The Full Belmonte, 7/19/2022
A family member holds a portrait of shooting victim Jackie Cazares as she is hugged following a school board meeting in Uvalde, Texas, on Monday night.
“Angry parents and residents impacted by the Uvalde elementary school massacre confronted the school board on Monday and called for the district's police chief to be fired. Parents also questioned what new safety measures will be put in place, adding some children aren't ready to return to class. Monday's meeting came one day after a Texas House investigative committee released a preliminary report outlining a series of failures by law enforcement agencies in their response to the shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. The district's superintendent said the board is taking the report into consideration to determine whether to terminate police chief Pedro ‘Pete’ Arredondo, who is currently on administrative leave. Separately, Monday marked the start of the penalty phase of the criminal trial of the Parkland school shooter who killed 14 students and three adults in 2018. Prosecutors asked the panel of jurors to sentence the shooter to death, while his attorneys asked for a sentence of life in prison.” Read more at CNN
“Students in the Dallas Independent School District, the state's second-largest, will be required to wear clear or mesh backpacks to school in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting. The district will provide a clear backpack to each student before the year begins.
A member of the Texas House committee investigating the Uvalde shooting says he hopes the panel's report helps lawmakers improve policy going forward — particularly when it comes to gun control.” Read more at NPR
The 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan ended in chaos, with Afghans desperate to escape Kabul last August on the final flights from the city's airport.
PHOTO: WAKIL KOHSAR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“The Pentagon is reviewing an assessment of the military’s role in the Afghanistan conflict but hasn’t decided if parts of the highly classified report will be released, according to people familiar with the issue
So far, none of the after-action reports has been disclosed, preventing a public accounting of the administration’s decision-making and execution, particularly in the conflict’s final days. The results of the internal reviews are politically fraught as midterm elections approach in November. President Biden has been criticized for his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
This photo — taken today in Pyla-sur-Mer, France — shows smoke rising from a forest fire. Thousands have evacuated. Photo: Thibaud Moritz/AFP via Getty Images
“More than 1,000 people have died in Spain and Portugal from the record heat wave moving through Europe.
The true death toll likely won't be known for weeks or longer, due to the difficulty in counting deaths in a heat event, Axios' Ivana Saric reports.
Life-threatening conditions also swept over Britain and France, which are experiencing all-time national temperature records.
A preliminary peak temperature in France of 108.68°F was recorded in Biscarrosse, according to the French meteorological service.
More than 31,000 people have fled wildfires in France.
The big picture: This is a climate change-related public health emergency. Severe heat waves are of particular concern in Europe as they can often prove extremely deadly due to the lack of air conditioning, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.
The heat wave is wreaking havoc on travel, as railways and tarmacs aren't designed to withstand abnormally high temperatures.
A police officer gives water to a British soldier on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace today. Photo: Matt Dunham/AP
Axios' Kerry Flynn, who's traveling in London, said she spent the day with ‘lights off, windows shut, fan on.’
Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern showed a map with a dark-red patch. He noted that color had never been used before because Britain has ‘never seen temperatures as high as this.’” Read more at Axios
“The East Coast main line from London to Edinburgh will be shut for much of today because it can’t cope with temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit). Rail links are among the casualties of a record heatwave across much of the UK that has seen airport runways melt and infrastructure buckle. Passengers on some London Underground lines have had to endure temperatures higher than those allowed to transport cattle.” Read more at Bloomberg
A sign at London Bridge station reminds commuters to stay hydrated during a heatwave in London yesterday. Photographer: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg
Steve Bannon’s trial over defying the subpoena by the Jan. 6 House committee began with jury selection.
“The former Trump strategist faces two counts of contempt, each of which carries a potential penalty of a maximum one year in prison and fines. His legal team repeatedly asked to postpone the trial, arguing that publicity around the recent Jan. 6 committee hearings would taint potential jurors. Just over a week ago, Bannon made a last-minute offer to testify to the panel, preferably at a public hearing because his ex-boss recently waived executive privilege. Prosecutors had disputed Bannon’s privilege claim.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“ATLANTA — Representative Jody Hice revealed on Monday that he had been subpoenaed in an ongoing criminal investigation by prosecutors in Georgia into election interference by Donald J. Trump and his allies.
It is unclear what kind of information prosecutors are seeking, but Mr. Hice, a Republican, has been one of the most conspicuous proponents of false claims that Mr. Trump was the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Hice, whose district is east of Atlanta, is seeking to challenge the subpoena in federal court, arguing in a new legal filing that his status as a congressman gives him special protections from state proceedings. He has been a stalwart ally of Mr. Trump and led a January 2021 challenge in the House of Representatives to the certification of Georgia’s electors. Earlier this year, he lost a Trump-backed primary challenge to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who has had a fractious relationship with the former president.” Read more at New York Times
“Dr. Anthony Fauci, 81, says he plans to retire by the end of President Biden's current term, which ends in January 2025. He's been in his current job since 1984 — 38 years. Read more at Axios
Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
“Demand for abortion pills is soaring as states move to ban or restrict access, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez writes.
Hey Jane, a U.S. telemedicine startup specializing in abortion pills, told Axios that in the days after Roe was overturned, its site traffic ‘grew almost 10x and patient demand more than doubled’ from May.
How it works: While telehealth organizations in the U.S. need to follow state laws and work in states without restrictions, those overseas are able to dodge U.S. authorities and mail pills to more restrictive states.
Rebecca Gomperts, founder of the India-based Aid Access, told NBC News that after the court's decision, the site has received 4,000 requests for pills a day, up from 600–700 a day before the ruling.
The big picture: Even before Roe's fall, almost half of U.S. states had laws in place that made it illegal to access pills via mail.” Read more at Axios
“Democrats pivot to same-sex marriage
Congress has its hands full this week as the House pushes ahead with a vote to codify same-sex marriage and Senate Democrats continue to wonder what to do about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) amid a last-gasp effort to pass a budget reconciliation bill of any type.
For the second time in less than a week, House Democrats are focusing on responses to the Supreme Court as the chamber will vote on a pair of bills: the Respect for Marriage Act, aimed at protecting same-sex marriages, and the Right to Contraception Act, which would cement the ability to obtain contraceptives.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats have framed the vote as a rejection of Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinion in last month’s ruling striking down Roe v. Wade that the court should reexamine those two items as rights.
‘This week, the House will pass two more bills to protect freedom in our nation, as extremist Justices and lawmakers take aim at more of our basic rights,’ Pelosi said in a note to House Democrats on Monday.
‘Our Right to Contraception Act will preserve the essential protections found in Griswold v. Connecticut. Our Respect for Marriage Act – which, proudly, is bipartisan and bicameral – will defend the right to marry whomever you love, as found in Obergefell v. Hodges and Loving v. Virginia,’ she added.
The Respect for Marriage Act is set to be voted on today, with the contraceptives vote expected later this week (The Hill).
House Democrats last week approved two measures that push back against the court’s ruling to turn abortion over to the states. Both bills are unlikely to advance because of the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle.
The future of the two bills being voted on tonight, however, is more murky. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday projected optimism that there could be a path forward on the two bills in the upper chamber despite a likely steep climb.
The Hill: House Democrats tout bill to add four seats to Supreme Court.
The Washington Post: Abortion fight moves to terrain least favorable to Republicans.
The Hill: Vice President Harris says rights under assault from ‘extremist so-called leaders.’
Across the Capitol hallways, Manchin on Monday maintained that he has not walked away from talks on a reconciliation package including a climate and tax agreement.
However, some Senate Democrats appear ready to do just that as they turn the page on that effort and have refocused on a proposal aimed at lowering prescription drug costs and extending Affordable Care Act subsidies for two years.
Faced with a choice of passing a scaled-down package or gambling on a climate bill and potentially walking away empty-handed, Democrats are prepared to get a small win after a year of being burned by talks with the West Virginia centrist that have landed them in the current awkward situation.
‘I’d go with the former rather than the latter,’ said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) (Politico).
The anger within the Senate Democratic caucus reached the point where multiple members have questioned why Manchin is still the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), however, has not gone near that line, as he still needs Manchin’s support on key votes throughout the rest of the year at least. Durbin on Monday swatted away chatter about revoking Manchin’s chairmanship, telling reporters that Democrats shouldn’t risk their majority by ‘purging our ranks.’
Adding to the drama, Schumer continues to hold out hope that the moderate Democrat will seek a third term in 2024 in the deep-red state.
As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, other Democrats are trying to make the best of the situation and have urged President Biden to use his pen to deal with climate provisions. They have also reminded themselves that the Trump-era tax cuts are due to expire in 2025.
The Hill: White House pushes for health-only budget reconciliation package.
The Washington Post: Biden could declare climate emergency as soon as this week.
The New York Times: How Manchin left a global tax deal in limbo.
The Hill: How states could play a key role in the climate fight with Congress stalled.
Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, The Washington Post: Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) eruption at Manchin highlights a deeper party difference.
On the investigative side, a pair of former Trump administration officials will headline Thursday’s primetime hearing before the Jan. 6 committee. Matthew Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser who was in the West Wing on Jan. 6, 2021, and Sarah Matthews, a former press aide, will publicly testify to the panel about former President Trump’s lack of an effort to quell the riot at the Capitol. Both individuals resigned following the attack.
Both Pottinger and Matthews have sat for meetings behind closed doors with the committee. Snippets of their testimony have been shown at prior hearings. At one point, Pottinger testified that he told then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that the National Guard was not yet at the Capitol, and that the former North Carolina lawmaker said he had made a number of calls to the Pentagon to do so (The New York Times).
Matthews, who was also in the West Wing on the day of, is expected to discuss the efforts to have Trump release a statement during those crucial hours. Testimony given two weeks ago by then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone is also expected to be used throughout the hearing.” Read more at The Hill
“The U.S. Navy announced punishments on Friday to more than 20 sailors for their connection to the fire aboard the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard that destroyed the warship, injured more than 60 military and civilian firefighters, and took four days to extinguish at a San Diego naval base in July 2020.
The punishments against the sailors are separate from criminal proceedings against Navy Seaman Apprentice Ryan Sawyer Mays, who was charged with arson in the disaster. He faces a hearing on Aug. 17, with his trial expected to run Sept. 19 through Sept. 30.
Although Seaman Mays was accused of deliberately starting the fire, the findings of an investigation released by the Navy in October 2021 revealed that the damage could have been lessened had naval officers been better prepared. ‘The ship was lost due to an inability to extinguish the fire,’ the report said. The investigation cited inadequate training, improper oversight and a failure to properly maintain equipment as reasons for the total loss of the ship.” Read more at New York Times
“Amazon is taking legal action against the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups, the BBC has learned.
It says the groups are generating fake reviews on Amazon marketplaces in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
The tech giant says the groups offer money or free goods in exchange for reviews being posted on Amazon.
One of the groups, removed earlier this year by Facebook's parent company Meta, had 43,000 members.
It was called ‘Amazon Product Review’.
Once the people in the group had purchased selected products and left their reviews, the administrators would refund them. A wide range of goods was involved, including car stereos and camera tripods.” Read more at BBC
“Gasoline for less than $4 a gallon is back, at least in some areas. Nearly 1 in 5 gas stations is charging under the $4 mark for a gallon of regular gas, according to a recent survey. That's about 24,000 stations nationwide, mostly in the Southeast and in oil patch states like Texas and Oklahoma. While the news is somewhat positive, this could be more of an intermission, according to energy experts. Overall, the national average has fallen 10%, or 50 cents, since hitting the record high of $5.02 a gallon seven weeks ago -- but it's still at a high mark of $4.52 a gallon. All 50 states have an average price of more than $4, with South Carolina at the cheapest average of $4.02. California, on the other hand, has the highest average at $5.90 a gallon.” Read more at CNN
“TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran starting Tuesday is intended to deepen ties with regional heavyweights as part of Moscow’s challenge to the United States and Europe amid its grinding campaign in Ukraine.
In only his second trip abroad since Russian tanks rolled into its neighbor in February, Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the pressing issues facing the region, including the conflict in Syria and a U.N.-backed proposal to resume exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the global food crisis.
As the West heaps sanctions on Russia and the costly campaign drags on, Putin is seeking to bolster ties with Tehran, a fellow target of severe U.S. sanctions and a potential military and trade partner. In recent weeks, Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice to review Tehran’s weapons-capable drones for possible use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.” Read more at AP News
“Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, will meet with US first lady Jill Biden today as part of her high-profile trip to the United States. Biden and Zelenska first met in person in May when Biden made a stealth trip to Ukraine. During their one-hour closed meeting, Zelenska shared with Biden her concerns for the emotional health of Ukrainian children. The meeting today comes as Ukrainian officials say an influx of Western weapons is shifting the balance on the battlefield and allowing Ukraine to inflict ‘significant losses’ on the Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. CNN has identified nearly 20 strikes far behind Russian lines so far this month -- some of them causing large explosions and multiple detonations.” Read more at CNN
“Bolsonaro’s election ploy. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gathered dozens of foreign diplomats at his presidential palace on Monday to lecture them over supposed vulnerabilities in the country’s electronic voting systems. The event is the latest attempt by Bolsonaro to discredit Brazil’s election system ahead of October presidential elections, which he is forecast to lose. Shortly after the meeting, the head of Brazil’s electoral body—without mentioning Bolsonaro—criticized those spreading ‘disinformation’ about alleged election interference.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It began with a message that appeared on Danah al-Mayouf’s phone from an anonymous Instagram account — a promise to help her “crush” a $5 million lawsuit she faced from a pro-government Saudi fashion model.
But, the mystery texter said, she had to meet him in person.
It was December 2019, a year after the killing and dismemberment of prominent U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and al-Mayouf feared possibly being kidnapped and taken back to the kingdom like others.
‘I can’t meet someone I don’t know,’ al-Mayouf ultimately responded. ‘Especially with all the kidnappings and killings.’
Now, she’s glad she didn’t go. U.S. federal prosecutors have arrested the man behind the messages, 42-year-old Ibrahim Alhussayen, on charges of lying to federal officials about using the fake account to harass and threaten Saudi critics — mostly women — living in the U.S. and Canada.” Read more at AP News
“BANGKOK (AP) — Cybersecurity researchers reported details Monday of cases where Thai activists involved in the country’s pro-democracy protests had their cell phones or other devices infected and attacked with government-sponsored spyware.
Investigators of the internet watchdog groups Citizen Lab, Thailand’s Internet Law Reform Dialogue, or iLaw, and Digital Reach said at least 30 individuals — including activists, scholars and people working with civil society groups — were targeted by an unnamed government entity or entities for surveillance with Pegasus, a spyware produced by the Israeli-based cybersecurity company NSO Group.
The reports from the two groups named many of those targeted, confirming earlier reports of the surveillance, which John Scott-Railton of Citizen Lab said shows that governments are exploiting their ability to buy technologies designed to fight crime and terrorism to spy on critics and other private citizens.” Read more at AP News
Nic Coury /AFP via Getty Images
“The iconic grove of giant and ancient sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park is no longer under threat from the Washburn wildfire. Foresters and ecologists say a half-century of intentional burning or ''prescribed fire'' practices have dramatically reduced forest fuel, allowing the blaze to pass through the grove with the trees unscathed.” Read more at NPR
“Lives Lived: Claes Oldenburg’s monumental sculptures gave everyday items — a clothespin, a spoon, a tube of lipstick — a sense of scale once reserved for the sacred. ‘We do invest religious emotion in our objects,’ he once said. Oldenburg died at 93.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Spoonbridge and Cherry” at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.Credit...Ben Garvin for The New York Times
The Washington Nationals' Juan Soto won yesterday's All-Star Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium. Photo: Abbie Parr/AP
“Lots of fans — and players — will be rooting for a tie after nine innings at the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium tonight, AP's Ronald Blum writes.
In that case, a Home Run Derby will decide whether the winner is the National or American league.
How it works: Three players from each league would take three swings apiece to decide the final result.
With the All-Star Home Run Derby always popular the night before the game, Major League Baseball decided to make a slugging showcase part of the Midsummer Classic.” Read more at Axios
“NEW YORK (AP) — Don McLean has listened for decades as people belted out his classic song ‘American Pie’ at last call or at karaoke — and applauds you for the effort.
‘I’ve heard whole bars burst into this song when I’ve been across the room,’ McLean tells The Associated Press from a tour bus heading to Des Moines, Iowa. ‘And they’re so happy singing it that I realized, ‘You don’t really have to worry about how well you sing this song anymore. Even sung badly, people are really happy with it.’’
Happy might be a bit of an understatement. ‘American Pie’ is considered a masterpiece, voted among the top five Songs of the Century compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
McLean — and his singular tune about ‘the day the music died’ — are now the subject of a full-length feature documentary, ‘The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s ‘American Pie,’ airing Tuesday on Paramount+.” Read more at AP News