The Full Belmonte, 7/5/2022
“HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror, police said.
Authorities said a man named as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into police custody Monday evening after an hourslong manhunt in and around Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 on Chicago’s north shore.
The July 4 shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together.” Read more at AP News
“Brittney Griner, the W.N.B.A. star who has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February, sent a handwritten letter to President Biden on Monday asking him not to forget about her.
‘As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,’ Griner said in an excerpt from the letter shared by her representatives.
She continued: ‘I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home.’
A White House spokeswoman would not say whether the president had received the letter, but she provided a statement from Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
‘President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner. The U.S. government continues to work aggressively — using every available means — to bring her home,’ Watson said.” Read more at New York Times
“After more than four months of ferocious fighting, Russia claimed a key victory: full control over one of the two provinces in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.
But Moscow’s rout of the last remaining bulwark of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk province came at a steep price. The critical question now is whether Russia can muster enough strength for a new offensive to complete its seizure of the Donbas and make gains elsewhere in Ukraine.
‘Yes, the Russians have seized the Luhansk region, but at what price?’ asked Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst in Ukraine, noting that some Russian units involved in the battle lost up to a half their soldiers.
Even President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Monday that Russian troops involved in action in Luhansk need to ‘take some rest and beef up their combat capability.’
That raises doubts about whether Moscow’s forces and their separatist allies are ready to quickly thrust deeper into Donetsk, the other province that makes up the Donbas. Observers estimated in recent weeks that Russia controlled about half of Donetsk, and battle lines have changed little since then.” Read more at AP News
“RICHMOND, Australia (AP) — Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia’s largest city in a flood emergency that was causing trouble for 50,000 people, officials said Tuesday.
Emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes in the Sydney area, State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan said.
Days of torrential rain have caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing a fourth flood emergency in 16 months to parts of the city of 5 million people.
Evacuation orders and warnings to prepare to abandon homes were given to 50,000 people, up from 32,000 on Monday, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said.” Read more at AP News
“Sweden and Finland’s NATO steps. NATO allies will today sign the accession protocols for Finland and Sweden’s future membership in the bloc. Once signed, the 30 current NATO members must ratify the protocols according to local procedures (in the United States it will need a two-thirds majority in the Senate).
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will host a press conference with Finnish Foreign Minster Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde following the signing.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“They came for Dmitri Kolker, an ailing physicist, in the intensive care ward. They came for Ivan Fedotov, a hockey star, as he was leaving practice with a film crew in tow. They came for Vladimir Mau, a state university rector, the week he was re-elected to the board of Gazprom.
The message sent by these high-profile detentions: Nearly anyone is now punishable in Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia.
The flurry of arrests across the country in recent days has signaled that the Kremlin is intent on tightening the noose around Russian society even further. It appears to be a manifestation of President Putin’s declaration in the early weeks of his war in Ukraine that Russia needed to cleanse itself of pro-Western ‘scum and traitors,’ and it is creating an unmistakable chill.” Read more at New York Times
“U.S.-Israel relations. The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Monday saying it “could not reach a definitive conclusion” on the origin of the bullet which killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American, in May. U.S. officials concluded that ‘gunfire from [Israeli Defense Forces] positions was likely responsible’ for her death but ‘found no reason to believe that this was intentional.’
The statement comes after a number of separate investigations from U.S. news outlets which all concluded that the fatal shot likely came from an IDF position. A CNN investigation suggested that Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Chile’s new constitution. Chilean President Gabriel Boric has set September 4 as the date for voters to decide on a new constitution after the country’s democratically-elected constitutional convention delivered its final draft on Monday. The draft sets out major changes from the previous constitution adopted during the era of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The new document describes the country as ‘plurinational’ in recognition of its Indigenous population. It also enshrines equal representation for women and increases protections for the environment.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The Eiffel Tower in Paris is in desperate need of repairs amid an enduring rust problem, the French magazine Marianne reported, citing confidential sources. The tower will once again be on display for the world in 2024, when the French capital hosts the Olympic Games. Instead of structural fixes, current plans suggest it will merely receive a paint job.
‘It is simple, if Gustave Eiffel visited the place he would have a heart attack,’ one manager at the tower told the magazine.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“After the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the federal right to an abortion that’s been in place for half a century, companies like Amazon, Disney, Apple and JP Morgan pledged to cover travel costs for employees who live in states where the procedure is now illegal so they can terminate pregnancies.
But the companies gave scant or no details on how they will do this and it’s not clear if they will be able to — legally — while protecting employees’ privacy and keeping them safe from prosecution.
‘Most employers were not prepared for Roe to be overturned, and even those that were didn’t realize the law would literally be changed the next minute,’ said Brian Kropp, a vice president at the consulting firm Gartner. ‘They’re trying to play catch-up.’
Kropp said many companies announced plans to offer travel benefits without the infrastructure in place to make them work. Some, he added, are creating supplementary policies that employees can buy to cover abortion travel, while others are contacting insurers to see if travel can be added to their current plans. Others are trying to figure out how to offer a benefit without breaching employees’ privacy.” Read more at AP News
“NEW YORK (AP) — Frankfurter-munching phenom Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut put a protester in a chokehold while gobbling his way to a 15th win Monday at the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, powering down 63 hot dogs and buns at the annual exhibition of excess.
In a decisive chowdown comeback, women’s record-holder Miki Sudo downed 40 wieners and buns to win the women’s title after skipping last year’s frank fest because she was pregnant.
A spectator wearing a Darth Vader mask rushed the stage, momentarily disrupting the competition. Chestnut put the protester in a brief chokehold before contest officials hurried over and escorted the intruder away.
Another protester in a white stormtrooper mask had also snuck behind the competitors and hoisted a sign saying, ‘Expose Smithfield’s Deathstar.’ Smithfield manufactures Nathan’s famous hotdogs.
After the altercation, Chestnut went back to the task at hand: Devouring more hot dogs.” Read more at AP News
Prolific character actor Joe Turkel, best known for playing creepy bartender Lloyd in ‘The Shining’ and the eccentric replicant creator in ‘Blade Runner,’ has died, his publicist Diane Thibert said.
Turkel, 94, died Monday at Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Califorina, with his sons Craig and Robert by his side, Thibert said.
A Stanley Kubrick favorite, Turkel starred in three of the director's films, starting with his 1956 classic ‘The Killing.’ He appeared as Pvt. Pierre Arnaud, a soldier headed to the firing squad, in the 1957 film ‘Paths of Glory.’
Playing the deserted Overlook Hotel's ghostly bartender Lloyd in 1980's ‘The Shining,’ Turkel gave a chilling, iconic performance while serving Jack Nicholson's unraveling author drinks from behind the haunted bar.” Read more at USA Today