The Full Belmonte, 4/21/2022
Evacuees wait yesterday to board a bus to leave the southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin has scrapped plans to storm the Azovstal steel plant in the southeastern port city of Mariupol, saying those who choose to surrender should be treated in accordance with international conventions. The plant is among the last significant holdouts of Ukrainian forces in the city and is sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians. Putin also congratulated the Russian military on taking control of Mariupol, a claim Ukrainian officials have denied. Ukrainian commanders on the ground also said Russian forces have not honored agreements to open humanitarian corridors or enforce ceasefires and have continued to bombard the city. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force has added about 20 more operational aircraft to its fleet because of an influx of spare parts, according to a senior US defense official, which will help strengthen the country’s aerial defense network.” Read more at CNN
“President Joe Biden is set to announce plans Thursday to send additional military aid to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion, a U.S. official told the Associated Press, building on the roughly $2.6 billion in military aid the administration has already approved to Ukraine since the start of the war.” Read more at USA Today
“The U.N. said five million people have fled Ukraine — out of a prewar population of 43 million — and more than seven million people are displaced inside the country.” Read more at New York Times
FILE - The newly painted Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is seen with the the crest to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the theme park Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The idea was presented to Florida lawmakers 55 years ago: Let Disney form its own government and in exchange it would create a futuristic city of tomorrow. That city never materialized, but Walt Disney World became an economic juggernaut, and its government retained unprecedented powers. Five decades later, Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking lawmakers to end Disney's government in a move that throws a wrench into decades of symbiotic relations between the company and state government.(AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
“(CNN)The Florida legislature on Thursday gave final passage to a pair of bills aimed at Disney, weeks into the company's feud with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over its objections to a new law that limits certain classroom discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity.
One of the bills would eliminate the unique status that allows Disney to operate as an independent government around its Orlando-area theme parks. The other would eliminate a Disney carve-out in a social media bill that was signed into law last year but put on hold by a federal judge.
The bills passed 70-38 in the Florida House on Thursday. The vote happened without any final debate and came as several Black Democratic members were staging a protest over the congressional redistricting map. The Disney bills passed the state Senate on Wednesday, and now head to DeSantis' desk.
Disney drew the ire of DeSantis and Sunshine State Republicans earlier this year over legislation that prohibits schools from teaching young children about sexual orientation or gender identity.
After initially declining to weigh in, Disney CEO Bob Chapek publicly criticized Florida lawmakers for passing what opponents called the ‘Don't Say Gay’ bill and apologized to the company's LGBTQ employees for not being a stronger advocate. Chapek then announced that the company would stop making political donations in Florida after decades of contributing generously, mostly to Republicans, including a $50,000 donation to DeSantis' reelection effort.
While this week's special session was originally called to finalize the once-in-a-decade work of reapportioning the state's congressional maps, state lawmakers added the Disney legislation to the docket after DeSantis this week challenged lawmakers in a surprise bombshell announcement to unravel the 55-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement Act, a unique Florida law that helped establish Walt Disney World in the state by giving the brains behind Mickey Mouse operational autonomy.” Read more at CNN
“The Justice Department yesterday appealed the federal ruling that struck down the mask mandate on airlines and other mass transportation, following a recommendation by the CDC. ‘An order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health,’ the CDC said in a statement yesterday -- despite airlines and public transit systems already deciding to make masks optional following the ruling earlier this week. If the conservative-leaning appeals court upholds the order, the case could then be appealed to the Supreme Court, where conservative justices have been ruling against Covid-19 measures since the start of the pandemic.” Read more at CNN
“Police in the US have killed nearly 600 people during traffic stops since 2017, with the deaths continuing apace this year, a review of national police violence data shows.
The numbers add urgency to the growing push from advocates to prevent deadly stops and remove officers from traffic enforcement following the police killing of Patrick Lyoya, a Black Michigan man, earlier this month.
Encounters with police during traffic stops, including minor infractions, disproportionately harm people of color, according to data collected by Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group, which argues that armed police should not be involved in many of these cases.
About 10% of the roughly 1,100 people killed by police each year involve traffic violations, the group found.” Read more at The Guardian
The two top Republicans in Congress, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy.Doug Mills/The New York Times
“After Jan. 6, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy vowed to drive Donald Trump from politics. They backed off out of fear of retribution.” Read more at New York Times
“Alex Jones, the far-right conspiracy theorist, offered to talk to federal prosecutors about the rally before the Capitol attack.” Read more at New York Times
“Chronic student absences skyrocketed during the pandemic. They remain troublingly high.” Read more at New York Times
“The federal government charged 21 people in Medicare fraud schemes, including selling fake vaccine cards and test results.” Read more at New York Times
“Apple employees at an Atlanta mall have become the first workers at the company to unionize. Organizer Derrick Bowles says Apple is a ‘profoundly positive place to work, but we know that the company can better live up to their ideals.’” Read more at NPR
“More than 8 million people are currently under fire alerts with areas across New Mexico, western Texas, and portions of Nebraska and Wyoming under critical fire risk. This comes as a result of extremely dry conditions, low humidity, gusty winds and near record-setting high temperatures across the Southwest US. There are 11 large wildfires burning across the region, including the Tunnel Fire in Arizona, which had ballooned to more than 19,000 acres as of yesterday. It has been an extraordinarily busy start to the fire year in the South and Southwest, with more than 19,000 wildfires reported through Tuesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. This is the highest number of fires at this time of the year in any year of the past decade.” Read more at CNN
“CNN’s just-launched direct-to-consumer streaming service CNN+ is shutting down, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
An announcement is expected as early as Thursday, the person said. Incoming CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Licht, who hasn’t even officially assumed his role yet, told staffers of the decision on Thursday morning, the person said. Andrew Morse, the executive in charge of the service, is leaving the company, the person said.
The move to shutter the service on April 30, merely a month after it launched, comes only a week after CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia was taken over by Discovery Communications. Discovery’s executives were dubious about the strategy of the service even before its deal to acquire the company closed, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.
CNN’s previous regime, with backing from former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, spent $300 million on developing CNN+, people familiar with the operation said. CNN wooed big-name talent, including Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, to join the service.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Tesla posted record profits once again yesterday, earning an adjusted income of $3.7 billion for the first quarter of 2022, much higher than the $2.6 billion forecast by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. But the electric car maker warned that it is not immune from supply chain problems, which it said limited ‘our ability to run our factories at full capacity,’ a situation that will likely persist through the rest of 2022, it added. CEO Elon Musk said that despite some of the company's supply chain issues, particularly due to a temporary closure of Tesla Shanghai, he anticipates there will still be a record output from the plant this quarter. Musk also defended recent price increases for Tesla's vehicles. The company's cheapest car, a Model 3, now costs about $47,000, up 34% from three years ago.” Read more at CNN
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis escalated his feud with Disney this week, challenging state lawmakers to unravel the 55-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement Act, a unique Florida law that allows the entertainment giant to operate as an independent government around its Orlando-area theme parks. This comes after DeSantis ripped Disney as a ‘woke corporation’ and encouraged Republican lawmakers to advance a pair of bills targeting Disney over its objections to a new law limiting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. Republicans in Florida and Disney have been at odds over the legislation that opponents called the ‘Don't Say Gay’ bill. After initially declining to weigh in, Disney CEO Bob Chapek publicly criticized lawmakers for passing the legislation and apologized to the company's LGBTQ employees for not being a stronger advocate.” Read more at CNN
A TV screen displays the debate between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
“After the debate, the dissection: was Emmanuel Macron arrogant or courteous? Was Marine Le Pen dominated or passive?
Hours after the marathon face-off between France’s two presidential contenders on Wednesday evening, the verdict was that Macron had emerged as the winner on the substance and Le Pen held it together on style.
The exchange was a rematch of 2017’s TV debate, during which the far-right leader became aggressive. This time, Le Pen remained calm, though still floundered occasionally. Le Monde likened Macron to a boa constrictor – slowly squeezing his rival to death.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said it was overall a satisfactory debate: ‘If the presidential campaign itself has been disappointing, here we saw the choice between two kinds of France, two different visions,’ he told Europe 1.
Jordan Bardella, head of Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, accused Macron of being the ‘number one public insult thrower’ adding: ‘When he insults Marine Le Pen as do his supporters, he is really insulting the French.’
Clément Beaune, the Europe minister, accused Le Pen of seeking to organise a Frexit by stealth. ‘On this subject, it was clear that Marine Le Pen did not have a project and that she had just cut her Frexit into smaller pieces,’ he said.” Read more at The Guardian
“Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed chair Jerome Powell walked out of a G20 meeting in Washington today when the Russian finance minister started speaking, Axios' Neil Irwin and Oriana Gonzalez report.
Other world leaders who joined: European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
Between the lines: The Treasury Department has been vague all week about Yellen’s plans for participation in the G20 given Russia’s involvement.” Read more at Axios
“A 91-year-old Jewish woman in Ukraine’s besieged Mariupol survived Nazi occupation of the city in 1941 only to die in a basement during Russia’s takeover. Vanda Obiedkova died on April 4 during Russia’s bombardment of the city, Ukrainian authorities said. She reportedly asked her loved ones ‘Why is this happening?’ before she was killed. The official website of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic organization, reports that Obiedkova’s health deteriorated as she sheltered in an ‘unbearably cold’ basement with family members, cut off from water, food, and electricity. ‘We were living like animals,’ her daughter, Larissa, was quoted saying. ‘Mama loved Mariupol, she never wanted to leave,’ she said. Obiedkova was only 10 years old when Nazi forces arrived in the city and began executing thousands of Jews, including her own mother.” [Daily Beast] Read more at Chabad.org
“Sri Lanka may take nearly three weeks to appoint advisers to guide a debt overhaul, Finance Minister Ali Sabry said in a Bloomberg TV interview, a move seen as key to unlock emergency funds needed to ease its worsening economic crisis.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Julian Assange’s extradition to the U.S. on spying charges can proceed once the U.K. government approves it, a London court ruled.
The WikiLeaks co-founder, who can appeal the decision if he is extradited, is wanted in the U.S. on 18 counts of conspiring to disclose classified information and conspiring to hack a military computer. The charges stem from the organization’s 2010-2011 publication of a trove of classified material that painted a bleak picture of the American campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and their aftermath. Assange, who’s been in a U.K. prison since 2019, has defended his work and the wider WikiLeaks project as public-interest journalism that exposed governmental wrongdoing.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Italy struck a deal to boost natural gas imports from Angola after securing similar agreements with Algeria and Egypt, as Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government rushes to cut energy dependence on Russia.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“WASHINGTON (AP) — For another person in another country at another time, the case might have been a minor matter: an American citizen detained at an airport for allegedly possessing a cannabis derivative legal in much of the world.
But the circumstances for Brittney Griner couldn’t have been worse.
Griner, a WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arrested in Russia, where the offense can mean years in prison, and at a moment when tensions with the U.S. were rising to their highest point in decades. She is a prominent gay, Black woman facing trial in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LGBTQ community and the country’s nationalist zeal has raised concerns about how she will be treated….
As extraordinary as her circumstances are, the details surrounding Griner’s case remain a mystery as a crucial court date approaches next month. Russian prosecutors have offered little clarity and the U.S. government has made only measured statements. Griner’s legal team has declined to speak out about the case as it works behind the scenes.
Griner is easily the most prominent American citizen known to be jailed by a foreign government, but in many ways her case isn’t unusual. Americans are frequently arrested overseas on drug and other charges and U.S. authorities are limited about what they can say or the help they can offer. The State Department generally can’t do much to help beyond consular visits and helping the American get an attorney. It also can’t say much unless the person arrested waives privacy rights, which Griner hasn’t fully done.
In some cases, U.S. officials do speak out loudly when they’re convinced an American has been wrongly detained. But Griner’s case is barely two months old and officials have yet to make that determination. A State Department office that works to free American hostages and unjust detainees is not known to be involved.” Read more at AP News
“U.S. and Cuban officials sit down in Washington today for the highest-level talks since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.
The talks represent a thaw of sorts: Officials had been meeting biannually to discuss migration since the 1990s. Four years ago, the meetings stopped, after the Trump administration effectively shuttered U.S. immigration operations in its Havana embassy over concerns sparked by the much-hyped ailment known as ‘Havana Syndrome.’
But there is urgency to go along with the thaw. March saw a record number of Cubans attempting to cross into the United States via its Mexican border, part of an overall two-decade high in border apprehensions. (Mexicans made up the majority of those processed, with Cubans the second highest. Ukrainians, a much rarer sight at the border, were the ninth-largest nationality represented in the figures, as 3,274 of them made the journey in March.)
Why has there been such an increase at the Mexican border when the United States is just 100 miles from Cuban soil? ‘It’s become clear to Cubans how dangerous the maritime route to the U.S. is. And if there’s a way to successfully travel via land, it’s very likely that would be preferred.’ Jessica Bolter, a U.S. immigration expert at the Migration Policy Institute, told Foreign Policy. ‘We saw this shift to the land route really start about a decade ago, and once the shift starts then there’s a cycle where that’s the route that there’s the most information about, that’s the route that people’s friends and family have taken.’
Bolter said that a number of push and pull factors are convincing Cubans to make the journey to the U.S.-Mexican border: An embargo-crippled economy—made worse by a pandemic-induced drop in tourism, a repressive political environment, as well as an easier travel route via Nicaragua, which has dropped transit visa requirements for Cuban nationals.
But the United States shares much of the blame. Cubans have been all but frozen out of the U.S. visa system by the Trump-era decision to halt operations in Havana. (Thanks to a series of laws passed since the Cold War, Cubans receive preferential treatment in U.S. immigration policy. For example, under U.S. law, the U.S. can legally admit at least 20,000 Cubans each year, and Cubans who arrive legally and stay for one year can apply for permanent residency, a process that takes at least three times as long for other arrivals).
The embassy troubles are prompting many to try their luck elsewhere; some Cubans have traveled 1,700 miles south in Guyana to go through the visa process.
Meanwhile, in an ugly game of hot potato, Cuba has refused to accept returning migrants sent back by U.S. authorities (who have applied a rule known as Title 42 to immediately refuse entry to migrants without having to process asylum requests). A policy that was possibly designed to bring Washington to the negotiating table has also given Cubans an incentive to take the risk in Mexico.
At the beginning of March, the Biden administration moved to increase staffing levels at its Havana embassy, but it’s not happening fast enough, the Cuban government says.
‘We do not see any justification for not giving all visas to Cuban emigrants in Havana and forcing the majority of Cubans to travel [to Guyana], with the costs that this implies,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal told reporters on Tuesday.
Vidal slammed U.S. immigration policy as ‘differentiated’ and ‘incoherent,’ citing the economic support it has given Latin American countries to address the root causes of migration, while applying ‘maximum pressure to the economic order and through coercive measures’ in the case of Cuba.
While ending the Cuban embargo may be beyond the scope of today’s meeting, some conciliatory gestures could begin addressing the root causes of migration. Mariakarla Nodarse Venancio, a Cuba expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, told me the quickest things the Biden administration could do to help would be to ramp up consular services and to follow through on campaign promises, like lifting restrictions on remittances.
‘A broader, larger dialogue is definitely needed,’ Nodarse Venancio said. ‘But also the Biden administration needs to keep their word, because it cannot only be about having Cuba accept deportees. If the situation on the island does not improve, then it’s not going to dissuade Cubans from migrating.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
State Emergency Service of Ukraine
“One of Ukraine's biggest heroes is a very good boy. Two-year-old Jack Russell terrier Patron sniffs out Russian bombs for the State Emergency Service in the northern city of Chernihiv.” Read more at NPR
Data: American Rivers. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals
“The Colorado River has been named America's most endangered river, for the first time since 2013, Axios Denver co-author John Frank reports.
More than 40 million people in seven states and 30 tribal nations rely on the Colorado for drinking water, according to a report by American Rivers, an environmental advocacy group.
Colorado River water irrigates 15% of America's farmland and produce 90% of its winter vegetables, according to Ceres, a sustainable investment advocacy group.
Zoom out: Americans' water supply now increasingly reflects the daily reality of a worsening climate crisis, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.
Why it matters: Many of America's cities and farms rely on water supplies whose future availability can't be guaranteed.
In Page, Ariz., yesterday, a closed boat ramp extends into desert sand at Lake Powell, fed by the Colorado River. Photo: Caitlin Ochs/Reuters
Other endangered rivers include:
The Snake River in the Pacific Northwest — which topped the list last year — is nearly devoid of salmon. Issues include dams and rising water temperatures.
The Mobile River in Alabama is threatened by coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal for electricity.
The Coosa River, which also runs through Alabama, is endangered by the threat of pollution from industrial poultry farms.” Read more at Axios
“New Jersey's 73-year-old ban on pumping your own gas may come to an end in the state's attempt to lower gas prices.” Read more at NPR
“Problems at Virginia's historic Montpelier — home of the fourth U.S. president, James Madison — reached a boiling point this week when a number of employees who had supported descendants of the enslaved were fired.” Read more at NPR
“Netflix lost 200,000 U.S. subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. It's the company's first drop in customers in more than a decade, and Netflix is blaming password sharing.” Read more at NPR
The 'Rust' movie set in New Mexico a few days after the Oct. 21 shooting.
PHOTO: JAE C. HONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Producers of ‘Rust’ ignored firearm safety on the film set, leading to star Alec Baldwin fatally shooting the cinematographer. New Mexico investigators found they failed to follow industry guidelines, such as having daily safety meetings for firearms and ensuring guns weren’t pointed at anyone. Rust Movie Productions is being fined nearly $137,000, the maximum allowed under state law, in connection with the Oct. 21 incident. A spokesman for the production company and Baldwin’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to reporter inquiries.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“100 million — The approximate number of boxes of Lucky Charms sold each year, according to market-research firm IRI. General Mills is facing thousands of consumer complaints that its popular cereal brand sickened people, safety concerns that spread quickly on social media.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Lives Lived: The Romanian-born pianist Radu Lupu wove spells over his listeners and induced awe in his colleagues. He died at 76.” Read more at New York Times
“World’s oldest dog: TobyKeith, a chihuahua from Florida, broke a Guinness World record - at 21 years, 66 days and counting, he's the oldest dog alive.” Read more at USA Today
TobyKeith was confirmed as the oldest living dog in the world by Guinness World Records.Courtesy of Gisela Shores
