The Full Belmonte, 5/30/2022
President Biden and Jill Biden at Robb Elementary School yesterday.Cheriss May for The New York Times
“President Biden and the first lady met with victims’ families in Uvalde, Texas. Some of them expressed frustration with Washington’s inaction.” Read more at New York Times
“The Justice Department is reviewing the delayed police response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead in one of the worst campus attacks in U.S. history. The federal action was requested by Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said. ‘The goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events,’ Coley said. Last week, state police officials outlined a damning account of law enforcement inaction in which authorities waited more than an hour before storming adjoining classrooms at Robb Elementary School to take out the 18-year-old gunman, even as children made repeated 911 calls pleading for help.” Read more at USA Today
Cover: The New York Times
“The cover of today's New York Times Sunday Review, from the Opinion section, repeats this sentence 15 times:
Authorities said the gunman was able to obtain the weapon legally.
Under each, a different city and toll: Uvalde, 21 killed ... Buffalo, 10 killed ... El Paso, 23 killed ... Las Vegas, 60 killed ... Orlando, 49 killed.
Pragmatic prescription ... Former N.Y. Times columnist Nick Kristof advises ‘concrete steps, based on nerdy evidence-gathering, based on hard conversations with people we disagree with’:
‘This will be painful for many of my fellow liberals, but I suggest that we work harder to engage centrists, talk about 'gun safety' rather than 'gun control,' and jump into the weeds.’
One example: ‘The suspects in both the Texas and the Buffalo shootings were only 18,’ Kristof writes.
‘In Wyoming, one of the most pro-gun states in America, the minimum age to buy a handgun is 21. ... If we say that teenagers can’t buy a beer, isn’t it worth having a conversation about whether they should be able to buy Glock 19 handguns and AR-15-style rifles?’
Others: Bar ‘purchases by someone with a recent misdemeanor conviction for drug or alcohol abuse, for violence, or for stalking’ ... ‘allow guns to be removed from someone who is undergoing a mental health crisis or subject to a domestic violence protection order’... universal background checks to buy a gun.” Read more at Axios
“After recent mass shootings, an old debate is back: Would disseminating graphic images of the results of gun violence jolt the nation’s leadership into action?” Read more at New York Times
This is how the 78 long minutes of the shooting unfolded.” Read more at New York Times
“The Ukrainian army is mounting a counterattack to reclaim territory around Kherson, a southern port city that was the first to fall in the invasion.” Read more at New York Times
“Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, made a rare journey outside Kyiv, visiting frontline troops in the northeast.” Read more at New York Times
“European leaders will discuss more sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo, in Brussels this week.” Read more at New York Times
Photo: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
A visitor's silhouette on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during a Memorial Day weekend event.
“Americans will observe Memorial Day on Monday, a holiday that honors members of the U.S. military who died during service to the nation. Unlike Veterans Day, which honors all military members, Memorial Day honors those who have died in while serving in U.S. forces. Memorial Day was declared a national holiday through an act of Congress in 1971, and its roots date back to the Civil War era, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The origins of the holiday can be traced back to local observances for soldiers with neglected gravesites during the Civil War. The day that we celebrate Memorial Day is believed to be influenced by Illinois U.S. Representative John A. Logan, who believed Memorial Day should occur when flowers are in full bloom across the country, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Army.” Read more at USA Today
“Memorial Day travelers may want to double-check their plans after a chaotic start to the summer travel season over the weekend. Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed since Friday, including 900 on Sunday morning, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware. Friday and Saturday combined saw more than 2,800 flight cancellations. Delta Air Lines, which eliminated 9% of its flights Saturday, blamed the situation on bad weather and ‘air traffic control actions’ and said it was trying to give customers at least 24 hours notice for cancellations. The travel industry expects huge demand this summer as coronavirus restrictions have been rolled back.” Read more at USA Today
Satellite image of Hermits Peak wildfire in Las Vegas, N.M., on May 11. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AP
“Incredibly, it turns out two fires that merged to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history both started as planned burns set by the U.S. Forest Service as preventive measures.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement: ‘The pain and suffering of New Mexicans caused by the actions of the U.S. Forest Service — an agency that is intended to be a steward of our lands — is unfathomable.’
Axios' Russell Contreras, who lives in New Mexico, tells me: The U.S. Forest Service has long been considered an enemy by many in New Mexico, especially Hispanic ranchers who have been here for generations.
Forest Service officials control grazing and water policy, and are the de facto police in rural, isolated areas.
They also do these burns, which are needed to get rid of brush. But they do it at the wrong times — the Land of Enchantment has been in severe and extreme drought.
Zoom out: The 500-square-mile wildfire has destroyed 330 homes — and displaced thousands of residents from rural villages with Spanish-colonial roots and high poverty rates, while unleashing untold environmental damage.” Read more at Axios
“Twitter in the US must pay a $150m (£119m) fine after law enforcement officials accused it of illegally using users' data to help sell targeted ads.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice say Twitter violated an agreement it had with regulators, court documents showed.
Twitter had vowed to not give personal information like phone numbers and email addresses to advertisers.
Federal investigators say the social media company broke those rules.
The FTC is an independent agency of the US government whose mission is the enforcement of anti-trust law and the promotion of consumer protection.
It accuses Twitter of breaching a 2011 FTC order that explicitly prohibited the company from misrepresenting its privacy and security practices.” Read more at BBC
“Sky watchers, get ready — a meteor shower called tau Herculids could be a spectacular show of shooting stars Monday night and early Tuesday morning. The meteor shower’s peak activity is expected at 1 a.m. ET Tuesday. It's possible the event could be a dud if the cloud of fragments misses the Earth, but Joe Rao from Space.com noted the shower has the potential to be one of the most dramatic meteor displays in over 20 years. For ideal viewing of the night sky, experts suggest moving away from city lights, allowing yourself 15 to 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust and being patient. It could be worth the wait!” Read more at USA Today
Image caption, Nancy and Paul Pelosi have been married since 1963
“The husband of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving in California.
Paul Pelosi was held after his Porsche was involved in a collision with another vehicle in Napa County on Saturday night.
No-one was injured and the other driver was not arrested.
Eighty-two-year-old Mr Pelosi was charged with two misdemeanours and had his bail set at $5,000.
He is not listed as being currently in custody.
The California Highway Patrol said Mr Pelosi had been attempting to cross State Route-29 when his car was struck by a 48-year-old man driving a Jeep.
California law states drivers cannot operate a vehicle if their blood alcohol level is more than 0.08%. Authorities have not said what Mr Pelosi's level was.
Mrs Pelosi was delivering an address at Brown University when the incident happened.” Read more at BBC
Image caption, There have been persistent rumours in recent weeks about Mr Putin's health
“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied speculation that President Vladimir Putin is ill.
In an interview with French TV, Mr Lavrov said the Russian leader appears in public every day, and no sane person would see any signs of an ailment.
There has been increasing unconfirmed media speculation that Mr Putin, who turns 70 this year, may be suffering from ill health, possibly cancer.
The interview came as Russia continues its advance in Ukraine's Donbas region.
Mr Lavrov said the ‘liberation’ of the eastern region was an ‘unconditional priority’ for Russia.
He repeated the Kremlin's widely discredited line that Russia is fighting a ‘neo-Nazi regime’.” Read more at BBC
“Colombian upset | A 77-year-old populist who took his anti-corruption message to voters via social-media platforms including TikTok defied the polls to make it through to June’s presidential runoff. Rodolfo Hernandez, a construction magnate whose other policies remain largely unclear, squeezed out the main conservative candidate to place second to Gustavo Petro, 62, a leftist former mayor of Bogota who wants to end Colombia’s dependence on oil and coal.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Failing climate | Climate-aid pledges by industrialized nations are worthless, according to the leader of Seychelles, an Indian Ocean archipelago threatened by rising sea levels. Promises made at the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow in November have not been met and his expectations for this year’s COP27 event are low, President Wavel Ramkalawan said in an interview.” Read more at Bloomberg
Image caption, The wreckage of a Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air, was strewn on a mountainside in Mustang a day after it crashed
“Rescuers in Nepal have so far recovered 14 bodies from the crash site of a small plane carrying 22 people, an airport official said on Monday.
The wreckage of the plane, operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air, was recovered in Mustang district in northern Nepal.
The passenger plane was on a 20-minute flight when it lost contact with air traffic control five minutes before it was due to land.
The search is ongoing for the remaining passengers, an official said.” Read more at BBC
“In the five years since Park Ji-hyun’s 21st birthday, the South Korean activist has busted an online sex crime ring, published a memoir, and become a senior adviser to a leading presidential candidate. Now, Park has been named interim co-chair of the Democratic Party and become a lodestar for millions of South Korean women enraged by a rash of high-profile sexual harassment and violence against women — and the gender politics of newly elected president Yoon Suk Yeol.” Read more at Bloomberg
Park Ji-hyun. Photographer: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg
“Agatha, the first named storm of the eastern Pacific season, is expected to make landfall along the southern coast of Mexico on Monday after becoming a "rapidly intensifying" hurricane Sunday morning, the National Hurricane Center said. Maximum sustained winds were near 110 mph and were expected to intensify until landfall Monday. Hurricane Agatha is the earliest first hurricane in the eastern North Pacific since 2015, Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University, wrote on Twitter. The hurricane comes as federal forecasters expect yet another busy Atlantic hurricane season in 2022: As many as 10 hurricanes could form, meteorologists said last week. The Atlantic season begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.” Read more at USA Today
Image caption, Sidhu Moose Wala was killed near his village in Punjab state
“The murder of a singer in the northern Indian state of Punjab, a day after his security cover was trimmed, has sparked outrage.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moose Wala, was shot by unidentified people while he was travelling in the state's Mansa district on Sunday evening. He was 28.
Two others were injured in the attack.
The murder led to a political storm in the state, with opposition leaders criticising the government and police.
State police chief VK Bhawra had said on Sunday that a Canada-based gangster had claimed responsibility for the attack.
But Moose Wala's family demanded an apology from Mr Bhawra for linking theth to gang rivalry without a proper investigation.” Read more at BBC
MIAMI — Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka offered that the Celtics ‘need to take the harder route at times.’
That’s a truth.
After a wasting an opportunity to finish off the Miami Heat at home in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics blew a 17-point second quarter lead and gave the worn-down Heat a glimmer of hope.
This time, the Celtics finished the job, holding off Miami and Jimmy Butler with a 100-96 victory in Game 7 on Sunday.
Jimmy Butler, who was fantastic once again, missed a 3-pointer with 16.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter that could have given the Heat a 99-98 lead.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum earned the first Larry Bird Trophy, given to the MVP of the East finals. He had 26 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal in the series finale.” Read more at USA Today
The Orlando Museum of Art’s director with “Untitled (Industry Insider).”Melanie Metz for The New York Times
“The F.B.I. will investigate the authenticity of 25 Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings on display at the Orlando Museum of Art.” Read more at New York Times
Image caption, Tom Cruise has returned as Maverick in the sequel to Top Gun
“The new Top Gun movie has given Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise his first $100 million (£79m) opening weekend at the box office.
Top Gun: Maverick sees him reprise his role as US navy pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell from the original 1986 film.
In its first three days in North American theatres, the sequel earned an estimated $124 million (£98m) in ticket sales, Paramount Pictures said Sunday.
Worldwide, that figure is raised to an estimated $248 million (196m).” Read more at BBC
“Marcus Ericsson won the 106th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday after a wild finish thanks to rookie Jimmie Johnson — yes, him — crashing with six laps to go. Ericsson’s win was doubly impressive after fending off multiple pass attempts from second-place Pato O’Ward in the final laps of the race.
Johnson’s performance was impressive up until the crash, and he was uninjured in the accident. On the topic of the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion,, I must issue a slight correction for Friday’s newsletter: Johnson was clearly driving IndyCar, not F1. Apologies for the mistake.” Read more at The Athletic
“Lives Lived: Ronnie Hawkins brought turbocharged rockabilly music to roadhouses from Arkansas to Canada. But his greatest claim to fame might be his backup musicians, who went on to form the Band. Hawkins died at 87.” Read more at New York Times