The Full Belmonte, 8/23/2022
Files copied from voting systems were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers
Attorney Sidney Powell and attorney L. Lin Wood in December 2020 at a news conference on Georgia election results. (Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)
“Sensitive election system files obtained by attorneys working to overturn President Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat were shared with election deniers, conspiracy theorists and right-wing commentators, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post.
A Georgia computer forensics firm, hired by the attorneys, placed the files on a server, where company records show they were downloaded dozens of times. Among the downloaders were accounts associated with a Texas meteorologist who has appeared on Sean Hannity’s radio show; a podcaster who suggested political enemies should be executed; a former pro surfer who pushed disproven theories that the 2020 election was manipulated; and a self-described former ‘seduction and pickup coach’ who claims to also have been a hacker.
Plaintiffs in a long-running federal lawsuit over the security of Georgia’s voting systems obtained the new records from the company, Atlanta-based SullivanStrickler, under a subpoena to one of its executives. The records include contracts between the firm and the Trump-allied attorneys, notably Sidney Powell. The data files are described as copies of components from election systems in Coffee County, Ga., and Antrim County, Mich.” Read more at Washington Post
Trump Had More Than 300 Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago
The National Archives found more than 150 sensitive documents when it got a first batch of material from the former president in January, helping to explain the Justice Department’s urgent response.
“The initial batch of documents retrieved by the National Archives from former President Donald J. Trump in January included more than 150 marked as classified, a number that ignited intense concern at the Justice Department and helped trigger the criminal investigation that led F.B.I. agents to swoop into Mar-a-Lago this month seeking to recover more, multiple people briefed on the matter said.
In total, the government has recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mr. Trump since he left office, the people said: that first batch of documents returned in January, another set provided by Mr. Trump’s aides to the Justice Department in June and the material seized by the F.B.I. in the search this month.
The previously unreported volume of the sensitive material found in the former president’s possession in January helps explain why the Justice Department moved so urgently to hunt down any further classified materials he might have.
And the extent to which such a large number of highly sensitive documents remained at Mar-a-Lago for months, even as the department sought the return of all material that should have been left in government custody when Mr. Trump left office, suggested to officials that the former president or his aides had been cavalier in handling it, not fully forthcoming with investigators, or both.
The specific nature of the sensitive material that Mr. Trump took from the White House remains unclear. But the 15 boxes Mr. Trump turned over to the archives in January, nearly a year after he left office, included documents from the C.I.A., the National Security Agency and the F.B.I. spanning a variety of topics of national security interest, a person briefed on the matter said.
Mr. Trump went through the boxes himself in late 2021, according to multiple people briefed on his efforts, before turning them over.
The highly sensitive nature of some of the material in the boxes prompted archives officials to refer the matter to the Justice Department, which within months had convened a grand jury investigation.
Aides to Mr. Trump turned over a few dozen additional sensitive documents during a visit to Mar-a-Lago by Justice Department officials in early June. At the conclusion of the search this month, officials left with 26 boxes, including 11 sets of material marked as classified, comprising scores of additional documents. One set had the highest level of classification, top secret/sensitive compartmented information.” Read more at New York Times
Trump Files Lawsuit Challenging Mar-a-Lago Search by FBI
Former president seeks appointment of special master to review seized material and calls for freeze in examining it
Former President Donald Trump, who seeks a detailed inventory of items taken from Mar-a-Lago during a search for classified documents, in New York recently.PHOTO: STRINGER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“WASHINGTON—Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking the appointment of a special master to review the materials seized by the FBI during a search of his Mar-a-Lago home and asked a judge to order investigators to immediately stop examining the items.
Mr. Trump is also seeking a more detailed inventory of the items taken from his private club in Florida earlier this month, as well as the return of any items seized that he says weren’t within the scope of the search warrant.
The lawsuit—titled Trump v. United States Government—alleges the ‘decision to raid Mar-a-Lago, a mere 90 days before the 2022 midterm elections, involved political calculations aimed at diminishing the leading voice in the Republican party, President Trump.’
A special master is a third party, usually a retired judge, who reviews evidence to determine whether it is protected by attorney-client privilege, executive privilege, or similar legal doctrines.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Dow Falls Over 600 Points As Experts Warn Bear Market Rally Is ‘Grinding To A Halt’
“The stock market continued to plunge on Monday after the summer rally on Wall Street fizzled out last week, with investors once again growing nervous about aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve as experts warn that the ‘textbook’ bear market rally has run out of steam.
KEY FACTS
Stocks were on track for their worst single-day decline since late June: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.9%, over 600 points, while the S&P 500 lost 2.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 2.6%.
U.S. stocks opened lower after European markets fell sharply, driven by expectations for more rate hikes from the European Central Bank, while the euro fell below paritywith the U.S. dollar for the second time this year.” Read more at Forbes
Fauci finale
Clockwise from upper left: Deanne Fitzmaurice/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images, Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images, Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
“Dr. Anthony Fauci’s career shows both the power and peril of garnering such a large public platform during a national crisis. He's exiting his post in December with the kind of polarized public reputation usually reserved for politicians, Axios’ Caitlin Owens reports.
Although Fauci is credited with saving countless lives over his career, he’s also become a manifestation of the country’s bitter divide over public health.
He’s been the head of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases since 1984, and he served seven presidents.
What we’re watching: House Republicans immediately responded to news of Fauci’s retirement by saying that it won’t stop them from investigating him next year, should they gain control of the House. That likely means he’s not yet finished with his time in the public eye.” Read more at Axios
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Safe-Injection Drug Bill
Proposed law would have allowed pilot programs for medically supervised use of opioids and other drugs in an effort to reduce overdose deaths
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, former Gov. Jerry Brown, who vetoed a similar bill.PHOTO: ETHAN SWOPE/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed some cities and counties to operate sites where people could legally use illicit drugs under medical supervision, with the aim of reducing overdose deaths.
The proposal would have granted officials in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles permission to develop pilot programs for what are known as safe consumption sites.
In his veto message, Mr. Newsom said he supported harm-reduction strategies for people addicted to drugs, but said, ‘I am acutely concerned about the operations of safe injection sites without strong, engaged local leadership and well-documented, vetted, and thoughtful operational and sustainability plans.’
The Democrat said he was instructing his secretary of health and human services to convene local officials to discuss best practices for overdose prevention programs. He said he was willing to revisit the issue if those officials came back with what he described as ‘a truly limited pilot program’ with plans to run them safely and effectively.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who wrote the proposal, called Mr. Newsom’s veto tragic. ‘For eight years, a broad coalition has worked to pass this lifesaving legislation,’ he said in a statement. ‘Each year this legislation is delayed, more people die of drug overdoses—two per day in San Francisco alone.’
The bill received final passage in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature on Aug. 1 with 21 votes in the state Senate, the minimum needed for passage. Several lawmakers, including some facing close elections this fall, refrained from voting.
The mayors of Oakland and San Francisco and county officials in Los Angeles have lobbied for years for the ability to open such sites, citing the state’s deluge of opioid-related overdoses and deaths in recent years. According to state data, there were 6,843 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2021, and the mortality rate has more than doubled since 2019.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Unprecedented heat wave
Forest fire in Chongqing, China. Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
The heat wave roasting China is setting records for its reach, with an area equivalent to California, Texas and Colorado experiencing high temperatures exceeding 104°F.
Why it matters: At 71 straight days, the heat wave and drought have no parallel in modern record-keeping in China or around the world, Axios Generate co-author Andrew Freedman reports.
More than 260 weather stations saw their highest-ever temperatures during the long-running heat wave, according to state media reports.
The severe drought has throttled back China's hydropower production, leading the government to cut power to key industrial hubs.
The bottom line: "I can't think of anything comparable to China's heat wave of summer 2022 in its blend of intensity, duration, geographic extent, and number of people affected,” meteorologist Bob Henson told Axios.
Months of rain fell overnight in Dallas
LM Otero / AP Photo/
“Thunderstorms brought several months’ worth of heavy rainfall to the Dallas/Fort Worth area overnight into Monday, triggering flash floods across the city.” [Vox] Read more at Newsweek / Lauren Giella
“Some areas recorded more than 10 inches of rain in just 12 hours. Dallas usually gets about eight inches of rain in summer.” [Vox] Read more at AccuWeather / Allison Finch
“When rain falls so quickly, it overwhelms paved surfaces, especially in urban areas, because the rainwater can’t penetrate the concrete; that can (and did) cause severe flash flooding.” [Vox] Read more at Associated Press / Jamie Stengle and Jake Bleiberg
“By Monday afternoon, rescue crews had responded to hundreds of emergency calls reporting traffic incidents and people stuck in high water.” [Vox] Read more at Dallas Morning News
“Scientists predict climate change will cause more frequent extreme rainfall events in the future as a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Zach Rosenthal, Mary Beth Gahan, and Annabelle Timsit
Protesters at the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison on June 22 hoped to convince lawmakers to repeal a 173-year-old ban on abortions. The state has conflicting laws that leave the legality of abortion unclear, but Wisconsin clinics stopped providing abortions after the Supreme Court decision. (Todd Richmond/AP)
“Two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, about 20.9 million women have lost access to nearly all elective abortions in their home states, and a slate of strict new trigger laws expected to take effect in the coming days will shut out even more.
Texas, Tennessee and Idaho all have existing restrictions on abortion, but the laws slated to begin Thursday will either outlaw the procedure entirely or heighten penalties for doctors who perform an abortion, contributing to a seismic shift in who can access abortion in their home states.
At least 11 other states have banned most abortions, prohibiting the procedure with narrow exceptions from the time of conception or after fetal cardiac activity is detected, at about six weeks of pregnancy, with legislation known as ‘heartbeat’ laws. Five more states have similar bans temporarily blocked by the courts. If those injunctions are lifted, abortion could soon be inaccessible for millions more — in total, 36 percent of U.S. women between the ages of 15 and 44 would be largely unable to obtain an elective abortion in the state where they live.” Read more at Washington Post
3 Arkansas officers suspended after video captures beating
By ANDREW DeMILLO
“MULBERRY, Ark. (AP) — Three Arkansas law enforcement officers were suspended, and state police launched an investigation after a video posted on social media showed two of them beating a suspect while a third officer held him on the ground.
The officers were responding to a report of a man making threats outside a convenience store Sunday in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma, authorities said.
The video shows one officer punching the suspect with a clenched fist, while another can be seen hitting the man with his knee. The third officer holds him against the pavement.
In video recorded from a car nearby, someone yells at officers to stop hitting the man in the head. Two of the officers appear to look up and say something back to the person who yelled. The officers’ comments could not be heard clearly on the video.
Two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and one Mulberry police officer were suspended, city and county authorities said.” Read more at AP News
“ODESSA, Ukraine—The leader of a Russian-backed breakaway region in eastern Ukraine announced details of plans to put captured Ukrainian soldiers on trial in Mariupol, a move that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned would mean an end to all negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian state television Monday that preparations were nearing completion for the trial of soldiers who were captured after holding out for months at Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant. ‘At this moment we can say that material on 80 cases of Azov crimes is completely ready,’ Mr. Pushilin said.
Ukrainian officials have said the trials could begin as early as Wednesday, the country’s Independence Day, which will also mark exactly six months since the war began. They have also released photos that they claim show that pro-Russian officials have constructed a cage to hold defendants on stage at Mariupol’s philharmonic hall, where they say the trials will take place.
Mr. Zelensky said such a trial would cross a red line, and called on world leaders to join him in denouncing it. In June, a court from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic convicted three foreign fighters captured in Mariupol as mercenaries and sentenced them to death. Russia, which recognized Donetsk and the neighboring Luhansk region as independent states earlier this year, has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1996.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Ukrainian officials released photos that they claim show that pro-Russian officials have constructed a cage to hold defendants at Mariupol’s philharmonic hall.PHOTO: UKRAINE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
“The U.S. stepped up enforcement of its sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Administration officials are pushing to close loopholes, lobby countries such as China and India to curb trade with Russia and crack down on people abetting Moscow’s evasion. They say the goal of the second phase is to cut off what avenues remain that provide revenue and imports Russian President Vladimir Putin needs for the war.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Anti-mandate protesters converge on New Zealand Parliament
By NICK PERRY
“WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — About 2,000 protesters upset with the government’s pandemic response converged Tuesday on New Zealand’s Parliament — but there was no repeat of the occupation six months ago in which protesters camped on Parliament grounds for more than three weeks.
Many of the protesters said they had no intention of trying to stay. And police ensured a repeat was unlikely by closing streets, erecting barricades and banning protesters from bringing structures onto Parliament’s grounds.
The previous protest created significant disruptions in the capital and ended in chaos as retreating protesters set fire to tents and hurled rocks at police.
This time there was also a counter-protest, with several hundred people gathering in front of Parliament as the main march entered the grounds. The two sides shouted insults but a line of police officers kept them physically separated.” Read more at AP News
Michigan Library Fights to Restore Funding After Dispute Over Books With LGBT Themes
Voters in Jamestown Township decide in November whether to fund the community’s only library
The Patmos Library in Jamestown Township, Mich., is asking the community to restore its public financing.PHOTO: CODY SCANLAN/HOLLAND SENTINEL
“A library in a rural western Michigan town is asking the community there to restore its public financing after voters defunded it following a dispute over books with LGBT content.
Voters in Jamestown Township, Mich., located about 20 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, defeated a funding measure for the Patmos Library earlier this month, stripping 85% of its funding for next year. The library, which has an annual budget of about $250,000, is in danger of closing if it can’t replace those funds, said Larry Walton, president of the library’s board.
The Patmos Library, like many libraries and schools across the U.S., has become a center of debate about free speech and what materials are appropriate for children. Conservative groups and parents in some states have asked libraries to remove books they find objectionable, many of which deal with LGBT themes.
County commissioners in Llano, Texas, ordered a review of children’s books at the local library system last year. Some residents sued the judge, county commissioners and library board members in April after some books were banned.
In Vinton, Iowa, residents criticized their library for having LGBT staff and books with LGBT-related themes. The library temporarily closed in July after staff members quit amid the harassment.
Residents wait for an Aug. 8 library board meeting to start at Patmos Library. PHOTO: AUDRA GAMBLE/HOLLAND SENTINEL
Patmos Library’s last two directors also resigned following harassment at work from people who objected to the books with LGBT themes, according to Mr. Walton.
The American Library Association Executive Board said it was troubled by the increasing number of incidents of intimidation directed at library staff.
The American Library Association condemns ‘threats of violence and other acts of intimidation increasingly taking place in America’s libraries, particularly those acts that aim to erase the stories and identities of gay, queer, transgender, Black, Indigenous, persons of color, those with disabilities and religious minorities,’ the group said in a statement.
The dispute over books in Jamestown began last November when a patron asked the library to remove the graphic novel ‘Gender Queer: A Memoir,’ Mr. Walton said. Residents began asking for other books with LGBT themes to be pulled, including the graphic novels ‘Spinning’ and ‘Kiss Number 8.’” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Where Are People Living the Longest? See Where Your State Ranks in Life Expectancy
Overall life expectancy rates in the U.S. fell sharply in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, but rates varied by state
Hawaii has the highest life expectancy of any U.S. state. PHOTO: KENT NISHIMURA/LOS ANGELES TIMES/SHUTTERSTOCK
“Where should you live to have the longest life expectancy? New data suggests heading out West is a good bet.
Hawaii has the highest life expectancy of any U.S. state, according to new federal figures released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The combined average life expectancy for men and women in the state was 80.7 years old, the only U.S. state with an average expectancy rate above 80 years.
Washington state has the second-highest life expectancy, at 79.2 years. California was also high on the list, at 79.0 years.
Other states with the highest life expectancies included Minnesota, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Life expectancy rates in the U.S. fell sharply in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. Americans’ average life expectancy fell to 77 years in 2020, down 1.8 years from 2019 and the biggest decline since at least World War II.
Covid-19 was the nation’s third-leading cause of death in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer, and was the underlying cause in about 351,000 deaths, the figures showed. Increases in mortality from unintentional injuries—which include drug overdoses—as well heart disease, homicide and diabetes also decreased life expectancy.
While Hawaii, Washington and Minnesota had the highest life expectancy rates, several Southern states had the lowest. Mississippi came in at the bottom of the list, with a life expectancy of 71.9 years. West Virginia was second to last at 72.8, followed by Louisiana at 73.1 and then Alabama, at 73.2.
From 2019 to 2020, life expectancy declined for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to the report, with drops ranging from 0.2 of a year for Hawaii to 3.0 years for New York.” Read more at Wall Street Journal