The Full Belmonte, 4/8/2022
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“President Joe Biden will deliver remarks Friday afternoon at a ceremony marking the Senate's historic confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving the White House and Democratic allies an opportunity to celebrate the first Black woman headed to the Supreme Court. Vice President Kamala Harris and Jackson will also speak at the event on the South Lawn of the White House. The Senate voted 53-47 Thursday to confirm Jackson, a U.S. appeals court judge for the D.C. district. Three Republican senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah – joined all 50 Democratic senators to confirm the 116th justice. She will replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.” Read more at USA Today
President Biden and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson watch in the Roosevelt Room as the Senate votes to confirm her. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
“A pile of big, polarizing cases awaits Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who made history yesterday as the first Black woman to be confirmed (53-47) to the Supreme Court.
Jackson will take her seat as the court dives headfirst into the most controversial issues in American politics, Axios' Sam Baker writes.
Jackson will start hearing cases when the court's next term begins in October. The term will be epic:
Affirmative action: The use of race in college admissions has seemed to be on thin ice at the Supreme Court for years, and this term may be the final nail in the coffin.
Same-sex marriage: Remember a few years ago, when a baker who refused to bake cakes for same-sex weddings took his case all the way to the Supreme Court? The justices punted in that case, but it seemed pretty clear that future plaintiffs in the baker's situation were likely to win their cases. The court almost always sides with people trying to live by their religious beliefs more freely.
Voting rights: When Alabama drew new boundaries for its congressional districts last year, it ended up with one majority-Black district and smaller numbers of Black voters dispersed through several other districts. Critics sued, calling it an illegal act of racial gerrymandering. This case matters not just for Alabama, but as part of the court's approach to voting rights cases overall.
What's next: Before Jackson even takes her seat, the court is expected to significantly roll back abortion rights — which would open the door to a flood of new state laws restricting the procedure.” Read more at Axios
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said about 30 people have been killed and around 100 injured following a rocket strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk in the east of the country. Kramatorsk is a city in part of the Donetsk region that is controlled by the Ukrainian government, and its railway station was being used to evacuate civilians. Zelenskyy lashed out at Russian forces, saying they were ‘cynically destroying the civilian population’ and called it ‘an evil without limits.’ Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk have claimed that Ukrainian forces were responsible. Spurred by recent reports that Russian forces committed atrocities in areas surrounding Kyiv, NATO nations agreed to increase their supply of arms. The first of 20 Australian-manufactured Bushmaster armored vehicles Ukraine specifically requested left Australia Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. In the U.S., Congress was trying to resurrect the World War II-era program to make it easier to provide Ukraine with the desperately needed firepower to repel the Russian invasion.” Read more at USA Today
“A North Carolina man who was one of the leaders of the far-right Proud Boys as they assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts with a minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison, but agreed to cooperate against his co-defendants in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
Court records filed Friday show he has already provided numerous insights into the group’s plans and their intention to disrupt the congressional electoral vote confirmation.
Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, N.C., admitted to both organizing the pro-Trump attack on Congress and assaulting law enforcement officers. Donohoe is the first charged among six of the Proud Boys’ leaders, including longtime chairman Enrique Tarrio, to admit to both organizing an attack on Congress and assaulting law enforcement officers.
Tarrio pleaded not guilty earlier this week to charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and six other felonies. He has been ordered held in jail until trial along with six other defendants.” Read more at Washington Post
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on October 16, 2020 in Southfield, Michigan
“A federal jury on Friday found two men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not guilty of kidnapping conspiracy and a mistrial was declared for two other defendants.
Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta faced federal charges for allegedly conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor.
Harris and Caserta were found not guilty of kidnapping conspiracy. The jury also found Harris not guilty on other charges. The jury could not reach a verdict for Fox and Croft, after which US District Judge Robert Jonker declared a mistrial for those defendants.
All four defendants, who pleaded not guilty, faced up to life in prison if convicted of kidnapping conspiracy.
The indictment alleged that in 2020, six men charged in the case conspired with others to "unlawfully seize, kidnap, abduct and carry away, and hold for ransom and reward" Whitmer. Authorities have said the men were planning to kidnap the Democratic governor from a vacation home and blow up a bridge to delay law enforcement, but they were arrested first.
Two defendants previously pleaded guilty and testified in the trial against the four others.” Read more at CNN
“Will Smith will not be allowed to attend any Academy events, including the Oscars, for 10 years following the actor's conduct at this year's annual awards show, the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences ruled Friday.
‘The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards,’ the organization said in a statement Friday following a hearing to discuss Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.
The news comes a week after Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Rock for making a joke about the appearance of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.” Read more at USA Today
“New York’s Attorney General has asked a court to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt for allegedly failing to comply with a court order that he turn over certain documents for an investigation. In a motion filed yesterday, the office of Attorney General Letitia James said Trump "did not comply at all" with the subpoena for documents and that his attorneys said he would not produce "any" documents in response to the subpoena because his attorneys believe that if the documents exist, the Trump Organization would have them and the attorney general's office "will just have to wait until the Trump Organization completes its production to get them." James is asking the court to impose a fine of $10,000 per day, or whatever amount the court deems sufficient to get Trump to comply. Meanwhile, the criminal investigation into Trump and his company is also continuing as prosecutors review new evidence, the Manhattan district attorney said yesterday.” Read more at CNN
“Medicare will cover the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm only for clinical trials, limiting the reach of a treatment with uncertain benefits and serious risks.” Read more at New York Times
“The SpaceX Axiom-1 mission, the first completely privately funded and crewed mission to the International Space Station , is expected to liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida late Thursday morning after being delayed by two days. According to the Space Force, weather conditions should be about 80% favorable for the launch. Under a deal between NASA and commercial partners SpaceX and Axiom Space, a Houston-based private company that is building its own space station, Axiom-1 will be a first-of-its-kind mission. Former NASA astronaut and current Axiom executive Michael López-Alegría will command the mission and three paying customers – who reportedly shelled out $55 million each – will travel to the ISS for a nine-day stay. The crew is expected to spend about 20 hours in orbit before docking with the ISS on Saturday morning.” Read more at USA Today
“It's more bad news for first-time home buyers: mortgage rates have risen above 5%, up from just under 3% this past summer. The change may seem small, but it can translate to a staggering 55% increase for monthly payments— forcing many buyers to look for smaller homes or give up completely.” Read more at NPR
“(MONTGOMERY, Ala.) — Alabama lawmakers approved sweeping legislation Thursday to outlaw gender-affirming medications for transgender youths, as well as a separate measure setting rules about school bathrooms and prohibiting early classroom instruction on sexual and gender identity — a bill critics have dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay.’
The legislation now goes to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey for her consideration as Alabama becomes the latest red state to seek legislation and policies aimed at trans young people. Ivey, who is running for reelection, has not indicated whether she will sign the measures.” Read more at Time
“COVID-19 rages through Washington: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and other D.C. officials are the latest to test positive in a spur of cases on Capitol Hill.” Read more at USA Today
“New satellite imagery shows signs that North Korea is tunneling again at its underground nuclear test site, raising concerns that the country is preparing another nuclear test, and possibly another missile launch. This comes as North Korea may take "another provocative action" next week in connection with Pyongyang's April 15 holiday celebrating the birthday of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, according to the State Department's special representative for North Korea. The US and its allies believe that North Korea is beginning to prepare for a possible underground nuclear test for the first time since 2017. A number of US officials say North Korea has indeed resumed digging tunnels and construction activities at the underground site, but it currently remains unclear how soon the regime could initiate a test.” Read more at CNN
Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a bill that opponents call “Don’t Say Gay.”Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times, via Associated Press
A new wedge
“For a few years, the battles over L.G.B.T. rights seemed to be fading from the American political scene.
The Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, and most Americans supported the decision. During the past few national campaigns, most Republican politicians — including Donald Trump, who called himself a friend of the gay community — largely ignored L.G.B.T. issues. One of Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, Neil Gorsuch, even wrote the opinion in a 2020 case that protected gay and transgender workers from job discrimination.
But the brief political truce on L.G.B.T. rights appears to be over. In more than a dozen states, Republicans have recently passed laws restricting those rights. In the Senate, Republicans used Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing to call attention to some of the same issues that the new laws cover, even though Jackson’s judicial record had virtually no connection to them. (The Senate confirmed her yesterday.)
What explains the change? Today’s newsletter offers two explanations and also provides an overview of recent L.G.B.T.-related laws across the country.
A new boldness
After Barack Obama won re-election in 2012, the conventional wisdom on both the right and the left was that the Republican Party needed to moderate its approach to social issues to win over younger voters in a diversifying country.
Trump’s 2016 campaign rejected this advice. He instead moved left on economic issues, like trade and Social Security. On some hot-button cultural issues, like crime and immigration, he moved farther right. On others, he showed relatively little interest — but promised cultural and religious conservatives that he would defer to them once he was in the White House.
“Trump’s view was, ‘Give them what they want,’” said our colleague Jeremy Peters, who writes about this history in “Insurgency,” his recent book. “He understood that if he did that, most of all by filling the federal judiciary with conservatives, they would continue to be the cornerstone of his base.” As president, Trump also went back on his pro-L.G.B.T. rhetoric and restricted transgender rights.
Anti-abortion activists in Washington in January.Kenny Holston for The New York Times
This approach has emboldened cultural conservatives on multiple issues, including abortion, gun rights, affirmative action and voting rights. As Stuart Stevens, a longtime Republican strategist and Trump critic, told us, “Many in the party see that they no longer need to pretend and they can go back to voicing what they really believe.”
The new conservative aggressiveness is the first factor that helps explain the recent flurry of laws restricting L.G.B.T. rights. The second factor is the political opportunity that some Republicans now see: They recognize that public opinion on gender identity and transgender rights is more conservative than it is on same-sex marriage.
Some of these issues of gender identity are also unavoidably vexing, involving conflicts between one person’s rights and another’s. For example, should transgender girls always be allowed play girls’ sports — even if male puberty gave them physical strength that provides a competitive advantage? (Some feminists and female athletes say no, and some transgender women are torn.) When should schools start to teach children about gender identity? Should schools be required to tell parents if a child switches gender identity at school?
On several of these questions, Republicans see an opportunity to cast Democrats as out of touch. “The right is using trans identity among kids as the wedge,” says our colleague Emily Bazelon, who writes about legal issues.
Bazelon points out that this political strategy relies partly on lies that seem intended to stoke fear and hatred. In Florida, for example, some Republicans have falsely suggested that schools’ lessons about sexuality are really an attempt to “groom” students.
Our summary of the recent laws follows.
‘Don’t say gay’
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill last week that bans instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. The bill also contains vague wording that opponents worry could lead to broader restrictions, effectively trying to erase L.G.B.T. Americans from school lessons.
One example: The law’s preamble calls for “prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.” That phrase has led to opponents’ nickname for the law: “Don’t Say Gay.”
Alabama lawmakers are considering a similar law.
Gender-affirming care
Three states — Arkansas, Arizona, and Texas — have enacted policies limiting gender-affirming treatments (which can involve surgery, hormones, speech therapy and other steps) for children.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has required teachers and other adults to report parents they suspect are providing such care to their children. Abbott has also ordered state officials to investigate parents for child abuse in these cases, although a judge has blocked the order for now.
The Alabama Legislature passed a similar bill yesterday. If the governor signs it, the law would threaten doctors and nurses with up to 10 years in prison.
The American Medical Association has described these measures as “a dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine.” Azeen Ghorayshi explained some of the difficult choices that families and doctors face in a recent Times article.
Girls’ sports
In the past three years, governors in 13 states — including Arizona, Iowa, Montana and West Virginia — have enacted laws that restrict transgender women and girls from playing female sports in public schools. In several states, though, governors — both Republicans and Democrats — have vetoed such laws.
One was Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, who said that the law unfairly targeted a tiny number of transgender children “looking to find a sense of connection and community” through sports. Most could compete without causing any unfairness to other athletes, he added. For the rare cases with legitimate questions about safety or fairness, Cox favored creating a commission to make decisions.
The Utah Legislature overrode his veto last month and enacted the law. After the original bill passed the State Senate, Cox appeared on television and spoke directly to transgender children. “Look, we care about you,” he said. “We love you. It’s going to be OK.” Read more at New York Times
“New truck drivers for Walmart will now be offered an increased starting pay range between $95,000 and $110,000, a move that follows severe trucker shortages during the pandemic as freight demand soars.” Read more at USA Today
“Easter egg prices are expected to keep climbing as more states are hit by H5N1 bird flu. Because it’s standard to eliminate infected and exposed birds to curb the virus, there are fewer egg-laying hens to meet the upcoming demand.” Read more at USA Today
Because it’s standard to eliminate infected and exposed birds to stop bird flu, there are fewer egg-laying hens to meet the upcoming demand for festive holiday eggs.Reviewed.com
“Tiger Woods will return Friday for the second round of the Masters after a promising start in Round 1 Thursday. Woods finished with a 1-under 71 in his first competitive round of golf since he nearly lost his right leg after a near-fatal car crash less than 14 months ago. Woods looked comfortable through 18 holes, despite nursing a small limp. Heading into Day 2 of the tournament, Woods is tied for 10th place, four strokes behind Sungjae Im at the top of the leaderboard sitting at 5-under. Cam Smith is currently in second place after he shot 4-under 68. Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson is among those tied for third after he shot a 3-under 69 in Round 1. Woods is scheduled to tee off for Round 2 at 1:41 p.m. ET Friday.” Read more at USA Today
Tiger Woods reacts to his putt on the 15th green during the first round of the Masters on Thursday, April 7, 2022.Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
“Serena Williams revealed the harrowing experience she had after giving birth to her daughter Olympia in 2017 that put her perilously close to death.” Read more at USA Today
Serena Williams holds her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. and the championship trophy after winning the 2020 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.Chris Symes, AP
“Two of the 22 plaintiffs who have sued NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson and accused him of sexual misconduct have added negligence claims to lawsuits over massages.” Read more at USA Today
“Two penises, six legs: A dog with a unique body wasn't expected to survive -- but now he's healthy and has a new home.” Read more at USA Today
“Pink Floyd released its first new music in almost three decades early Friday with the goal to raise money for the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund. ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ features Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, with vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band BoomBox. The track features Khlyvnyuk singing a patriotic Ukrainian song from a clip he recorded in front of St. Sophia Cathedral in Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv and posted on social media. After Russia's invasion, Khlyvnyuk cut short a tour of the U.S. to return to Ukraine and join a territorial defense unit. As The Guardian notes, Pink Floyd last released original new music in 1994 with ‘The Division Bell.’ Gilmour and Mason did reconvene to turn outtakes from ‘The Division Bell’ into 2014's predominantly instrumental ‘The Endless River’ as a tribute to the band's keyboard player Rick Wright, who died from cancer in 2008.” Read more at USA Today
Fireworks go off at Nationals Park in Washington before the Nationals' home opener against the New York Mets on Thursday, April 7, 2022. The visiting Mets defeated the Nationals 5-1 in the first game of the 2022 season.Brad Mills, USA TODAY Sports
“It was Opening Day in Major League Baseball Thursday and seven games kicked off the 2022 season, a week later than originally anticipated.
The league introduced some new looks as the team in Cleveland took the field for the first time as the rechristened Guardians. Also, the National League moved full-time into the realm of the designated hitter.
Baseball fans also got to see some familiar sights as stars Nolan Arenado, Juan Soto and Alex Bregman were among those who slugged home runs. Also, reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani took the loss in his first appearance as a starting pitcher, but struck out nine.” Read more at USA Today