The Full Belmonte, 7/27/2022
The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, on January 11, 2020.
Covid-19
“New studies conclude that animals sold at a seafood market in Wuhan, China, are most likely what started the Covid-19 pandemic. In June, the World Health Organization recommended that scientists continue to research all possible origins of the coronavirus outbreak, including a lab leak. In one of the new studies published Tuesday, researchers determined that the earliest Covid-19 cases were centered at the Wuhan market among vendors who sold live animals or people who shopped there. Another study said the first animal-to-human transmission probably happened around November 18, 2019, and that an early version of the virus was found only in people who had a direct connection to the Wuhan market. Meanwhile, authorities in Wuhan today shut down a district of about 1 million people after detecting four asymptomatic Covid cases. All restaurant dining, entertainment venues, places of worship, and public transportation have been suspended for at least three days as ‘temporary control measures,’ the government said.” Read more at CNN
“Following eight public hearings held by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a new CNN poll shows the hearings haven't changed opinions much. About 79% of respondents believe former President Donald Trump acted unethically in trying to hold on to his office after the 2020 election. All told, the poll finds that 69% of Americans consider the January 6 attack to be a crisis or major problem for American democracy. That's up slightly from 65% earlier this year. This comes as the House select committee released new testimony on Tuesday from Trump's former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller. In the video deposition, Miller said Trump never gave him a formal order to have 10,000 troops ready to be deployed to the Capitol to intervene during the violence. Trump had previously said he requested thousands of National Guard troops be ready for January 6 because he felt ‘that the crowd was going to be very large.’” Read more at CNN
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“This week, Congress is looking to pass legislation on everything from lowering the cost of prescription drugs to investing in US technologybefore the scheduled House recess in August.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Yasmeen Abutaleb and Mike DeBonis
‘The Senate voted 64 to 32 to advance a $280 billion bill subsidizing chip manufacturing and funding science research and advanced tech.
The package would boost domestic chip production, seen by the White House and leaders in both parties as critical to the U.S. supply chain and national security, as most semiconductors are imported from overseas. Shortages have also pushed up prices for cars and other goods. Critics say big semiconductor makers don’t need the financial help. A final vote is expected later this week, and then the House must approve the measure.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Senate Democrats are also weighing a slimmed-down Build Back Better bill that will allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of some prescription drugs and extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.” [Vox] Read more at Wall Street Journal / Siobhan Hughes
“The Senate may also vote on legislation protecting same-sex marriage (which passed the House last week) if Democrats can find 10 GOP senators to support it.” [Vox] Read more at The Hill / Mychael Schnell
“Also left on the docket: approving Sweden and Finland for NATO membership, a ban on assault weapons, and bills to help the West counter wildfires.” [Vox] Read more at NBC News / Scott Wong and Sahil Kapur
“Time is short: recess begins in a week and a half. Congressional Democrats hope to capitalize on their slim majority to accomplish their legislative agenda before this year’s midterm elections.” [Vox] Read more at Politico / Burgess Everett
Donald Trump and Mike Pence were less than a mile apart yesterday.Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times; Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via Shutterstock
“Donald Trump and Mike Pence, potential rivals in the 2024 presidential race, gave competing speeches to conservative audiences in Washington.” Read more at New York Times
“TRUMP RETURNS TO WASHINGTON — When DONALD TRUMP arrived in Washington five-plus years ago and delivered his inaugural address, he spoke of ‘American carnage’ and used dark language (‘rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones,’ ‘disrepair and decay,’ etc.) in previewing his first term as president.
But that vision was positively sunny compared to the dark-as-Vantablack outlook he shared Tuesday at the America First Agenda Summit — the clearest articulation yet of his likely 2024 message.
Calling the U.S. ‘a cesspool of crime,’ Trump spoke of an America whose ‘streets are riddled with needles and soaked with the blood of innocent victims.’
He warned of ‘sadists who prey on children’ and ‘drugged-out lunatics [who] attack innocent victims at random,’ and said ‘the dangerously deranged roam our streets with impunity.’
He spoke of violent gangs ‘laughing as they bludgeoned the life from their helpless victims,’ of a woman being repeatedly ‘stabbed … [and] bleeding to death in her own bathtub,’ of another man being ‘bludgeoned, absolutely bludgeoned and shot,’ of another woman who was ‘raped, murdered and set on fire,’ of Americans being ‘beaten to death to uphold the left’s vision’ of law and order.
He said that other nations were ‘emptying their jails into the United States,’ likened our country to ‘a dumping ground ,’ called for the death penalty for drug traffickers and specifically said the U.S. should emulate China’s criminal justice system with its ‘two-hour’ ‘quick trials’ for defendants.
He went on for another 50 minutes after that, with a long transphobic riff that included an imitation of a trans weightlifter, recounting MS-13 members flaying two teenage girls alive, and so on.
And as our Meridith McGraw put it , ‘Trump became most animated when talking about the thing even some allies wish he would drop — his false claims of a ‘stolen’ election, which incited the events of Jan. 6.’
For anyone who listened to what other leading Republicans said earlier in the day — including some at Trump’s own event — the contrast was whiplash-inducing.
— Shortly before Trump took the stage, House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY delivered remarks at the summit that, while critical of President JOE BIDEN and hammering him over inflation, offered a comparatively hopeful, less dire outlook in keeping with the approach of the GOP’s campaign apparatus as it seeks to make gains in suburban battlegrounds.
‘Our No. 1 bill is going to be about protecting the American people, making us energy independent, lowering the gas price, making your streets safe, securing your border and holding Washington accountable,’ McCarthy said. ‘That will be a breath of fresh air.’
— And on Tuesday morning, former VP MIKE PENCE spent most of his speech at a Young America’s Foundation conference pushing Republicans to unite and look ahead.
As NYT’s Michael Bender noted in his piece on the rivalry between Pence and Trump, the former VP ‘left out of his speech the kind of effusive praise for Mr. Trump that he had regularly injected into his addresses as vice president and instead referred to the ‘Trump-Pence’ administration’s accomplishments.’
‘Some people may choose to focus on the past, but elections are about the future,’ Pence said, neatly contrasting himself to Trump with an understatement for the ages: ‘I don’t know that the president and I differ on issues, but we may differ on focus.’
That difference in focus is at the center of several big questions for Republicans in 2022 and 2024: Which vision do they want the party to follow? Which do they think is more appealing to the voters they need in order to win a majority? And even if they agree with Trump on the issues, is his focus — with its dark tone and feedback-loop quality — helpful in that pursuit?” Read more at POLITICO
Flooding in Florissant, Mo., yesterday.Michael B. Thomas for The New York Times
“A record nine inches of rain fell in St. Louis in 24 hours, submerging neighborhoods. (Climate change has made storms like this more intense.)” Read more at USA Today
“The Supreme Court officially transmitted its judgment overturning Roe v. Wade on Tuesday, clearing the way for state restrictions to go into effect. A number of states -- including Idaho, Tennessee and Texas -- were waiting for this official word to come before enacting some of their laws to restrict abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights think tank. More than half of the states in the US have laws that ban or severely restrict abortion rights, and some have so-called trigger laws that were meant to take effect automatically if Roe v. Wade were ever reversed. Since the court struck down Roe, legal fights are underway in several states with supporters of abortion rights seeing some success in temporarily blocking bans in at least five states, including Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and Utah.” Read more at CNN
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said he intends to pursue justice ‘without fear or favor’ amid reports the Department of Justice is homing in on Donald Trump’s role in the January 6 attacks. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said he would ‘pursue justice without fear or favor’ in his decision on whether to charge Donald Trump with crimes related to the Capitol attack and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, as news reports indicate the justice department’s investigation is heating up.
The department is conducting a criminal investigation into the events surrounding and preceding the January 6 insurrection, an effort that Garland – speaking to NBC’s Lester Holt on Tuesday – called ‘the most wide-ranging investigation in its history’.
News reports on Tuesday suggested the inquiry is homing in on Trump’s role. The Washington Post reported – according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity – that investigators have specifically questioned witnesses about Trump’s involvement in schemes to overturn the vote, and received the phone records of Trump officials and aides, including former chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The New York Times also reported that federal investigators had directly questioned witnesses about Trump’s efforts, signaling an escalation.” Read more at The Guardian
“The parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis are seeking two awards of $75 million for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' portrayal of the death of their son and 25 others at Sandy Hook Elementary School as a hoax, their lawyer announced.” Read more at USA Today
“The pharmaceutical company Teva reached a tentative $4.25 billion settlement over its role in the opioid epidemic.” Read more at New York Times
“The last two former Minneapolis police officers to be sentenced for violating George Floyd's civil rights are scheduled to learn their penalties Wednesday. J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were convicted in February in the May 2020 slaying. The jury found they deprived Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, of medical care, and failed to stop Derek Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes. Kueng held Floyd's back, former Officer Thomas Lane held his feet and Thao kept back bystanders, some of whom recorded video that led to worldwide protests. Chauvin, who pleaded guilty last year to violating Floyd's civil rights and the civil rights of a teenager in an unrelated case, was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison. Lane, who twice asked if Floyd should be rolled onto his side so he could breathe, was sentenced to 2 1/2.” Read more at USA Today
“New guidance from the Treasury Department Wednesday gives local and state governments greater flexibility to address affordable housing with their share of $350 billion in direct aid from the American Rescue Plan – President Joe Biden's signature COVID-19 stimulus law passed in March 2021 . The guidance will lead to several key changes. First, state and local governments will be able to use American Rescue Plan funds to finance long-term affordable housing loans to nonprofits and developers. Second, new rules allow cities and states to direct rescue funds to six additional federal housing programs – opening up money for low-income housing credits, affordable housing preservation, supportive housing for the elderly and disabled, and public housing capital funds.” Read more at USA Today
“The Uvalde City Council has vowed to investigate every city police officer who responded to the massacre at Robb Elementary School in May, which left 19 students and two teachers dead. ‘We're gonna get a report on everybody,’ council member Ernest "Chip" King III said on Tuesday, adding, ‘everybody that's Uvalde PD that was there will be held accountable for their actions.’ The law enforcement response to the shooting, the second deadliest at a US K-12 school, has been widely criticized due to the 80-minute delay between when the first shots were fired and the gunman was finally killed. In all, almost 400 officers from two dozen Texas agencies responded to school that day. The state's Department of Public Safety is also leading a criminal investigation into the shooting.” Read more at CNN
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
“Russia plans to pull out of the International Space Station after 2024, potentially closing the book on the nation's long relationship with the U.S. in space, Axios Space author Miriam Kramer reports.
It's not clear if the space station can remain operational without Russia after 2024.
Why it matters: Space had remained an open avenue of communication between the U.S. and Russia — despite tense relations here on Earth.
NASA is still planning to send astronauts to private space stations after the end of the ISS. But those stations likely won't be available until the late 2020s.
That could leave NASA's astronauts somewhat stranded, with nowhere to go in low-Earth orbit as China gains a foothold in orbit with its space station.
‘The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,’ Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed head of Roscosmos — Russia's space agency — told Russian President Vladimir Putin, AP reports.
After 2024, Roscosmos will focus on building its own space station.
The fine print: Any ISS partner that wants to pull out of the program needs to provide one year's notice and formal notification. NASA says it hasn't received ‘any official word.’” Read more at Axios
“US President Joe Biden is considering extending a pause on student loan repayments for several more months, as well as forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower. The current moratorium on student loan payments expires Aug. 31, and a fresh pause could extend either through the end of 2022 or until next summer. While some see the proposal as a transparent bid for young votes ahead of the midterms, there are some indications Biden may be about to win a few victories on Capitol Hill.” Read more at Bloomberg
“A U.S. district court will hear arguments in a casebrought by Texas challenging the Affordable Care Act's requirement to cover preventive HIV medications like PrEP. Go deeper.” Read more at Axios
“Days after being publicly insulted by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Twitter, Olivia Julianna, a 19-year-old abortion rights advocate, wrote him a tongue-in-cheek thank-you note on the platform.
‘Dear Matt, Although your intentions were hateful, your public shaming of my appearance has done nothing but benefit me,’ she wrote after his tweet about her spurred a load of harassment — as well as a flood of donations to her reproductive rights advocacy organization.
In just about a day, she’s helped raise approximately $115,000 for the nonprofit Gen Z for Change.
At a rally last weekend in Tampa, Gaetz had mocked abortion rights activists, calling them ‘disgusting’ and overweight. Olivia Julianna, who uses her first name and middle name publicly because of privacy concerns, criticized the remarks on Twitter, noting the sex-trafficking allegations against Gaetz. In apparent retaliation, Gaetz then tweeted an image of her next to a news story that mentioned his comments from the rally.
That Gaetz tweet has been retweeted hundreds of times since and has triggered online attacks against the teen.
In response, Olivia Julianna announced a fundraising campaign on behalf of Gen Z for Change, a 500-person youth-led group that says it seeks to create tangible change on ‘issues that disproportionately affect young people’ and supports abortion rights.
‘This is absolutely the most insane amount of donations we have had thus far from individuals, especially in such a short frame of time,’ she said in an email. ‘On a broader scale, this highlights the extreme power of social media mobilization, and it shows Republican politicians that their cheap attacks and political theater will no longer be tolerated.’
After his comments at the weekend rally at the conservative Turning Point USA Student Action Summit drew condemnation, Gaetz was asked by a reporter whether he believed that women who attended abortion rights rallies were ‘ugly and overweight,’ and he doubled down on his comments. When asked what he had to say to people who were offended by those comments, he said: ‘Be offended.’” Read more at Washington Post
“European Union countries reached an agreement to cut their natural gas use by 15% through next winter as the prospect of a full cut-off from Russian supplies grows more likely. Seeking to pressure EU countries over their sanctions for his war on Ukraine, Putin is likely to keep vital gas flows at minimal levels, hoping Europe will buckle.” Read more at Bloomberg
“With Ukraine’s grain-export deal signed, and assuming Russia lives up to its end of the bargain, another obstacle remains: freeing the scores of ships stuck there since February. As many as 100 vessels carrying grain and agricultural products were trapped in Ukrainian ports when Russia’s invasion began. Seeing them sail would mark a first step in revitalizing seaborne trade.” Read more at Bloomberg
“In the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was a school of thought that, however the war panned out, it was unlikely to last long.
Kyiv’s allies talked about deploying a sweeping Marshall Plan to rebuild Ukraine’s industry, agriculture and businesses in the aftermath.
More than five months later, the fighting rages on, and Ukraine faces the reality that its economy is shattered.
As Marc Champion and Daryna Krasnolutska discovered in tracing a section of the Dnipro River, steel plants, factories and farms along the massive trade artery that snakes through the country can’t afford to wait for the war to end. They have to find a way to operate under fire.
That is crucial not just for Ukraine but for the world.
The conflict has shown how much other countries rely on the grains and fertilizers Ukraine produces, as its Black Sea ports remain largely blocked. Nations are battling inflation fueled by the shortages of food and energy the war has spawned. Benchmark European natural gas prices are more than 10 times higher than the usual levels for this time of the year.
The obstacles for Ukraine are enormous. Its businesses face risks from the fighting. Many are bleeding money to support the battle against Russia. Their costs for transport and materials have spiked.
With Europe facing the prospect of gas rationing into winter as Russia curtails supply, and as talk of a global recession grows, keeping the financial aid flowing into Ukraine and sustaining unity against Moscow will only become harder.
For Ukraine’s business owners, that highlights the imperative of doing all they can to get back to work now. ‘Ukraine itself has become a brand,’ says Yuriy Sinitsa. ‘That’s an opportunity and we need to use it.’ — Rosalind Mathieson Read more at Bloomberg
A resident in front of a destroyed bridge in Chernihiv, Ukraine, on July 4. Photographer: Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg
“Frank chat | US President Joe Biden will speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping tomorrow for the first time since March as tensions intensify over Taiwan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is considering a visit to the island, which China considers part of its territory, after the US ambassador said Washington’s ties with Beijing had deteriorated to probably ‘the lowest moment’ since diplomatic relations resumed in 1972.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“A 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook parts of the Philippines today, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake struck in northern Luzon, the country's most populous island, at 8:43 a.m. local time. The impact was felt in the capital city, Manila, more than 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) away, where workers and residents evacuated from buildings and gathered on the street. The quake also triggered landslides, with photos showing damaged buildings and large boulders tumbling onto a road. In a statement, Philippine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. ordered an immediate dispatch of rescue and relief teams to the region. Officials also urged residents to stay alert for possible aftershocks.” Read more at CNN
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS
Image caption, Victor Orban delivered the speech in Romania
“A member of Viktor Orban's inner circle has resigned after the Hungarian prime minister spoke out against becoming ‘peoples of mixed race’.
Zsuzsa Hegedus, who has known the nationalist Mr Orban for 20 years, described the speech as a ‘pure Nazi text’, according to Hungarian media.
The International Auschwitz Committee of Holocaust survivors called the speech ‘stupid and dangerous’.
Mr Orban's spokesman said the media had misrepresented the comments.
The speech took place on Saturday in a region of Romania which has a large Hungarian community.
In it, Mr Orban said European peoples should be free to mix with one another, but that mixing with non-Europeans created a ‘mixed-race world’.
‘We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,’ he said.
Mr Orban's anti-migration views are well known, but for Ms Hegedus, Saturday's speech crossed a line.
‘I don't know how you didn't notice that the speech you delivered is a purely Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels,’ she wrote in her resignation letter, according to the Hungarian hvg.hu news website.” Read more at BBC
“Democracy warning | More than 3,000 executives, economists and other professionals signed an open letter in defense of Brazil’s democracy, pushing back against President Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts to smear the electoral authorities and voting system. ‘We are going through a moment of immense danger to democratic normality,’ they said, demanding that the result of October’s presidential election be respected.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman kicked off his first European trip since the 2018 killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi with a stop in Greece before heading on to France.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Tunisian voters approved constitutional changes granting President Kais Saied sweeping authority, even as a lukewarm turnout showed deep divisions over a move opponents describe as a death knell for the country’s hard-won democracy.” Read more at Bloomberg
Image caption, A plaster bust of the so-called Somerton Man
“In 1948, the body of a well-dressed man was found slumped on an Australian beach.
A half-smoked cigarette was resting on his collar, and there was a line from a Persian poem in his pocket - but investigators had no idea who he was.
Theories abounded, including that the person - dubbed Somerton Man - was a spy.
But after more than 70 years, a researcher says he's solved the mystery - Somerton Man was Carl Webb.
And he was not a Russian agent, but rather a Melbourne-born electrical engineer.
South Australia Police have not confirmed the discovery but say they will comment soon.
Baffling mystery
Beachgoers found the body lying against a seawall on Somerton Beach in Adelaide on 1 December, 1948.
The man was dressed in a suit and tie, and appeared to be aged in his 40s or 50s.
In his pocket were bus and train tickets, chewing gum, some matches, two combs and a pack of cigarettes. He had no wallet, no cash, and no ID.
The tags on his suit had been cut off, and forensic examiners suspected he had been poisoned.” Read more at BBC
“Deutsche Lufthansa will cancel almost all flights from its main German hubs in Frankfurt and Munich Wednesday because of a strike by ground crew, exacerbating the chaos that’s snarled Europe’s crucial summer travel season. Waiting lines snaking out of terminals, mountains of stranded luggage and hastily canceled flights have become the scourge of European aviation this summer. In a further disruption for travelers, much of the UK’s train network is set to be shut down on Wednesday by a railway worker strike.” Read more at Bloomberg
“When it comes to fossil fuel companies, nothing spells huge profits like worldwide calamity. Spurred on by pandemic fallout and Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, rising gasoline prices have stoked inflation and piled pressure on consumers. But Big Oil’s biggest members are all smiles, poised as they are for a record-breaking $50 billion in profits. Indeed, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies and BP are set to make even more money than they did in 2008—when the financial crisis nearly brought down the global economy.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The future of One America News is in doubt. Major carriers have dropped the cable network and lawsuits threaten to drain its finances.” Read more at New York Times
“U.S. authors dominated this year’s Booker Prize nominations.” Read more at New York Times
“Buzz Aldrin’s jacket from his 1969 trip to the moon and other memorabilia sold for more than $8 million at auction.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: David Trimble, a onetime leader in the fight to keep Northern Ireland aligned with Britain, won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping end the sectarian war known as the Troubles. Trimble died at 77.” Read more at New York Times
“The future of One America News, which established itself as a powerful voice in conservative media by promoting some of the most outlandish falsehoods about the 2020 election, is in serious doubt as major carriers drop it from their lineups and defamation lawsuits threaten to drain its finances.
By the end of this week, the cable network will have lost its presence in some 20 million homes this year. The most recent blow came from Verizon, which will stop carrying OAN on its Fios television service starting Saturday. That will starve the network of a major stream of revenue: the fees it collects from Verizon, which counts roughly 3.5 million cable subscribers. In April, OAN was dropped by AT&T’s DirecTV, which has about 15 million subscribers.
OAN’s remaining audience will be small. The network will soon be available only to a few hundred thousand people who subscribe to smaller cable providers, such as Frontier and GCI Liberty, said Scott Robson, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. OAN also sells its programming directly to users through its OAN Live and KlowdTV streaming platforms, but those products most likely provide a fraction of the revenue generated by traditional TV providers.” Read more at New York Times
“After 29 consecutive drawings without a big winner, the Mega Millions lottery jackpot swelled to $1.02 billion yesterday — the nation's fourth-largest lottery prize ever.” Read more at NPR
