The Full Belmonte, 4/3/2022
Ukrainian soldiers inspecting the remains of a Russian military vehicle yesterday outside of Kyiv.Ivor Prickett for The New York Times
“Russian forces retreated under fire from around Kyiv, a potentially significant turn in their invasion of Ukraine.” Read more at New York Times
“By threatening to stop Russia’s flow of gas to Europe, President Vladimir Putin reminded the world that he wields a powerful economic weapon.” Read more at New York Times
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times
“Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to be confirmed to the Supreme Court this week.” Read more at New York Times
“Attorney General Merrick Garland’s deliberative approach to the Jan. 6 investigation has frustrated Democratic allies, sometimes including President Biden.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation on Friday to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, as Democrats and three Republicans banded together to capitalize on the political resonance of legalized cannabis as an issue of economic growth, racial justice and states’ rights.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which passed 220-204, is unlikely to secure 60 votes to pass the Senate, despite the backing of the majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. But supporters of marijuana decriminalization — even some Republicans who voted against the Democratic legislation — said on Friday that the vote was a necessary step toward building consensus on something that can become law.
The Democrats’ bill would remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of controlled substances, impose an 8 percent tax on cannabis products, allow some convictions on cannabis charges to be expunged and press for sentencing reviews at the federal and state levels. It would also make Small Business Administration loans and services available to cannabis businesses while setting standards for them.
The Republicans voting for the measure were Representatives Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast of Florida and Tom McClintock of California. But other Republicans have signed on to a similar bill by Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina. (Two Democrats, Representatives Henry Cuellar of Texas and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, voted against the legislation on Friday.)” Read more at New York Times
“Several countries are holding elections: Hungary, Costa Rica and Serbia today, and France next weekend. Imran Khan dissolved Pakistan’s parliament, blocking a no-confidence vote that was widely expected to remove him from office.” Read more at New York Times
“GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The U.S. military on Saturday delivered to Algeria a prisoner whose repatriation from Guantánamo Bay was arranged during the Obama administration but then delayed for five years.
The prisoner, Sufyian Barhoumi, 48, was captured in Pakistan in March 2002 and soon taken to Guantánamo Bay, where he never faced trial. He was notified in August 2016 that he was eligible for release, but his case was sidelined by a Trump administration policy that generally halted transfers.
The transfer was the second this year and the third since President Biden took office with the goal of closing Guantánamo. Now, 37 detainees remain, including 18 who are approved for release to the custody of another country if U.S. diplomats can arrange secure deals for them to go.” Read more at New York Times
Jackie Molloy for NPR
“One of America’s richest companies is using bankruptcy to block lawsuits — and it’s not the only one. Johnson & Johnson, worth over $400 billion, faced a deluge of some 38,000 lawsuits that claimed asbestos contamination in its baby powder caused cancer — that is, until the company found a way to halt the legal process in its tracks. It involved a complex bankruptcy maneuver known in legal circles as the “Texas two-step.”
One of those frozen lawsuits was filed by Hanna Wilt, a college athlete who used the powder daily to feel comfortable in the summer. Then, when she was 22, she began to feel sick.
Wilt was diagnosed with mesothelioma — and even as she battled the rapidly advancing cancer, she was determined to have her day in court. But her bid for justice was cut short: She died in February at the age of 27.
A growing number of wealthy companies are using similar bankruptcy tactics to derail lawsuits claiming wrongdoing, leaving plaintiffs baffled and outraged. "It's heartless, it's ruthless," Wilt’s mother, Hope, told NPR. "It's disgusting that for monetary gain they will stop at nothing."
Read more about what critics have dubbed a separate justice system for ‘bankruptcy grifters.’” Read more at NPR
Members of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate their win over the Duke Blue Devils in Saturday’s national semi-final in New Orleans. Photograph: Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos/Getty Images
“Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s remarkable career came to thrilling and sudden close Saturday night after Caleb Love made a key three-pointer and three late free throws to lift archrivals North Carolina to a thrill-a-minute 81-77 victory over the Blue Devils.
This was the 258th, most consequential and maybe, just maybe, the very best meeting between these teams, whose arenas are separated by a scant 11 miles down in Tobacco Road.
The Tar Heels (29-9), of all teams, pinned the 368th and final loss on the 75-year-old Coach K, exactly four weeks after they ruined the going-away party in his final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
That loss hurt. This one stopped the coach’s last-gasp, storybook run one win away from a title game and a chance at his sixth championship. When it was over, after playing through the nip-and-tuck stretch run without a timeout, Krzyzewski walked calmly to halfcourt and shook the hand of Carolina’s rookie coach, Hubert Davis.
So, instead of Krzyzewski going for his sixth title, on Monday, Carolina will go for their seventh. It will be Davis, Love, who led the Tar Heels with 28 points, and RJ Davis, who scored 18, going against Kansas, which beat Villanova 81-65 earlier in the undercard.
The main event lived up to the hype. What a game! It featured 18 lead changes and 12 ties.
At around the two-minute mark, the teams traded three straight threes. Wendell Moore Jr’s three-pointer with 1:19 left ended the flurry and gave Duke a 74-73 lead. It was the last lead of Krzyzewski’s career.
Kansas 81, Villanova 65
Kansas and Villanova waged a memorable three-point shooting contest at the Men’s Final Four, one of them racing out to a big lead in the opening minutes and the other spending the rest of the night trying in vain to catch up.
Probably sounds a little familiar.
But in a rematch of a rout by the Wildcats four years ago in San Antonio, it was the Jayhawks joyously walking off the court at the final buzzer Saturday night. David McCormack muscled his way for 25 points, Ochai Agbaji was nearly perfect from the field and finished with 21, and the lone No 1 seed to reach the national semi-finals rolled to an 81-65 victory.” Read more at The Guardian
“The Grammys are tonight. Here’s a preview.” Read more at New York Times
“Amazon fired a worker after he led a walkout in 2020. He went on to lead one of the most monumental union drives in recent history.” Read more at NPR
“Researchers have found that even just a night or two of exposure to faint, artificial light, like a TV, is enough to raise your pulse and increase insulin resistance.” Read more at NPR
“A toymaker created a Lego-based figurine of President Zelenskyy. They sold out within hours — and raised more than $145,000 for Ukraine.” Read more at NPR
“‘They've had 50 years to figure it out’: Title IX disparities in major college sports too big to ignore.” Read more at USA Today
“The Justice Thomas conundrum is the most vivid example of a court without a system of accountability when it comes to recusal, NPR’s Nina Totenberg writes.” Read more at NPR
“A flamingo named Pink Floyd who escaped a Kansas zoo in 2005 was recently spotted in Texas — after nearly 17 years on the run.” Read more at NPR
“Law enforcement officials have seized 13 artifacts from the Yale University Art Gallery that they say were looted. Many of those, the authorities said, are part of an ongoing investigation into Subhash Kapoor, a former Madison Avenue art dealer accused of being one of the world’s most prolific antiquities smugglers.
Yale acknowledged the seizure Thursday with a posting on the museum’s website that said it had delivered the items on Wednesday to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is conducting the investigation in tandem with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.
‘Yale was glad to work cooperatively with the D.A.’s Office in this important matter,’ the university’s statement said.
Kapoor, who once ran a respected Manhattan gallery known as Art of the Past, has been incarcerated in India since 2011 on charges of theft, smuggling and trafficking more than 2,500 South Asian artifacts. He faces similar charges in New York, where officials have accused him of running a multinational ring that over more than 30 years traded in illicit objects valued at more than $145 million. His extradition to the United States will be sought after the criminal case in India is resolved.” Read more at New York Times