The Full Belmonte, 8/5/2022
Alex Jones is questioned about his emails during the trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday. Photo: Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP
“Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered by a jury in Austin yesterday to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
Why it matters: It's the first time Jones has been held financially liable for falsely calling the mass shooting a hoax. The jury still has to decide how much he will pay in punitive damages.” Read more at Axios
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
“Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) reached a deal last night to "move forward" with a revised version of Democrats' reconciliation bill that would scale back some of the original tax provisions and beef up climate funding, Axios' Shawna Chen and Alayna Treene report.
Why it matters: Sinema was the biggest remaining hurdle to President Biden's longtime goal of passing an ambitious package tackling climate change, health care and taxes.
With Sinema on board, Democrats feel confident they can pass the ‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’ in the 50-50 Senate.
Sinema's statement said the legislation's carried-interest provision was being dropped.
What's next: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wants the chamber to vote on a measure to advance the reconciliation bill tomorrow, during a rare weekend session.
Democrats plan to pass the final version next week before leaving for August recess.” Read more at Axios
“The Inflation Reduction Act is much slimmer than President Joe Biden’s initial Build Back Better bill, but it would still represent the largest investment in energy and climate programs in US history. It would also extend expiring health care subsidies for three years and give Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices. New taxes would help pay for it all. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the final version of the bill will be introduced on Saturday. It will also have to be reviewed by the Senate parliamentarian, who will decide whether the bill is eligible for the filibuster-proof budget process that will allow Democrats to pass it along party lines.” Read more at CNN
“SINEMA ON BOARD — Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) and Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER reached a deal last night to secure her vote for the reconciliation bill. In the end, she wasn’t hard to get. Democrats wanted to raise $14 billion by narrowing the carried interest loophole . Sinema wanted the provision removed. Instead, Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine report , Democrats added ‘a new 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $73 billion, far more than the $14 billion raised by the carried interest provision, according to a Democrat familiar with the deal.’
What else she got: “The deal with Sinema also adds roughly $5 billion in drought resiliency to the bill, according to another person familiar, and changes portions of the corporate minimum tax structure to remove accelerated depreciation of investments from the agreement. That depreciation-related change will cost about $40 billion. All told, the agreement with Sinema is expected to increase the bill’s original $300 billion deficit reduction figure.” Read more at POLITICO
U.S. jobs report shows a gain of 528,000 in July.
“U.S. employers added 528,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said on Friday, again outstripping expectations for a labor market that is still rebounding from the pandemic but that has come under increasing pressure from inflation as well as from escalating interest rates meant to rein in prices.
The impressive performance indicates that a slowdown in some industries has not been enough to drag down overall hiring, and it provides new evidence that the United States has not entered a recession.
But most forecasters expect that momentum to slow markedly later in the year, as companies cut payrolls to match lower demand.
‘At this stage, things are OK,’ said James Knightley, the chief international economist at the bank ING. ‘Say, December or the early part of next year, that’s where we could see much softer numbers.’
The unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent in June.” Read more at New York Times
“WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years of jail time by a Russian court after being convicted on Thursday of deliberately smuggling drugs into the country. The case has raised concerns that Griner is being used as a pawn in Russia’s war with Ukraine. President Biden called the sentence ‘unacceptable’ and said his administration would work to secure Griner’s release. Now, Russia has indicated it is ready to discuss a prisoner swap for Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, who has been wrongfully detained in Russia since 2018. There has already been movement in the negotiation process, but that could accelerate in the coming days now that Griner has been sentenced. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport six months ago and accused by Russian prosecutors of trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage.” Read more at CNN
Dmitry Lebedev, Sipa via AP Images
“Four current and former Louisville police officers have been federally charged with civil rights violations, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction in relation to the deadly raid on the home of Breonna Taylor in 2020. Court documents and comments from Attorney General Merrick Garland lay out the particulars: Former Detective Joshua Jaynes, Detective Kelly Goodlett and Sgt. Kyle Meany are accused of submitting a false affidavit to search Taylor’s home, and conspiring to cover up their actions afterward by creating more false information. Ex-detective Brett Hankison also faces charges. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed in her apartment during a flawed forced-entry raid in March of 2020. Her death, along with the deaths of several other Black citizens at the time, sparked a summer of protests calling for justice reform.” Read more at CNN
“The Biden administration has declared monkeypox a public health emergency. The designation will allow for more attention and resources to go toward mitigating the virus. The White House has named a national monkeypox coordinator, and health officials are now considering whether to change the way the monkeypox vaccine is administered to allow for smaller but equally effective doses. Since the first US monkeypox case was identified in mid-May, more than 6,600 probable or confirmed cases have been detected in the United States. Cases have been identified in every state except Montana and Wyoming. The Biden administration has been heavily criticized for waiting so long to formally address the outbreak as an emergency.” Read more at CNN
“Here's what you should know:
•The U.S. now has the world’s biggest monkeypox outbreak. More than 6,600 Americans have been diagnosed since mid-May. But no one knows the full extent of America's outbreak. States don't have to tell the federal government when they have a patient and testing difficulties have left many people undiagnosed.•There's a lot of confusing communication about the virus. Most patients have been exposed to the virus through close contact during sex, but that doesn't mean monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection.•Vaccines and treatment exist but have been hard to access. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pledging 86,000 vaccine doses be available as soon as early next month.
Here's a look at state-by-state monkeypox numbers.” Read more at USA Today
Healthcare workers with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene work at intake tents where individuals are registered to receive the monkeypox vaccine on July 29, 2022, in New York City.Spencer Platt, Getty Images
“Trump-backed candidates sweep in Arizona
Former television news anchor Kari Lake has won the Republican nomination for Arizona governor, climbing past her opponent’s early lead and rounding out the victory for Donald Trump-backed candidates in the swing state. Having never held elected office before, Lake turned her more than two-decade career as a newscaster for Fox 10 in Phoenix into political success in part by attacking the news industry that made her locally famous. In nominating Lake, Republican voters showed they are still allegiant to Trump.” Read more at USA Today
Former President Donald Trump and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake at a Republican campaign rally on July 22, 2022, in Prescott Valley.Mario Tama/Getty Images
“SARASOTA, Fla. — In a move described by critics as another political stunt, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren Thursday after calling him "woke" and accusing him of refusing to properly enforce certain laws.
The move has been criticized by Democrats who raised concerns over DeSantis' decision.
Warren called the governor's move a ‘political stunt’ and ‘an illegal overreach that continues a dangerous pattern by Ron DeSantis of using his office to further his own political ambition.’
The Democrats vying to take on DeSantis in November both reacted to the governor's move by calling him an aspiring ‘dictator.’
‘DeSantis is a pathetic bully,’ said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat running for governor.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, who is running against Fried in the Democratic primary for governor, said: ‘This action by Governor DeSantis is that of a wannabe dictator who puts partisan politics first.’” Read more at USA Today
“Two men and two women were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Thursday evening after an apparent lightning strike in Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, according to D.C. fire officials.
The four adults were found just before 7 p.m. in the center of the park, in a grove of trees about 100 feet southeast of the statue of Andrew Jackson, fire department spokesman Vito Maggiolo said at a news briefing Thursday night. The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police rendered aid to the victims, which fire officials credited to the ability of the victims to initially survive.
It was not immediately clear why the victims were in the park at the time of the strike, Maggiolo said. Fire officials said Park Police would be investigating the incident.
‘Trees are not safe places,’ Maggiolo said. ‘Anybody that goes to seek shelter under a tree, that’s a very dangerous place to be.’” Read more at Washington Pos
President Biden, isolating with COVID, on Wednesday signs an executive order to protect travel for abortion. Photo: White House via Twitter
A startling number of lawmakers in President Biden's own party have been unwilling in recent days to say he should seek re-election in 2024, amid gnawing fears he'll be too old or unpopular to win.
Why it matters: Backing your own party's first-term president is usually so automatic, no one would bother to ask. But some Democrats fear that going all-in on Biden, 79, would be a mistake, Axios' Alexi McCammond, Alayna Treene and Andrew Solender report.
Trepidation about Biden falls into three buckets:
He's unpopular. Many Americans associate him with inflation, high gas prices, entrenched COVID and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Progressives want to move away from centrism and conventional politics.
Many Democratic voters want generational change. Biden was older when he took office than Ronald Reagan was when he left. If re-elected, Biden would be 86 at the end of his second term.
Just this week, two high-ranking House Democrats from New York showed rising reluctance.
Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney were asked, during a Democratic primary debate for the 12th congressional district, whether Biden should run again in 2024. Neither said flatly ‘yes.’ (Maloney clarified on CNN yesterday that she wants him to run, but added: ‘I happen to think you [Biden] won't be running.’)
That followed Sunday's refusal by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to commit to Biden '24 — and a flat-out ‘no’ to Biden '24 from two House Democrats in Minnesota during local interviews.
Our new Biden '24 tracker, which we'll keep updating, debuts here:
Data: Axios research. Table: Axios Visuals
Between the lines: There's no party consensus around how to have a what's-next conversation, or who could be the strongest alternative if Biden ultimately decided not to pursue a second term.
Vice President Harris has the standing as Biden's No. 2 — but faces doubts about her popularity within her own party, as well as her general-election prospects.
David Axelrod — director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics, and a former senior adviser to President Obama — told Axios: ‘This is a Washington parlor game.’
‘Now's not the time for the conversation. What voters say about an election two years and change away is about as meaningful as the Farmer's Almanac.’” Read more at Axios
“Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has told a conference of US conservatives that the West is locked in ‘a clash of civilisations’.
The right-wing leader drew enthusiastic applause at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas.
Mr Orban's speech comes after his long-time cabinet adviser resigned over comments he made that she described as ‘pure Nazi’.
He had said Hungarians ‘do not want to become peoples of mixed race’.
Speaking in Dallas on Thursday, Mr Orban did not directly address that furore, but said: ‘A Christian politician cannot be racist.’
The Hungarian premier also said those who consider him a racist or anti-Semite are ‘simply idiots’.
‘I can already see tomorrow's headlines,’ he said. ‘Far-right European racist and anti-Semite strongman, Trojan horse of Putin, holds speech at conservative conference.But I don't want to give them any ideas, they know best how to write fake news.’
Mr Orban, who has been in power since 2010, criticised former US President Barack Obama, Democratic mega-donor George Soros and ‘globalists’.
‘We must take back the institutions in Washington and in Brussels,’ he said. ‘We must co-ordinate the movement of our troops, because we face the same challenge.’
‘You have two years to get ready,’ he added, in apparent reference to the 2024 US presidential election.
Mr Orban elicited a standing ovation when he read from the Hungarian constitution, declaring marriage to be only between one man and one woman.
‘Less drag queens and more Chuck Norris,’ he said.” Read more at BBC
Screenshot via YouTube
“This ad launches on statewide TV in Wyoming today. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, 81, talks straight to the camera to urge voters to back his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), in her primary Tuesday.
Why it matters: Polls have shown Congresswoman Cheney losing next week. But the Cheneys play a long game. And the ad portrays her role as vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee in a historic light.
I'm told the ad was filmed in Jackson, Wyo., by Karissa Akin, a Jackson-based director/producer. In the 60-second ad, ‘He Knows It,’ the former vice president — wearing an ‘I Voted’ sticker — says:
In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to STEAL the last election, using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.
He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it — and deep down, I think most Republicans know it.
‘Liz is fearless,’ Cheney concludes. ‘There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed.’” Read more at Axios
Data: Xinhua News Agency, Flanders Marine Institute (2019). Map: Jacque Schrag/Axios
“China today imposed sanctions on Speaker Pelosi and her immediate family after she infuriated Beijing with her trip to Taiwan.
The sanctions weren't specified. ‘[P]revious measures have restricted individuals from entering China, Hong Kong or Macau, or doing business there,’ Bloomberg reports. ‘Such curbs are likely to be largely symbolic for Pelosi.’
China's Foreign Ministry announced the sanctions as Beijing held live-fire drills around Taiwan.
Secretary of State Tony Blinken said today that the exercises represent a ‘significant escalation.’” Read more at Axios
Image caption, Footage circulating online showed flames engulfing Mountain B nightclub in Chonburi
“At least 14 people were killed and around 40 others injured after a fire swept through a nightclub in Chonburi province in south-eastern Thailand.
The fire broke out at 01:00 local time on Friday (18:00 GMT Thursday) at the Mountain B nightspot in Sattahip district, police said.
Footage circulating online shows people fleeing the club screaming, some with their clothes alight.
Rescuers say flammable material on the walls may have exacerbated the blaze.
The venue in Chonburi, a province located 150km (90 miles) south of Bangkok, was a single-storey complex measuring 4,800 square metres (51,660 square feet).
Firefighters battled for more than two hours to bring the fire under control, local media reported. The blaze apparently broke out during a live music performance at the venue, according to the mother of one of the music performers who died in the incident.” Read more at BBC
“Senegal’s election. Senegal’s ruling coalition has lost its parliamentary majority, the country’s electoral commission said on Thursday as provisional results were released. President Macky Sall’s Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition won 82 out of 165 seats, one short of a majority, in a reversal from its 2017 performance, when it won 125 seats. The result is likely to influence Sall’s plans to run for a third term in 2024, a decision he has yet to publicly make.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Blinken’s travels. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Philippines this weekend, where he is expected to meet with new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Blinken will then travel to South Africa, where he’s due to launch the U.S. Sub-Saharan Africa strategy before heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. As FP’s Robbie Gramer reports, the new strategy is expected to present a shift away from a military-focused view of engagement on the continent as Washington attempts to compete with growing Russian and Chinese influence.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“French mayor Jean-Marc Peillex—whose town of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains is a favored launch point for mountain climbers looking to climb France’s highest peak, Mont Blanc—has called for future adventurers to first pay a 15,000 euro deposit to cover the costs of rescue (or their demise).
Peillex has decried the rise of ‘pseudo-mountaineers’ who he says are putting too much strain on local authorities.
‘People want to climb with death in their backpacks,’ Peillex wrote on Twitter. ‘So let’s anticipate the cost of having to rescue them, and for their burial, because it’s unacceptable that French taxpayers should foot the bill.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
Great Barrier Reef records highest number of coral in nearly 4 decades
“An Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) survey of 87 reefs released Thursday found average hard coral cover in the upper region and central areas of the Great Barrier Reef increased by about one-third from August 2021 to May 2022. That's the highest number recorded in nearly four decades, but marine scientists worry that climate change could quickly reverse the rehabilitation of the reef off the continent's northeast coast. Experts on the study noted the loss of coral cover in the southern region showed how dynamic the reef was.” Read more at USA Today
An Australian Institute of Marine Science ecologist surveys a reef perimeter by manta tow on the Great Barrier Reef in Australian waters.Australian Institute of Marine Science
“Anti-UN protests have been raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since July 25. Protesters are demanding the withdrawal of UN forces that have been present in the country for nearly two decades. The mission of the UN’s presence was to keep the peace in volatile areas teeming with armed militias. However, locals say the peacekeepers have overstayed their welcome, and have failed to rein in the rebel groups or prevent their attacks against civilians. Since the latest wave of unrest, UN peacekeepers in the country have been accused of using violent force against citizens. As of last November, over 12,000 troops and more than 1,600 police officers have been deployed in the DRC as part of the UN’s mission there.” Read more at CNN
“An Amnesty International report is accusing Ukrainian forces of placing troops near noncombatants, putting them in danger in ways that could amount to war crimes. Ukrainian government officials say they evacuate civilians from combat areas, adding the report depicts ‘a false reality.’” Read more at NPR
Johan Godoy/AFP via Getty Images
“Investigators are puzzled as they work to determine what caused a massive sinkhole to open up in Chile over the weekend.” Read more at NPR
“Climate change isn’t a partisan issue in many countries. Both right-leaning and left-leaning parties favor policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even if they fight over the specifics of those policies. This consensus allowed the European Union to cut emissions sharply over the past few decades, as the threat of global warming became clearer.
In the United States, of course, climate is a partisan issue. Nearly all elected Democrats favor actions that slow climate change. Almost no Republicans in major policymaking positions — including members of Congress and the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court — support these policies.
Today, The Times is publishing a story that examines another part of this issue, at the state level. I’m turning over the rest of today’s lead newsletter item to my colleague David Gelles, who wrote the story.
The investment firm BlackRock in Manhattan.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Coal vs. Wall Street
Since the election of President Donald Trump, American corporations have been increasingly drawn into the country’s culture wars. Big companies — like Google and Coca-Cola — have decided that they need to take positions on issues, including immigration, climate change, gun laws and voting rights.
Corporate America’s stances on these issues have been an attempt to reflect the values of its employees and customers, many of whom are younger and live in major metropolitan areas. As a result, these corporate positions have generally aligned with those of the Democratic Party, which has led to a fair bit of hand-wringing by Republicans. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, at one point warned companies to ‘stay out of politics,’ and other conservatives have scoffed at ‘woke capitalism.’
Recently, Republican officials have also begun finding ways to hit back. Florida lawmakers this year stripped Disney of a special tax status because the company opposed a new education law that opponents call ‘Don’t Say Gay.’ But perhaps the party’s most significant effort has received relatively little attention so far: Republican state treasurers are taking steps to punish companies that they say are unduly focused on environmental issues.
Last week, Riley Moore, the treasurer of West Virginia, used a new state law to ban five Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, from doing business with the state, because, he said, the companies were distancing themselves from the coal industry.
Riley Moore, West Virginia’s state treasurer.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
Similar bans are probably on the way elsewhere. Lawmakers in a handful of other states, including Kentucky and Oklahoma, have already passed laws that resemble the one in West Virginia. In a dozen more states, legislators are at work on similar bills.
Treasurers in three states have also withdrawn a combined $700 million from investment funds managed by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, over objections to its stance on environmental issues.
These efforts to penalize companies are part of a larger push by Republican treasurers to promote fossil fuels and thwart climate action at both the federal and state levels. The treasurers are working in concert with a network of conservative groups that have ties to the fossil fuel industry, such as the Heritage Foundation and the Heartland Institute.
When I spoke with Moore, he framed his efforts to punish the Wall Street firms as a way to protect the livelihoods of West Virginians. If the banks don’t want to do business with coal companies, he said, why should he do business with them?
In response, the banks say that coal is a bad investment and that all industries are going to have to contend with climate change. Bank officials add that they still do plenty of business with oil and gas companies.
Still, these battles move the U.S. closer to a world of red brands and blue brands, in which politics will come to affect parts of life that once seemed separate from it. People on both sides of the aisle are concerned that things have gone too far.
‘I don’t like the idea that if you’re a Republican, you have to bank with this company, and if you’re a Democrat, you have to bank with that company,’ said Noah Friend, a Republican lawyer who previously worked for Kentucky’s treasurer, one of the officials trying to stop climate action. ‘We already have a lot of divisions in this country.’
But it seems unlikely that the trend will stop anytime soon. For both Democrats and Republicans, the substance of these fights — on the climate, civil rights, religious freedom and more — tends to matter more than the abstract principle that not everything should be partisan.
You can read my story, which includes details about the many ways that Republican treasurers are promoting fossil fuels, here.” Read more at New York Times
“New data from the Voting Rights Lab shows an optimistic path forward to fighting election misinformation and eroding trust in the democratic process by appealing to voters' values like freedom, independence and a longing for unity.” Read more at NPR
“We have a new record baseball card sale. Shocker: It’s another T206 Honus Wagner.
The card, produced by American Tobacco Co. between 1909-11, went for $7.25 million in a private sale. The buyer and seller remain anonymous.
The previous record was $6.6 million for a different SGC 3-graded T206 Honus Wagner that sold a year ago.
That Wagner card, as well as the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (one of which sold last year for $5.2 million), remain the two holy-grail baseball cards because of how few exist and the popularity of the players, The Athletic card guru Bill Shea says.” Read more at The Athletic
“Musical theater fans and TikTok addicts were shocked to hear Netflix is suing Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the duo behind the Grammy-winning Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.” Read more at NPR
“Lives Lived: The Conceptual painter Jennifer Bartlett was a maverick best known for “Rhapsody,” a collection of 987 enameled steel plates stretching more than 150 feet. She died at 81.” Read more at New York Times
“Fiona the hippo is a big sis. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden announced that Bibi the hippo gave birth around 10 p.m. Wednesday to a healthy, full-term baby. And the newborn is also already walking.” Read more at USA Today
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden's 23-year-old hippo Bibi gave birth to a healthy, full-term hippo baby Wednesday night around 10 p.m.Provided/Cincinnati Zoo