems -- are wondering about their protection after enduring a winter of booster shots and Omicron infections. Some doctors currently use tests that measure antibodies as a way to check immune protection in people who are immunocompromised. But not all antibodies are created the same. Of all the antibodies that the body may make after infection or vaccination, only a fraction can actively prevent infection. About 95% of Americans 16 and older have antibodies against Covid-19 as of December, according to recent data from the CDC. Separately, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that she has tested positive for coronavirus for a second time and is experiencing mild symptoms.” Read more at CNN
“The Biden administration will start winding down a program that reimburses providers for Covid-related treatment for the uninsured.
Officials say the relief fund—launched in 2020 with more than $100 billion with another $78 billion added in 2021—is running out of money. That means some uninsured people will start getting bills. An estimated $20 billion has helped cover providers’ costs for administering vaccines, testing and treatment for people without health insurance. About 50,000 hospitals, doctors and other providers have submitted claims since April 2020, federal data show. Around 9.6% of the U.S. population, or 31.1 million people, lacked health insurance in the first half of last year, according to the CDC.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Pfizer is recalling a blood pressure drug due to elevated levels of a potential carcinogen called nitrosamine. The impurity is common in water and foods, but the levels found in the drug were above the accepted daily intake.” Read more at NPR
“Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said Tuesday that he would be open to the Supreme Court overturning its 1967 ruling that legalized interracial marriage nationwide to allow states to independently decide the issue.
Braun — who made the comments during a conference call in which he discussed the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court — also said he’d welcome the rescinding of several key decisions made by the court in the past 70 years to pass the power to the states.
His remarks were first reported by local outlets NWI.com and WFYI Indianapolis.
Critical of activism from the bench, Braun cited a series of landmark decisions made by the court, including Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, and Loving v. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage.
When asked by a reporter whether he would consider the Supreme Court potentially striking down Roe this year to be ‘judicial activism,’ Braun said he thought what justices did in 1973 to pass Roe was ‘judicial activism.’
‘That issue should have never been federalized, [it was] way out of sync I think with the contour of America then,’ he said. ‘One side of the aisle wants to homogenize [issues] federally, [and that] is not the right way to do it.’
Individual states, he said, should be able to weigh in on these issues ‘through their own legislation, through their own court systems.’
The same reporter asked Braun whether he would apply the same judgment to Loving, and Braun said ‘yes.’
‘I think that that’s something that if you’re not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you’re not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too,’ he said. ‘I think that’s hypocritical.’
The reporter asked whether Braun would say the same about Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court decision that a state’s ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy.
‘You can list a whole host of issues,’ Braun said. ‘When it comes down to whatever they are, I’m going to say that they’re not going to all make you happy within a given state, but that we’re better off having states manifest their points of view rather than homogenizing it across the country, as Roe v. Wade did.’
In a statement to The Washington Post after the conference call, Braun said he ‘misunderstood’ the reporter’s questions on Loving and stressed that he opposes racism.
‘I misunderstood a line of questioning that ended up being about interracial marriage,’ Braun said. ‘Let me be clear on that issue — there is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form, at all levels and by any states, entities, or individuals.’” Read more at Washington Post
“A New Mexico elected official and founder of ‘Cowboys for Trump’ was found guilty in one of two counts related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. His was the second trial linked the riot. He was found guilty of entering a restricted area but not guilty of engaging in disorderly conduct.” Read more at NPR
“Disney employees staged a walkout yesterday in protest of the company's response to Florida's controversial Parental Rights in Education law, which critics have dubbed the ‘Don't Say Gay’ bill. Several employees at Disney headquarters in Burbank, California, participated in the protest, but there did not appear to be a massive showing across the company. Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke about the bill in a note to employees but refused to directly condemn it publicly. Instead, Chapek said Disney’s focus on continuing to tell ‘diverse stories’ is a more appropriate response to the legislation, which prohibits teachers from discussing LGBTQ+ issues with children in third grade and below. Disney Parks posted an image of rainbow colored Mickey Mouse ears on Instagram yesterday and said they will ‘create experiences that support family values for every family, and will not stand for discrimination in any form.’” Read more at CNN
“Hackers who took responsibility for attacks on Nvidia and Microsoft claim to have compromised Okta, which provides ‘single sign-on’ identity services to thousands of companies, Axios' Scott Rosenberg reports.
Okta confirmed yesterday there was an incident in January in which hackers used a customer support worker employed by a third-party company to gain some access to Okta's systems.
Why it matters: Okta, little-known outside of the industry, provides a layer of login security for hundreds of millions of users at a wide array of firms and organizations that adopt its login system.
Depending on the severity of the incident, which is hard to gauge right now, the damage could be widespread.
Zoom out: Wired reports that security experts are already drawing comparisons to the SolarWinds incident of 2020, in which hackers gained access to a wide range of companies and government agencies.” Read more at Axios
Kerem Yucel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
“The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) entered the third week of its worker strike on Monday. The protests have closed schools, keeping 30,000 students at home for an 11th day.” [Vox] Read more at CNN / Joe Sutton and Susannah Cullinane
“Thousands of educators involved in the strike are demanding better wages, smaller class sizes, mental health support, and safer Covid-19 protocols.” [Vox] Read more at The Hill/ Shirin Ali
“The union and the school district are negotiating two separate contracts: one for teachers and another for educational support professionals, whose starting salary is about $24,000 annually.” [Vox] Read more at MPR/ Elizabeth Shockman
“According to union data, Minneapolis Public Schools have lost over 640 educators in the last 18 months; the union believes that’s due to low pay and a grueling workload that often involves matters outside classroom lessons.” [Vox] Read more at Prism / Cirien Saadeh
“The Minneapolis school district says it made its ‘last, best, and final offer’ to the union on Sunday, a proposal that officials say would force the district to slash $10 million from its school budget next year.” [Vox] Read more at Sahan Journal/ Becky Z. Dernbach
“Utah’s governor vetoed a bill that would bar transgender girls from girls’ sports, the second Republican governor in two days to do so.” Read more at New York Times
“Six high school students were killed in a vehicle collision in Tishomingo, Okla.” Read more at New York Times
“BuzzFeed News’s editor in chief steps down as the media company cuts its workforce. Mark Schoofs said the reduction would come through voluntary buyouts, not layoffs. A BuzzFeed spokesman said that on top of the cuts at its news division, the company is trimming approximately 25 jobs elsewhere, or 1.7% of its overall headcount. In its first earnings report as a public company, BuzzFeed posted 18% quarterly revenue growth but expects that to decline this quarter.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Jen Psaki tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time. The White House press secretary, who is experiencing mild symptoms, won’t travel to Europe with President Biden for this week’s NATO talks. She said she had two socially distanced meetings with Biden yesterday, and the president wasn’t considered a close contact as defined by CDC guidelines. She first tested positive in late October.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“‘Feeling fine’: Former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted Tuesday that she has tested positive for COVID-19.” Read more at USA Today
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York in February.
Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photo: Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Images
“MacKenzie Scott has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates — her largest publicly disclosed donation yet, AP reports.
Between the lines: Scott’s gift will speed up efforts to increase Black home ownership and diversify the group's volunteer base, said Natosha Reid Rice, Habitat for Humanity’s global head of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Scott is worth an estimated $48 billion and has signed the Giving Pledge to donate most of her wealth.
She explained last year that she and her new husband, Dan Jewett, were ‘attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change.’” Read more at Axios
“Lives Lived: Julian Heicklen, a cantankerous civil liberties advocate, angered prosecutors by staging weekly protests outside a Manhattan courthouse. He died at 90.” Read more at New York Times
“KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers decided against opening schools to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on a previous promise and opting to appease their hardline base at the expense of further alienating the international community.
The unexpected decision, confirmed by a Taliban official Wednesday, came at the start of the new school year in Afghanistan. It is bound to disrupt Taliban efforts to win recognition from potential international donors, at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The international community has been urging Taliban leaders to open schools and give women their right to public space. A statement by the ministry earlier in the week urged ‘all students’ to come to school.
The decision to postpone a return of girls going to school in higher levels appeared to be a concession to the rural and deeply tribal backbone of the hardline Taliban movement, that in many parts of the countryside are reluctant to send their daughters to school.” Read more at AP News
“WUZHOU, China (AP) — A Chinese aviation official said Wednesday that one of the two ‘black box’ recorders had been found with its casing in severely damaged condition, two days after a China Eastern flight crashed in southern China with 132 people on board.
The exterior is so damaged that investigators were not able to tell whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder, said Mao Yanfeng, the director of the accident investigation division of the Civil Aviation Authority of China.
‘The exterior appearance of the black box is severely damaged,’ Mao said at a news conference.
Mao gave no information about the condition of the recording device inside. An all-out effort is being made to find the other black box, he said.
Images released by state broadcaster CCTV showed workers placing a bright orange, mud-caked cylinder into a labeled, clear plastic, zip-close bag.” Read more at AP News
“NEW YORK (AP) — When Alexei Navalny was arrested in January 2021, tens of thousands of Russians filled the streets in protest, demanding that the top Kremlin critic be released and chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin. Thousands were arrested.
In the months since then, Navalny was given 2½ years in prison. His organization, close associates and other opposition activists were either prosecuted, fled the country or had their hands tied by draconian new laws or decrees. Independent news outlets were blocked and social media platforms banned.
Even a silent antiwar protester who held up a blank sign earlier this month in the city of Nizhny Novgorod was arrested.
Putin’s crackdown — unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia — has blanketed the country. By the time Navalny’s sentence was extended for another nine years by a court on Tuesday, not much dissent could be mustered. The Kremlin had worked hard to see to that.
And yet, there are still flickers of protest and defiance.
‘Of course, nine years is a stiff sentence,’ said Navalny ally Ilya Yashin, who has vowed to remain in Russia. ‘Rapists, thieves and murderers in Russia often get less. ... But in reality (the sentence) doesn’t mean anything, because everyone understands: Alexei will spend as much time behind bars as Putin will sit in the Kremlin.’
Addressing Putin, Yashin added sarcastically in his Facebook post, ‘You’re quite the optimist.’
After a trial in a makeshift courtroom at the penal colony where he is being held, Navalny was convicted on fraud and contempt of court charges in a move that was seen as an attempt to keep Putin’s biggest foe behind bars for as long as possible.
The 45-year-old corruption fighter, who in 2020 survived a poisoning with a nerve agent that he blames on the Kremlin, said on Facebook in a sardonic comment that was posted by his team: ‘My space flight is taking a bit longer than expected.’
His trial, which began a week before Russian troops rolled into Ukraine on Feb. 24, even prompted a small act of defiance by one of the witnesses for the prosecution. Fyodor Gorozhanko, a former activist in Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, who has since left Russia, testified that he had been coerced to give evidence against the opposition leader.
Navalny’s foundation and a nationwide network of regional offices were outlawed last year as extremist and ceased operating. The Kremlin also turned up the heat on other opposition activists and groups, as well as on independent media and human rights organizations.
Dozens have been slapped with a crippling ‘foreign agent’ label, which implies additional government scrutiny and scorn. Many have been forced to shut down under pressure.
With the invasion of Ukraine, the crackdown has been expanded — all but silencing most independent news sites. Facebook and Instagram were banned as extremist and were blocked in Russia. Twitter also was blocked, although Russians who use virtual private networks, or VPNs, are able to avoid access restrictions to the social media networks and news outlets banned in Russia.
A sweeping clampdown on antiwar protests was instituted, but that didn’t stop them. More than 15,000 people were detained for demonstrating against the war, according to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests.
On March 14, a live evening news program on Russia’s state TV was interrupted by a woman who walked behind the anchor holding a handmade poster protesting the war in English and Russian. OVD-Info identified her as Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee of the station, who was taken into custody and fined.
A new law was rubber-stamped by the parliament, criminalizing content that deviates from the official line as ‘fake news’ or which discredits the Russian military and its actions in Ukraine. Media outlets have faced pressure over calling the action a ‘war’ or an ‘invasion,’ rather than using the government’s description of it as a ‘special military operation.’ The first criminal cases under the new law appeared shortly after it was adopted and, among others, implicated two prominent public figures who condemned the offensive on social media.” Read more at AP News
“Chile’s new constitution. Chile’s constitutional assembly has extended the deadline to produce the first draft of its new constitution from April to July; 84 articles have been approved so far, including the right to abortion, but more proposals are still under consideration by the 147-person assembly. Chileans will vote to either approve or reject the draft document in a referendum later this year.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Unintended outcomes | Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine appears to be changing the international order, just not necessarily in the way he planned, Marc Champion reports. From Berlin to London and Baltic capitals like Tallinn, the metrics of defending Europe have been torn up. Nations are reconsidering what they spend, what they buy, and how they would need to fight.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Poland is preparing to expel 45 Russian diplomats after arresting a low-level civil servant on suspicion of spying, joining a counter-espionage crackdown that’s sweeping the EU’s eastern wing.” Read more at Bloomberg
“As Russia increasingly becomes a pariah in the global financial system, billionaires who have long sheltered their fortunes abroad suddenly have far fewer options for where to put their money, Benjamin Stupples and Devon Pendleton report. Repatriating assets to a country careening toward economic ruin, and putting them within Putin’s grasp, is a dire proposition. But so too is keeping them in the U.S., U.K. or in EU jurisdictions, like Cyprus or the Caribbean, where they face freezes, blockades or possibly seizures.” Read more at Bloomberg
Protesters occupy a mansion reportedly owned by members of billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s family in London, on March 14. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
“Dmitri Muratov will auction his Nobel medal — won for independent journalism inside Russia — to benefit Ukrainian refugees.” Read more at New York Times
“Russian misinformation is popping up on right-wing podcasts and TV shows in the U.S.” Read more at New York Times
Przemysl, Poland, is a way station for refugees fleeing the war.Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“A Polish town near the Ukrainian border is addressing almost every possible need of those fleeing Russian bombs — even taking in their pets.” Read more at New York Times
“BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ash Barty did things on her own terms as she won three Grand Slam singles titles and spent more than two consecutive years at No. 1 in the women’s tennis rankings.
She retired on her own terms, too. At the age of 25, just two months after winning the Australian Open title.
The announcement stunned the tennis world on Wednesday.
‘I just know at the moment, in my heart, for me as a person, this is right,’ Barty said, her voice shaky at times, during a six-minute video posted on her Instagram account Wednesday in Australia.
Saying it was time to ‘chase other dreams,’ Barty, who announced her engagement to trainee golf professional Garry Kissick in November, said she no longer feels compelled to do what she knows is required to be the best she can be at tennis.” Read more at AP News
Saint Peter's star Doug Edert celebrates after a three-pointer against Kentucky last week. Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
“Two March Madness games featuring 3,000-student Saint Peter's University of Jersey City, N.J., landed among the 20 most-watched television programs in prime time last week, AP's David Bauder writes.
With the frenzy building, the Peacocks' second-round victory over Murray State drew more viewers on CBS — 6.69 million — than the Jesuit school's first-round upset of Kentucky (5.46 million).
Davidson vs. Michigan St. drew 4.96 million, making it the week's 16th-most watched show.
The Saint Peter's games ranked No. 5 and 11, with ‘60 Minutes’ at No. 1.
What's next: In the Sweet 16, Purdue is heavily favored over Saint Peter's on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. (FanDuel Sportsbook has the game as the Sweet 16's biggest spread — 12.5 points.)” Read more at Axios
