The Full Belmonte, 4/15/2022
A satellite image of the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva in Sevastopol, Crimea on April 7.
“Russia's Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up ‘the scale of missile attacks’ on Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv in response to the nation's ‘diversions on the Russian territory.’ The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the country's regions on the border with Ukraine. Meanwhile, the storied Russian warship Moskva, whose history goes back to the Cold War, sank into the Black Sea Thursday in the latest blow to Moscow's war effort. Losing the vessel represents a military setback and symbolic defeat for Russia. A Ukrainian official said on Telegram that Ukraine's forces struck the Moskva with two missiles. Russia has acknowledged the ship sank, but blamed other factors. In a video address late Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his nation's bravery and said Ukraine should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians ‘gave us a maximum of five.’” Read more at USA Today
“US military aid to Ukraine now has surpassed $3 billion under Biden. This is what has been provided.” Read more at USA Today
Photo: Ukrainian government
“Ukraine's postal service is selling stamps (above) commemorating the defenders of Snake Island, who gave a verbal middle finger to a Russian warship — now at the bottom of the sea — on the first day of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promoted the stamps on his Instagram account, telling people to remember that the Russian warship ‘travels only in one direction’ — down.
Russia's defense ministry acknowledged that the flagship of its Black Sea fleet sank in ‘choppy seas’ while being towed back to port, after damage from a fire it says was caused by an ammunition explosion.
It's still unclear whether the Moskva was damaged by anti-ship missiles, as Ukraine claims.
The 610-foot vessel is the largest Russian warship to be sunk in action since World War II, according to the BBC.
Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv after news broke of the Moskva's demise — the biggest blasts since Russian forces pulled back from the capital to prepare for a massive offensive in eastern Ukraine.” Read more at Axios
“The FDA has given its authorization for the first Covid-19 breath test. The device, known as the InspectIR Covid-19 Breathalyzer, was granted emergency use authorization yesterday and can give results in less than three minutes. It is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage and can be used in medical offices and mobile testing sites, the FDA said. The system works by separating and identifying chemical mixtures to detect five compounds associated with the virus. A study of the InspectIR Breathalyzer found it accurately identified more than 91% of positive samples and nearly 100% of negative samples.” Read more at CNN
“Frank James, the suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting, made his first appearance in court yesterday. He was denied bail and did not enter a plea on charges of violating a law that prohibits terrorism and violent attacks on mass transportation. Officials have not released a motive for the attack. Ten people were shot and 19 others suffered injuries related to smoke inhalation and falls in the resulting panic. New details have also emerged about the 30-hour manhunt that ensued to find James. Investigators zeroed in on James after locating a credit card and keys to a U-Haul van he had rented that were found at the scene. At the station, investigators also found a handgun, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two non-detonated smoke grenades and a hatchet.” Read more at CNN
“The interest rate on America’s most popular mortgage hit 5% for the first time in more than a decade, extending a sharp rise that has yet to significantly slow the red-hot housing market.
Interest on the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed from 4.72% a week ago to its highest level since early 2011, government-mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. Fifteen months ago, mortgage rates were at all-time lows.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Elon Musk made an offer to buy Twitter yesterday and said his decision is about ‘the future of civilization,’ not making money. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the deal -- valued at $41.4 billion -- is to ensure Twitter remains a trusted platform for democracy. Musk described his vision for the company and outlined changes that would reflect a major shift in how Twitter operates. Musk has railed against what he sees as a lack of free speech on Twitter and said the company should open-source its algorithm to increase transparency in the company's content moderation decisions. Now, the ball is in Twitter's court. The company’s board of directors, on which Musk declined a seat last weekend, will have to consider whether to come to the table to discuss a deal with Musk or pursue other avenues and potentially alternate buyers.” Read more at CNN
“The Republican National Committee voted unanimously yesterday to withdraw from the commission that sponsors presidential debates. In a statement, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the commission is ‘biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates.’ The commission was formed in 1987 and has sponsored debates in every presidential election since 1988. The vote comes after months of signals from the RNC that it sought a break from the commission. It also comes nearly a year after McDaniel sent a letter outlining several complaints about the commission's practices, reflecting former President Donald Trump's concerns about the conduct of the 2020 debates.” Read more at CNN
“Anti-war activists spent hours Wednesday evening projecting a giant image of the Ukrainian flag onto the Russian embassy in D.C. in bright lights. Benjamin Wittes, one of the demonstrators, says they wanted to ‘make it feel like they couldn't get away from the world's glare of judgment.’” Read more at NPR
“An Ohio man who claimed he was only ‘following presidential orders’ from Donald Trump when he stormed the US Capitol has been convicted by a jury that took less than three hours to reject his novel defence for obstructing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
The federal jury on Thursday also found Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, guilty of all five of the other charges in his indictment, including stealing a coat rack from an office inside the Capitol during the riot on 6 January 2021. The maximum sentence for the obstruction count, the lone felony, would be 20 years’ imprisonment.
Jurors did not buy Thompson’s defence, in which he blamed Trump and members of the president’s inner circle for the insurrection and for his own actions.
One juror who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity said: ‘Donald Trump wasn’t on trial in this case.’” Read more at The Guardian
Gina McCarthy, White House climate adviser, is reportedly planning to leave her post. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
“White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy is planning to step down, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations, likely ending a tenure marked by ambitious emissions targets but failure in securing major US carbon-cutting legislation.
McCarthy, 67, had initially planned to remain in the White House for about a year, hoping to help federal agencies implement Joe Biden’s ambitious climate legislation, but those efforts stalled amid intraparty opposition from key Democratic senators, including Joe Manchin.” Read more at The Guardian
“Two more subvariants of omicron have popped up in New York, and they're spreading. Together they make up 90% of cases in central New York state. The good news: The rise in cases is much slower and more gradual than that of the original omicron variant.” Read more at NPR
“JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.
The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem’s Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Floods in South Africa. Devastating flooding has killed at least 341 people in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, with more than 40,000 others affected, local authorities said on Thursday as they continue to assess the damage. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for improved disaster management capabilities in the wake of the floods, adding that its cause was ‘obviously part of climate change.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
A Shanghai resident, behind barriers sealing off an area under COVID lockdown. Photo: Aly Song/Reuters
“In a society that generally respects authority, Chinese citizens are rebelling against COVID lockdowns that have brought food shortages, family separations and lost wages, Reuters reports.
Videos on social media show citizens scuffling with health workers and screaming in anger from their apartment windows.
Arrests and detentions for COVID-related rule-breaking surged in March, according to a search on the Weibo social media platform for police statements, posts by state agencies and state media reports.
Most infractions involve citizens trying to skirt rules such as reporting travel on a health app, falsifying COVID test results, and sneaking out of locked-down neighborhoods.
Assaults on health workers also surged.” Read more at Axios
“Russia reacts to NATO moves. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has warned of ending the ‘nuclear-free’ status of the Baltic region if Sweden and Finland were to join NATO, saying that such an expansion would cause Russia to reinforce its Western flank in response. ‘No sane person wants higher prices and higher taxes, increased tensions along borders, Iskanders, hypersonics and ships with nuclear weapons literally at arm’s length from their own home,’ Medvedev, Russian president from 2008 to 2012, said. ‘Let’s hope that the common sense of our northern neighbours will win.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“ALEXANDRIA, Va.—A federal jury on Thursday convicted a British Islamic State fighter of being part of a brutal cell that murdered American hostages, delivering a victory for U.S. prosecutors and a measure of relief for the victims’ families who had long sought justice in the closely watched terrorism case.
Jurors deliberated for just four hours before finding El Shafee Elsheikh guilty of eight counts, including hostage-taking resulting in death, conspiring to murder Americans outside the U.S. and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Prosecutors sought to show Mr. Elsheikh was one of a group of British guards known to the foreign prisoners as the “Beatles,” who were feared for their wanton cruelty, including vicious beatings that often left hostages with broken ribs.
Humanitarian aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig and journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were among their victims in Syria in 2014 and early 2015.
The three men were beheaded in gruesome propaganda videos. Ms. Mueller was repeatedly raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to the testimony of a fellow female captive. The group later claimed without proof that Ms. Mueller was killed in an airstrike. None of their bodies were recovered.
‘We all saw the American justice system do what it does best,’ Ms. Mueller’s father, Carl Mueller, told reporters outside the courthouse. ‘This is a small piece of justice that will help us heal a little, but I don’t think there will ever be closure. This will always be with us.’
The guilty verdict capped a two-week trial dominated by stirring testimony from surviving hostages, and came even though none of them could identify Elsheikh as one of their tormentors. The guards had distinctive east London accents, the hostages testified, but covered their faces behind masks, making it difficult to identify them or tell them apart. Some of the hostages referred to Elsheikh as ‘Ringo.’
Elsheikh, who was born in Sudan in 1988 and grew up in London, was one of the most notorious Islamic State members to be tried in a U.S. courtroom. He and another member of the cell, Alexanda Kotey, were captured by Kurdish fighters in Syria in 2018 and were in U.S. military custody in Iraq until 2020, when they were brought to the U.S. to face the charges.
The Justice Department agreed not to pursue the death penalty against them, paving the way for the British government to provide evidence for their prosecution in the U.S. Kotey pleaded guilty to all counts last year and is expected to be sentenced in the coming months. Elsheikh now faces a mandatory life sentence.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Elon Musk and other tech billionaires are pushing a parallel media ecosystem with unfettered speech, fewer rules, more voices and less power for traditional media.
Why it matters: These tech moguls believe America is in the midst of a ‘free speech’ crisis, and are willing to spend big to change the conversation. But so far, they've made more headlines than progress, Axios' Dan Primack and Sara Fischer report.
What's happening: Social media companies are increasingly willing to remove certain types of content — and ban those who post it — after years of casting themselves as neutral platforms.
This change has triggered an opposite reaction by these titans, who prefer the earlier approach.
Between the lines: Most of the brawl revolves around Twitter, where so many tech moguls, politicians and journalists spend their time.
Musk doesn't seem to have much of a vision for how to actually run Twitter if his takeover bid succeeds.
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has repeatedly tweaked Twitter and some of its users over the past month, and leads a firm that has invested millions of dollars in paid newsletter platform Substack and audio app Clubhouse.
Conservative billionaires are backing versions of their own Twitter-like platforms — Parler, Gettr and President Trump's Truth Social. But those apps are tiny compared to mainstream platforms.
Thiel, who for years has sat on Facebook's board with Andreessen, has put money behind ‘free speech’ YouTube alternative Rumble.
Left-leaning billionaires Reid Hoffman and George Soros are among those who recently backed a new public benefit corporation that aims to tackle disinformation by funding left-leaning local news sites.
Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff and Laurene Powell Jobs have bought up venerable, established media properties.
The bottom line: Controlling a major social media platform takes more than money.” Read more at Axios
“Friday marks the beginning of Passover , a Jewish holiday that celebrates the Exodus, the liberation of Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Also known as Pesach, the holiday happens every year during the month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, which typically falls around March or April. It’s celebrated for eight days, except in Israel where it’s celebrated for seven. This year's Passover starts Friday and ends April 23. Friday is also Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday. The two holidays are later than usual this year — Easter Sunday is uncommonly late, falling on April 17 for the first time in 62 years. Both holidays are linked to the moon: Easter occurs after the Paschal Moon, and the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles.” Read more at USA Today
“This year, many Ukrainian Jews are celebrating Passover far from home.The holiday, which celebrates the Hebrew people escaping from Europe, feels much more poignant as many Ukrainians are currently refugees themselves.” Read more at NPR
“Two weeks after an NPR report revealed major flaws in an income-driven student loan repayment program, lawmakers are calling for an investigation. Senators want to ‘ensure borro are accessing income-driven repayment plan benefits and receive the student loan forgiveness they have earned.’” Read more at NPR
‘We uncovered all these riches just 10-15cm under the floor slabs,’ the head of the dig said.Photograph: Denis Gliksman/Inrap
“An archaeological dig under Notre Dame Cathedral has uncovered an extraordinary treasure of statues, sculptures, tombs and pieces of an original rood screen dating back to the 13th century.
The find included several ancient tombs from the middle ages and a body-shaped lead sarcophagus buried at the heart of the fire-ravaged monument under the floor of the transept crossing.
French experts have described the discovery as ‘extraordinary and emotional’.” Read more at The Guardian
A Jackie Robinson jersey is displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta
“On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. MLB will mark the milestone today in ballparks across the country, Jeff Tracy writes for Axios Sports.
In New York, part of 42nd Street will be temporarily renamed Jackie Robinson Way and the Empire State Building will glow blue and white with his No. 42.
In Los Angeles, his 99-year-old widow, Rachel, will attend the Dodgers-Reds game.
Photo: MLB
At every MLB game, as has been tradition since 2009, players, managers and coaches will wear Robinson's iconic No. 42.
For the first time, all teams will sport Dodger-blue ‘42’ jersey numbers, regardless of their team colors. (MLB)” Read more at Axios