The Full Belmonte, 4/14/2024
Israeli military says multiple drones launched from Iran now headed toward Israel
Iranians in Tehran pass an anti-Israeli billboard in the city center on Friday. (EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
“Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles toward Israel in its first full-scale military assault against the country. U.S. military forces in the region helped Israel intercept the strikes, President Biden said, adding that he would convene the Group of Seven leaders Sunday for a ‘united diplomatic response.’
More than 99 percent of the missiles and drones were intercepted, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. A few fell inside Israeli territory, causing minor damage to a military base and seriously injuring a 10-year-old girl, he added.
Iran’s attack was in retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike earlier this month on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. That attack killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two senior commanders.
Biden condemned the attacks and spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone, reaffirming the United States’ ‘ironclad commitment’ to Israel’s security, the White House said.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations warned the United States to stay away from the conflict between Iran and Israel. On social media, the mission also indicated that the strikes could be the end of its retaliation, but said that ‘should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe.’
Hamas expressed support Sunday for Iran’s attack on Israel, calling it a ‘natural right’ and a deserved response to the Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria this month. The militant group called on Arab and Islamic nations to continue their backing in its fight against Israel.” [Washington Post]
Biden told Bibi U.S. won't support an Israeli counterattack on Iran
“President Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a call on Saturday that the U.S. won't support any Israeli counterattack against Iran, a senior White House official told Axios.
Why it matters: Biden and his senior advisers are highly concerned an Israeli response to Iran's attack on Israel would lead to a regional war with catastrophic consequences, U.S. officials said.”
Go deeper at Axios
House GOP vows Israel vote after Iran attack amid bipartisan pressure on aid package
“House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on Saturday that the chamber will vote on Israel legislation next week in the wake of Iran launching an aerial attack.
‘In light of Iran’s unjustified attack on Israel, the House will move from its previously announced legislative schedule next week to instead consider legislation that supports our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable,’ Scalise said.”
Read the latest at POLITICO
Supreme Court to weigh if Jan. 6 rioters can be charged with obstruction
Defense lawyers say prosecutors improperly stretched the law by charging hundreds with obstruction of an official proceeding
Kevin Seefried, second from left, holding a Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had his prison sentence reduced ahead of the Supreme Court's decision on the obstruction charge he faced (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
“In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, federal prosecutors had to decide what charges to bring against hundreds of participants in the pro-Trump mob that disrupted the certification of a presidential election for the first time in U.S. history.
In more than 350 cases, they included a federal charge that carries a hefty 20-year maximum penalty and is part of a law enacted after the exposure of massive fraud and shredding of documents during the collapse of the energy giant Enron.
As of this month, more than 100 rioters have been convicted and sentenced under that statute for obstructing or impeding an official proceeding — in this case the joint session of Congress that convened on Jan. 6 to formally certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about whether prosecutors improperly stretched the law by charging people with that violation in the first place.
The high court’s ruling, likely to land in late June, has the potential to undo the convictions and sentences of those who have already gone to trial or pleaded guilty, and upend the charges still pending for many more. Three Jan. 6 defendants have already had their sentences reduced ahead of a decision by the Supreme Court.
The court’s decision could have political implications for this year’s election, since Donald Trump — the likely Republican nominee — has made accusations of prosecutorial overreach a core part of his appeal to voters. The case could also directly impact Trump’s own trial for allegedly trying to remain in power after his 2020 defeat; two of the four charges he faces are based on the obstruction statute, and he could move to have those charges dismissed if the Supreme Court rules for the rioters.
Defense lawyers say prosecutors overreached by charging rioters with a crime that is limited to conduct that destroys or tampers with evidence sought by investigators. The government’s broad application of the statute, the lawyers warned in court filings, would allow prosecutors to target protesters or lobbyists who disrupt congressional committees.
The Justice Department said there are no examples of prosecutors using the statute passed two decades ago to target such behavior, which is protected by the First Amendment. Government lawyers argue that the violent disruption of the peaceful transfer of power after a presidential election, including attacks on police officers, is no minor interference.
But the challengers’ argument may be persuasive to some Supreme Court justices, several of whom have voted in past years to narrow the use of other laws they say were applied too broadly. One example is the high court’s unanimous 2016 decision to overturn the corruption conviction of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell, in which the court expressed concern about prosecutors’ ‘boundless interpretation’ of the federal bribery statute.
Attorney Roman Martinez appeared before the Supreme Court a decade ago to defend the government’s use of an obstruction statute similar to the one that is the focus of Tuesday’s argument. He said the court’s decision to take the Jan. 6 case, and look more closely at the statute, is consistent with the court’s recent trend of narrowing the discretion of prosecutors.
‘The strain that runs really deep in the court in the last 10 years is a concern about prosecutors over-prosecuting,’ said Martinez, who was a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in 2009 and has since argued more than a dozen cases at the Supreme Court. ‘The court is very focused on ensuring that criminal statutes are not construed too broadly.’…” [Washington Post]
Man kills 6 in stabbing attack at mall in Sydney subur
“SYDNEY — A knife-wielding assailant killed six people and injured several others at a mall in a Sydney suburb on Saturday and was fatally shot by a police officer, Australian authorities said.
Police identified the attacker as Joel Cauchi, 40, of Queensland. He stabbed at least nine people in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center before a senior police officer who was in the vicinity shot him dead, Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke of the New South Wales police said at a news conference Saturday evening.
Five people died at the mall and several of the victims are in either serious or critical condition, he added. A sixth person, a 38-year-old woman, died at the hospital, police said. Among those taken to the hospital with injuries was a 9-month-old infant who required surgery. The baby’s mother was the person who died in the hospital, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Outside the hospital, Isaac Weinberg told Australia’s ABC News that his wife, Yvonne, had been stabbed.
‘She thought she got punched and then she touched herself and there was blood,’ he said. ‘Apart from that she’s okay. She’s alive and that’s all that matters.’
The upscale Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall is in the affluent eastern suburbs of Sydney, less than two miles from Bondi Beach. Masselos, the mayor, described the mall as a ‘meeting place’ popular with young people.
It is normally a bustling but peaceful hub of shoppers drawn to high-end stores including Gucci, Chanel and Christian Dior. There is little visible security and anyone can enter the mall off the street from multiple points. Most days, its corridors are full of shoppers from around the world, young mothers making use of the cafes and play equipment for their children, and older mall-walkers staying fit.
The incident has shocked Australia, a nation where mass killings are extremely uncommon. There were 79 victims of homicide and related offenses in 2022 in New South Wales, a state of more than 8 million people. The most common homicide weapon was a knife, partly due to Australia’s tight gun restrictions. Saturday’s attack was the deadliest mass killing in the state since 2011, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, when 11 people were killed in an arson attack on a nursing home….” Read more at Washington Post
Tiger Woods makes unwanted Masters history while Scheffler edges into lead
“This was a day in which Tiger Woods created unwanted history. This was a day where Scottie Scheffler – only briefly – displayed his fallibility. This was a day where the latest glimpse of golf’s exciting future was provided by Ludvig Åberg. It feels a pity that this Masters, already one for the ages, has to conclude.
Woods entered the record books on Friday after becoming the first player to successfully negotiate 24 Masters cuts in a row. True to form, the 48-year-old made bold predictions about challenging for the Green Jacket. We should probably know better by now than to fall under the Woods spell. Father Time is beaten by no man. A ragged first nine of 42 was his worst at Augusta National. It did not get much better thereafter. Woods signed for an 82, his poorest Masters round by four. Both of those 78s came in 2022; Woods’s pattern now is undoubtedly one of general decline. When taking to the podium for post-round media duties – and it is fully to his credit that he did that – Woods looked emotionally and physically spent.
‘I didn’t have a very good warm-up session and I kept it going all day today,’ Woods said. ‘I just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it. And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makable putts. I missed a lot of them.’
‘I haven’t competed and played much. I made a putt at the 5th, I promptly three-putted the 6th and flubbed a chip at the 7th. I just got it going the wrong way and when I had opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.’
Woods did insist there was no prospect of Masters withdrawal before round four. ‘My team will get me ready,’ he said. At some point, presumably soon, he has to ask if it is all worth the hassle. Sunday will mark his 100th Masters round. There is no pleasure to be derived from watching him fumble and stumble like this at a venue where he once dominated.
He cut a disconsolate figure as the tournament proper raged on in the background. Scheffler, the unflappable Scheffler, surprisingly offered hope to the field with a messy double bogey at the 10th. He proceeded to drop another shot at the 11th. At 5.30pm local time Åberg joined the Masters lead for the first time with a birdie at the 13th. It seemed amazing to consider this is the Swede’s first major appearance. A Scandinavian assault on Augusta had earlier seen Nicolai Højgaard tie Scheffler at the summit of the leaderboard. Højgaard painfully shipped four shots in a row from the 11th tee.
Scottie Scheffler leads the Masters heading into the final day. Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Åberg, too, was to stumble. The 15th provides opportunity. Instead, Europe’s rising star chipped over the green and dropped a shot. He had done likewise a hole earlier. Åberg remains firmly in the Masters hunt but will have to win from behind. A 70 left him at minus four.
Scheffler seemed upset at tales of his demise being whispered. He rattled home a 31ft early putt at the 13th to retake a share of the lead at six under par. Collin Morikawa, a two-time major winner, was now alongside him. Scheffler edged himself clear by converting for a birdie at the 15th. Another one, on the last, atoned for an error on the 17th. Scheffler’s minus seven leads Morikawa’s minus six after 54 holes. The world No 1 signed for a 71.
Picking the champion out of this melee would be a fool’s errand. Max Homa is five under.
Bryson DeChambeau, a key protagonist over three days, was in panic mode before holing out from the 18th fairway and 80 yards for a birdie. His tee shot found woodland. DeChambeau closed at three under. Beware Xander Schauffele, one shot further back.
Rory McIlroy will have to wait at least another year to complete the career grand slam. Damage to McIlroy was done during a second round of 77. He was in better form during Saturday’s 71 but issues this time in Georgia appear far more technical for McIlroy than psychological. In short, he is not playing particularly well. This has been a theme throughout 2024….” Read more at The Guardian
THE WEEK IN CULTURE
Film and TV
A scene from “Civil War.” Murray Close
““Civil War,” a new movie from Alex Garland, is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. ‘If that sounds harrowing,’ the critic Manohla Dargis writes, ‘you’re right.’
Garland spoke with The Times about why he made the film — and why he chose to have Texas and California join forces.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” ended after 12 seasons. While the finale lacked any sense of surprise, Noel Murray writes, ‘it did feel right for the show.’ Read the review
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist, who got engaged on the TV show “The Golden Bachelor,” are getting a divorce just three months after their wedding.
Eleanor Coppola, a filmmaker and artist who made documentaries about her husband’s and her daughter’s cinematic triumphs and struggles, died at 87.
Music
The rapper J. Cole apologized for releasing a diss track about Kendrick Lamar. The two have worked together in the past.
“Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!”: The weight-loss drug has repurposed Pilot’s 1973 hit, “Magic,” making it an inescapable jingle.
O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson, who died this week at 76, was a central figure in 1990s culture. His trial for the murder of his ex-wife, televised live, made him one of the most-seen Americans in history.
Nearly 100 million American TV viewers watched Simpson flee the police in his white Ford Bronco. The car ended up in a museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Before the trial made him infamous, Simpson had become a Hollywood fixture, playing roles as varied as an astronaut, a comic detective and a fake priest. He was also the first Black star of a national TV ad campaign.
Theater
Brody Grant, center, as Ponyboy Curtis in “The Outsiders.” Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
“The Outsiders” is notoriously tricky to adapt. But a new Broadway musical is “made with so much love and sincerity it survives with most of its heart intact,” our critic writes.
Commercial Off Broadway, a small sector of New York’s theatrical economy, is having a banner season with plays like Eddie Izzard’s solo “Hamlet.”
Other Big Stories
Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer who celebrated glamour and excess, died at 83. See photos that show off his maximalist style.
The International Booker Prize shortlist was announced. It includes books by Jenny Erpenbeck and Hwang Sok-yong. See a full list of the nominees.
Jessica Alba will step down as the chief creative officer of The Honest Company, the baby product and personal care brand she founded in 2012.
An HBO documentary claimed that the clothing store Brandy Melville, which sells single-size pieces, cashes in on young women’s insecurities and mistreats its employees. See our takeaways.” [New York Times]
Eleanor Coppola, artist and matriarch of filmmaking dynasty, dead at 87
Eleanor Coppola attends the tribute to Francis Ford Coppola during the 11th Film Festival Lumiere on October 18, 2019, in Lyon, France.
Stephane Cardinale/Corbis Entertainment/Getty Images
CNN —
“Eleanor Coppola, award-winning film documentarian, artist, writer and wife of Francis Ford Coppola, has died. She was 87.
The news was confirmed by Francis Ford Coppola’s representative Nesma Youssef, who said in an email Eleanor Coppola was ‘surrounded by her loving family’ at home in Rutherford, California, at the time of her death on Friday.
Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola were married for 61 years, with Eleanor accompanying her husband on many of his film shoots throughout his illustrious career.
In 1992, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,” about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 war epic “Apocalypse Now.” She made several other documentaries about her family’s films and, according to an obituary sent by Youssef, was most recently editing a documentary about the making of her daughter Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film “Marie Antoinette.”
(From left) Roman Coppola, Eleanor Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola attend the 43rd Directors Guild of America Awards on March 16, 1991, in Beverly Hills, California.
Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images
Eleanor Coppola was a feature filmmaker in her own right, making her directorial debut at the age of 80 in 2016 with the Diane Lane-starring romance “Paris Can Wait.” She also wrote the movie, which followed the wife of a successful movie producer as she makes her way across France with a driver.
Her second feature, 2020’s “Love is Love is Love,” was selected to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Deauville American Film Festival in France.
In addition to her pursuits in filmmaking, Eleanor Coppola was an accomplished artist and writer.
Along with her husband, she was at the helm of one of the most prolific and successful filmmaking families in Hollywood. Her children Roman Coppola (writer and producer on several Wes Anderson films) and Sofia Coppola (“The Virgin Suicides,” “Lost in Translation”) are both successful filmmakers. Nicolas Cage, Talia Shire and Jason Schwartzman are part of the extended Coppola family.
Shortly before her death, Eleanor Coppola completed her third book, a memoir. In the manuscript, she wrote: ‘I appreciate how my unexpected life has stretched and pulled me in so many extraordinary ways and taken me in a multitude of directions beyond my wildest imaginings.’….” Read more at CNN