The Full Belmonte, 7/30/2022
‘Exxon made more money than God last year,’ Joe Biden said recently. Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP Files/AFP/Getty Images
“The US’s biggest oil companies pumped out record profits over the last few months as Americans struggled to pay for gasoline, food and other basic necessities.
On Friday, ExxonMobil reported an unprecedented $17.85bn (£14.77bn) profit for the second quarter, nearly four times as much as the same period a year ago, and Chevron made a record $11.62bn (£9.61bn). The sky-high profits were announced one day after the UK’s Shell shattered its own profit record.
Soaring energy prices have rattled consumers and become a political flashpoint. ‘We’re going to make sure everybody knows Exxon’s profits,’ Joe Biden said in June. ‘Exxon made more money than God this year.’
The record profits came after similarly outsized gains in the first quarter when the largest oil companies made close to $100bn in profits.” Read more at The Guardian
“The Department of Homeland Security’s chief watchdog scrapped its investigative team’s effort to collect agency phones to try to recover deleted Secret Service texts this year, according to four people with knowledge of the decision and internal records reviewed by The Washington Post.
In early February, after learning that the Secret Service’s text messages had been erased as part of a migration to new devices, staff at Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari’s office planned to contact all DHS agencies offering to have data specialists help retrieve messages from their phones, according to two government whistleblowers who provided repo agency phones, according to three people briefed on the decision.
The latest revelation comes as Democratic lawmakers have accused Cuffari’s office of failing to aggressively investigate the agency’s actions in response to the violent attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cuffari wrote a letter to the House and Senate Homeland Security committees this month saying the Secret Service’s text messages from the time of the attack had been ‘erased.’ But he did not immediately disclose that his office first discovered that deletion in December and failed to alert lawmakers or examine the phones. Nor did he alert Congress that other text messages were missing, including those of the two top Trump appointees running the Department of Homeland Security during the final days of the administration.
Late Friday night, Cuffari’s spokesman issued a statement declining to comment on the new discovery.” Read more at Washington Post
“KYIV, Ukraine—An explosion at a detention camp in Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine on Thursday night killed numerous Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to Ukrainian and Russian authorities, who blamed each other for the attack.
Ukraine’s General Staff accused Russia of striking the facility in Olenivka, a town in the Donetsk region controlled by Russian forces, and killing Ukrainian prisoners it had taken, ‘to hide the torture of prisoners and executions committed there.’ The General Staff said that Ukraine’s armed forces hadn’t launched any rocket or artillery strikes in the Olenivka area that night and that they use high-precision Western weapons such as Himars only against Russian military targets.
Ukrainian military intelligence later Friday accused Russian mercenary company Wagner Group of striking the facility under the personal direction of Yevgeny Prigozhin and said the strike wasn’t coordinated with the Russian Defense Ministry. According to Western officials, Wagner is financed by Mr. Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman close to the Kremlin, and its soldiers are involved in Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Mr. Prigozhin’s representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the explosion at the detention facility was caused by Ukraine using U.S.-provided Himars rocket launchers, weapons that have inflicted major damage on Russian forces in recent weeks. He accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting its own captured soldiers to deter others from surrendering.
The burned bodies of detainees were covered following the shelling at a detention camp in a Russian-controlled part of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.PHOTO: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERS
Russian-installed authorities in eastern Ukraine said 50 Ukrainian prisoners had died out of 193 people who were being held in a separate barracks at the detention center and were mainly members of the Azov battalion, which held out against overwhelming Russian forces for weeks during the siege of the strategic port city of Mariupol this spring. They said no guards were injured in the strike.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine is preparing to send its first grain shipments since the start of Russia’s invasion under a deal aimed at easing a looming global food crisis.
The shipments, which Ukrainian officials said would leave in the next few days, will be the first test for a deal settled last week to allow Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, to begin shipping some 20 million metric tons that the invasion has trapped in the country.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
A flooded home in Kentucky yesterday.Austin Anthony for The New York Times
“The death toll in Eastern Kentucky rose to 16, including at least six children, on Friday after torrential rains flooded the region, destroying hundreds of homes and wiping out entire communities across several counties.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the death toll is expected to grow to ‘probably more than double.’
‘We may have even lost entire families,’ Beshear said in a video Friday.
Search and rescue teams, with the help of the National Guard, were searching for missing people Friday after record floods washed through the region. The governor declared a state of emergency.
More rain and storms were expected this weekend after over 6 inches of rain fell Wednesday night into Thursday. Meteorologist Brandon Bonds with the National Weather Service in Jackson said it won't take much more rain to ‘cause even more damage.’ A flood watch or warning was expected to stay in effect for many of the areas that saw the worst of the flooding.” Read more at USA Today
“House Democrats passed an assault weapons ban for the first time in roughly 30 years Friday, a legislative feat on a politically fraught issue that tested the unity of the caucus.
The historic legislation passed 217-213, largely along party lines with only two Republicans voting in support. The bill faces virtually no chance of passage in an evenly split Senate.
The passage of an assault weapons ban is a significant feat for any chamber of Congress. Multiple attempts for the legislation to even be considered in committees were jettisoned. But the rise of mass shootings that have touched every corner of American life since the previous assault weapon ban expired in 2004 has catapulted the issue to a top priority for Democrats, who have long pushed for revisions to gun laws.
And more recently, a mass shooting at a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead motivated many Democrats to push House leaders to bring the ban to the floor, according to multiple members and aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline private deliberations. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill’s passage last week, green lighting the legislation for Friday’s historic vote.” Read more at Washington Post
“A federal bankruptcy judge issued an opinion in the Boy Scouts of America case Friday, approving many portions of the nonprofit's plan to exit bankruptcy in a ruling that creates a path for Scouts to move forward while leaving some issues unresolved.
Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein said in her conclusion that the youth organization has decisions to make regarding its plan for reorganization and may need time to determine how to proceed.
During the four-week confirmation hearing in the spring, the Scouts laid out a plan to compensate survivors and rebuild the organization, which is facing its lowest enrollment levels since the 1930s.
Central to the settlement is a nearly $2.7 billion trust fund for survivors of sexual abuse related to scouting. In return, the Boy Scouts of America and local councils, troops' sponsors and insurance companies who contributed to the fund could no longer be sued for past abuse.
The ruling comes more than two years after Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy protection. At the time, the Boy Scouts said it faced 275 abuse lawsuits and up to 1,400 other claims.
Months of proceedings proved that a gross underestimate.
A historic 82,000-plus abuse claims were filed, making it the largest-ever child sex abuse case involving a single national organization.
The case has been record-setting in many other respects. More than 9,500 motions, objections and other documents have been filed. At least 11,000 advertisements ran before the deadline to file claims” Read more at USA Today
Crews from Cal Fire hike up Best Road near Jerseydale. The Oak fire is one of many disasters raging across the US. Photograph: Brontë Wittpenn/AP
“Firefighters have made significant progress battling the ferocious Oak fire burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite national park, achieving 45% containment by Friday morning. The blaze has consumed more than 19,200 acres, fueled through the dry, overgrown vegetation coating the hillsides and favorable fire conditions that spurred erratic and extreme behavior.
Many have still been kept from their homes as the fire continues to spread since igniting last week, as residents await word on whether theirs was one of the 162 structures reported destroyed. That number could go up as damage assessment crews work to investigate the destruction, and hundreds of houses still lie in the fire’s path.” Read more at The Guardian
The biggest contributor to Education Department’s loss was the pandemic relief package; New York University’s graduation ceremony in May.PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
“The Education Department will likely lose $197 billion on loans it made over the past 25 years, a massive swing from its predicted $114 billion in income, according to a federal watchdog.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report Friday that because of policy changes and updated estimates on how much borrowers will actually repay, the Direct Loan program, which had $1.4 trillion in debt outstanding at the end of the last fiscal year, will fall far short of its original plan to make money for the federal government. Instead, they said, it will run deep in the red.
The biggest contributor to the new calculation was the pandemic relief package enacted by former President Donald Trump in early 2020, and which President Joe Biden last extended in April, to run at least through the end of August.
Democratic lawmakers have pushed Mr. Biden to extend the loan payment pause beyond August, while Republicans say many borrowers can afford to begin repaying their debts, and should do so.
Suspending payments, freezing interest rates at 0% and stopping collections on defaulted loans added $102 billion in costs to the loan program, the GAO report found. It also saved borrowers $200 billion, according to a March report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The agency conducted its review at the request of Republicans in Congress, who questioned how the Education Department was calculating the potential cost of student-loan defaults and the long-term impact of the Covid relief.
According to Friday’s GAO report, which examined the federal program dating back to 1997, it lost money on loans issued in all but one year over the past quarter-century. Originally, the Education Department estimated the loans would generate $6 in income per $100 lent out. The GAO analysis found the loans wouldn’t make money, but actually cost the government $8.88 per $100 in loans.” Read more at Washington Post
“A bill to restrict private ownership of big cats like lions, tigers and leopards as pets and for breeding passed the House on Thursday, marking a victory for animal welfare activists and Carole Baskin of the “Tiger King” Netflix show.
The House passed the bill 278-134, with all votes against being Republican and 63 Republicans joining with Democrats to vote in favor.
It now heads to the Senate, where bill advocates believe it has a shot of passing by unanimous consent. The White House on Tuesday issued a formal statement of support for the bill, indicating that President Biden will sign it into law if it comes to his desk. The bill previously passed the House in the last Congress in December 2020, when there was little time for the Senate to consider it.
The bill was supported not only by animal welfare groups, but also by a number of law enforcement organizations, like the National Sheriff’s Association.” Read more at The Hill
“Fox News has begun to routinely ignore Donald Trump.” Read more at New York Times
“YORK COUNTY, Pa. – A woman and three children have died and more people have been injured after a farm tractor pulling an open flatbed trailer overturned in south-central Pennsylvania late Friday morning, authorities said.
The crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. when an ‘older-model farm tractor’ pulling a trailer carrying a dozen people traveled off the roadway and over an embankment, causing the tractor and trailer to roll, according to a Pennsylvania State Police press release.
The woman and three children died. Nine others were taken by ambulance or helicopter to local hospitals, police said.
The incident happened in Lower Chanceford Township in southern York County, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia.
An adult man who was driving the tractor was also transported from the scene and was in serious condition.” Read more at USA Today
“Spanish prosecutors have called for more than eight years in prison and a fine of around $24 million for Shakira over alleged tax fraud, as the authorities push ahead with their years-long case against the Colombian pop star.
Shakira’s legal woes began in 2018 when Spanish authorities accused her of evading taxes amounting to 14.5 million euros, or nearly 15 million dollars, between 2012 and 2014 — a three-year period during which she claimed she had not yet officially moved to Spain. A judge concluded last year that prosecutors had gathered sufficient evidence to pursue tax fraud charges in court.
On Friday, prosecutors unveiled six charges against Shakira, 45, after she rejected a settlement deal earlier this week, El País reported. According to the Spanish newspaper, authorities highlighted the substantial amount of taxes she allegedly owed, as well as her record of using offshore tax havens, as aggravating factors in the case.” Read more at Washington Post
“BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of followers of an influential Shiite cleric breached Iraq’s parliament on Saturday, the second time in a week, to protest the government formation efforts lead by Iran-backed groups.
Iraqi security forces initially used tear gas and sound bombs to try to repel the demonstrators and caused several injuries witnessed by journalists for The Associated Press. The Health Ministry said it had received 60 injured patients.
An expected parliament session did not take place and there were no lawmakers in the hall.
Heeding the calls of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the demonstrators used ropes to pull down cement barricades leading to the gate of Iraq’s Green Zone. The district houses official buildings and foreign embassies.
Demonstrators then occupied the parliament floor and raised the Iraqi flag and portraits of al-Sadr. It was the second time in the span of three days that the cleric has ordered his followers to stage a sit-in in the Green Zone. The protests are a pressure tactic used by the cleric to derail government formation efforts lead by his political rivals in the Coalition Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties backed by Iran.” Read more at AP News
“It was unclear whether anyone had a winning ticket for Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing for an estimated $1.28 billion prize. If no one had, Tuesday’s could be the lottery’s biggest ever.
The grand prize passed $1 billion this week for the third time in the game’s 20-year history, generating massive interest across the country. The lump-sum payout for Friday’s jackpot was estimated to be $747.2 million, according to Mega Millions.
The winning numbers were 13, 36, 45, 57, 67 and a Mega Ball of 14, and the Mega Millions website was inaccessible because of a ‘high volume of traffic’ shortly after the 11 p.m. drawing.
If nobody hit all six numbers, the $1.28 billion prize will roll into a larger one that could reach a record $1.7 billion, according Mega Millions announcer John Crow. That drawing is scheduled for Tuesday night.” Read more at Washington Post
“The “Wagatha Christie” trial, which began as a quarrel between the spouses of two British soccer stars, ended with a judge dismissing the case.” Read more at New York Times
“‘Jeopardy!’ will stick with Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik as its hosts.” Read more at New York Times
“Disability representation onscreen is increasing but still falls short, according to a study.” Read more at New York Times
FILE - In this combo of file photos, Chris Rock, left, appears at the the FX portion of the Television Critics Association Winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2020; and Will Smith appears at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. Smith has again apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscar telecast in a new video, saying that his behavior was “unacceptable” and revealing that he reached out to the comedian to discuss the incident but was told Rock wasn't ready. (AP Photo/File)
“NEW YORK (AP) — Will Smith has again apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscar telecast in a new video, saying that his behavior was “unacceptable” and that he had reached out to the comedian to discuss the incident but was told Rock wasn’t ready.
“There is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment,” Smith said in the under-six minute video posted online Friday. “I am deeply remorseful and I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself.” To Rock, he said: “I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
Smith, seated in a polo shirt and white ball cap, spoke directly to a camera, answering pre-selected questions about his behavior at the March 27 Academy Awards, when he slapped presenter Rock after the comedian made a reference about the hairstyle of Jada Pinkett Smith, Smith’s wife.
Smith also apologized to Rock’s family and especially his mother, Rosalie, who was horrified to see her son hurt and told US Weekly that, “When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us. He really slapped me.” Smith also apologized to Tony Rock, Chris’ younger brother.” Read more at AP News