The Full Belmonte, 8/28/2023
People walk past the Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, where three people were shot and killed over the weekend.
Florida shooting
“Three people were killed Saturday in a racially motivated attack after a gunman targeted Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, in one of several weekend shootings that again shocked Americans. Authorities have launched a federal hate crime investigation after the 21-year-old White gunman left behind racist writings and used racial slurs. The attack in Florida is the latest in a number of shootings in recent years where a gunman has targeted Black people, including at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, last year and a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. It marked one of several shootings reported in the US over two days, including one near a parade in Boston, another outside a restaurant in Louisville, and a third at a high school football game in Oklahoma.” [CNN]
Tropical Storm Idalia
“Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to intensify into a hurricane today and make landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning near the Big Bend area, according to the National Hurricane Center. As the storm intensifies, a hurricane watch has been issued along Florida's Gulf Coast, while a tropical storm watch has been issued for parts of the Lower Florida Keys. The storm's expected arrival this week has prompted Florida to deploy swift water rescue teams as local officials called for evacuations, announced school closures and warned residents to prepare their property. Flash flooding is also expected across the west coast of Florida, the Florida Panhandle and southern Georgia as forecasts show the storm could drop up to 10 inches of rain in some areas.” [CNN]
Nearly 5,000 pilots are suspected of hiding major health issues.
“The details: Federal authorities have been investigating the pilots, who are suspected of falsifying medical records to conceal problems that could make them unfit to fly.
Why it matters: Most of the pilots under investigation are still flying. And about 600 of them are licensed to fly for passenger airlines, according to one U.S. official.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is expected to announce today a tentative start date for the Justice Department's election conspiracy trial against former President Donald Trump. His lawyers have asked for an April 2026 trial date, citing the need to review millions of pages of documents. The special counsel team says it's ready for a January 2024 trial. Here's where Trump's civil and criminal suits stand so far.” [NPR]
Audio Released in Osprey Crash That Killed 3 U.S. Marines
“Air traffic control audio captures the moments in the aftermath of a deadly Osprey crash in Australia over the weekend that left three U.S. Marines dead. Some 23 personnel were on board the tiltrotor aircraft when it crashed during a multinational training exercise at Melville Island off the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory on Sunday morning, with eight Marines still hospitalized with injuries as of Monday, local officials said. ‘We are just declaring an emergency on behalf of Dumptruck 11 flight single MV-22 in the vicinity of Melville Island,’ an American voice can be heard saying on air traffic control audio published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday. Around six minutes later, air traffic control says, ‘Search and rescue is requesting if there’s a fire?’ ‘Confirm, there’s a significant fire in the vicinity of the crash site,’ a voice says in reply. Local authorities who responded to the wreck expressed surprise that 20 Marines were able to survive the incident, with an investigation now underway into what caused the crash.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at ABC News
Professor Accused of Faking Native American Heritage Resigns
“A professor of ethnic studies in California has signed onto what The New York Times called an ‘unusual’ separation agreement with her university after faculty colleagues accused her of falsely claiming to be Native American. Andrea Smith’s agreement with the University of California, Riverside, inked in January, comes after 13 other educators filed a complaint alleging she violated academic integrity by lying about her Cherokee ancestry. Smith is not registered as a member of the Cherokee Nation, but wrote in 2015 that ‘I have always been, and will always be Cherokee.’ The agreement allows her to quietly retire next year, sidestepping any investigation into the complaint. She will be allowed to continue teaching until then while retaining her retirement benefits and an honorary emeritus title, according to the Times. A university spokesperson emphasized the ‘timely’ nature of the agreement, suggesting in a statement it was a good thing that all parties could avoid a lengthy investigation and appeals process. Philip Deloria, a Harvard professor of Native history who worked with Smith at the University of Michigan, bemoaned that she had, once again, dodged accountability. (Smith has faced challenges to her identity since 2008.) ‘She deflects, angles and wriggles—and here it is again,’ he said.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at The New York Times
Russia
“Russian investigators say genetic tests have confirmed that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the 10 people killed in a plane crash last week. Prigozhin, who led a failed uprising against the Kremlin, had previously been named as one of those on board a private plane that crashed in a field northwest of Moscow last Wednesday, but until now, authorities had stopped short of confirming he died. Also killed was Dmitriy Utkin, a trusted lieutenant of Prigozhin's since the beginning of the Wagner Group, and Valeriy Chekalov, a senior aide to Prigozhin. As questions now swirl around the Wagner Group's future, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that requires Russian volunteer forces and those defending the country's territory to swear allegiance to the Kremlin.” [CNN]
Taliban bar women from overseas study
Women were banned from attending Afghan universities last December. Credit: EPA
“Since the Taliban swept back into power, in August 2021, the only hope of formal education for women has been to travel abroad. Last December, an Emirati billionaire announced 100 scholarships for Afghan women to study at the University of Dubai. However, the BBC can reveal 60 young women were turned back from Kabul airport. Photos seen by the BBC show young women standing next to their luggage in a state of shock and devastation. And one 20-year-old tells BBC Afghan’s Noor Gul Shafaq: "They said girls are not allowed to leaveAfghanistan on student visas." Voice breaking, she adds: "I don't know what to do or what will happen to me next.” The Afghan government claims no knowledge of the situation. Read the full report.
•Crushed rights: The five key developments that have hit women's rights since the Taliban returned to power.
•Broken promises? How the Taliban measures up against pledges on education, the economy, drug production and security.
•On a related note: Here's how the Taliban have banned women from visiting a popular national park. [BBC]
Book bans
“Requests to ban books at public schools hit a 21-year high last year, according to data from the American Library Association. There were more than 1,000 requests to censor library books in 2022, a 70% increase over the previous year, according to recent ALA data. Texas had the highest number of attempts to restrict access to books, while Florida had the highest average number of titles challenged in each ban attempt. Nationwide, most of the books challenged were written by people of color or included LGBTQ themes. The parent groups behind the book bans say they want a clear process for reviewing books, identifying objectionable content and restricting access. Critics, on the other hand, say the absence of books that show representation of people of color, those in the LGBTQ community and other underrepresented groups could have harmful effects on students.” [CNN]
How Simone Biles captured her record eighth national title at US gymnastics championships
Nancy ArmourMike BrehmTom Schad
USA TODAY
“SAN JOSE, Calif. - Add another entry in the record books for Simone Biles.
She won her eighth U.S. gymnastics title Sunday night, breaking a tie with Alfred Jochim for most by a U.S. gymnast. And no offense to Jochim, who competed back in the 1920s and ‘30s, when rope climbing and Indian clubs were still parts of the sport, but what Biles is doing is even more impressive.
She won four in a row from 2013-16. After taking a break for more than a year following the Rio Olympics, Biles returned to win again in 2018 and 2019. After the world shut down because of the COVID pandemic in 2020, she won in 2021.
Biles again took a break after the Tokyo Olympics, where she was forced to withdraw from the team final and four event finals when rising anxiety manifested itself in a case of ‘the twisties,’ causing her to lose her sense of where she is in the air. Biles returned for the balance beam final and won a bronze medal.
Now she’s back, and looking possibly better than ever in getting win No. 8….” Read more at USA Today
HOLY MOLY Soccer Chief’s Mom on Hunger Strike Over ‘Hunt’ Against Son
“The mother of the Spanish soccer chief under pressure to resign after kissing a female player without her consent locked herself inside a church on Monday and declared that she is going on a hunger strike over her son’s ‘inhumane treatment.’ FIFA suspended Luis Rubiales from his role as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (REEF) over the weekend after he declared last week that he would not resign for planting an unwanted kiss on Jenni Hermoso at the Women’s World Cup Final. Now his mother, Angeles Bejar, says she will remain on hunger strike ‘until a solution is found to the inhumane and bloody hunt they are carrying out against my son with something he does not deserve,’ according to Spain’s EFE news agency. The agency said Bejar and her sister locked themselves inside a church in Motril, southern Spain, after the parish priest left. She asked Hermoso to tell the truth about the kiss and ‘stick to the version she gave at the beginning,’ according to EFE. Hermoso says she did not consent and felt ‘vulnerable and the victim of an aggression.’” [Daily Beast]
Read it at Reuters
800-Pound ‘Nightmare’ Alligator Captured in Mississippi
“Four hunters killed the largest alligator in Mississippi history Saturday, with the monster creature weighing in at more than 800 pounds, according to the state’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The four hunters who harvested the alligator were Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark. The 14-foot, 3 inch animal tipped the scales at 802.5 pounds to be exact, and measured 66 inches around its belly—breaking the previous state record by nearly three inches and 36 pounds, the Miami Herald reported. Social media users were quick to declare the massive animal ‘nightmare material,’ in the words of one commenter. ‘I can’t even start to imagine something out there that big,’ another said.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at Miami Herald