The Full Belmonte, 9/29/2022
People trapped, 2.5M without power as Ian drenches Florida
By CURT ANDERSON
“ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out power to 2.5 million people as it dumped rain across the peninsula on Thursday.
One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States threatened catastrophic flooding around the state. Ian’s tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 415 miles (665 km), and nearly all of Florida was getting drenched.
The National Hurricane Center said Ian became a tropical storm over land early Thursday and was expected to regain near-hurricane strength after emerging over Atlantic waters near the Kennedy Space Center later in the day, with South Carolina in its sights for a second U.S. landfall.
A stretch of the Gulf Coast remained inundated by ocean water, pushed ashore by the massive storm. ‘Severe and life-threatening storm surge inundation of 8 to 10 feet above ground level along with destructive waves is ongoing along the southwest Florida coastline from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbor,’ the Miami-based hurricane center said.” Read more at AP News
President Biden at a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia in January.Sarah Silbiger for The New York Times
“Biden announced a plan to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030, including by expanding nutrition research and aiding philanthropies that promote healthy food.” Read more at New York Times
In an unusual and rare statement, Justice Samuel Alito, author of the Dobbs decision that has driven down the Court’s approval, directly responded to Elena Kagan’s critiques (without naming her). | Susan Walsh/AP Photo
“TRUST IN JUDICIAL BRANCH PLUMMETS — A new Gallup poll set for release today shows a drop in approval of and confidence in the Supreme Court. Gallup previewed some of the key findings for Playbook:
The topline: ‘Less than half of Americans say they have ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’ of trust in the judicial branch of the federal government, representing a 20-percentage-point drop from two years ago, including seven points since last year.’
The historic trend: ‘This is the lowest confidence rating for the judicial branch in Gallup's trend by six points. The judicial branch's current tarnished image contrasts with trust levels exceeding two-thirds in most years in Gallup's trend since 1972.’
What’s driving it: ‘The drop in trust … is driven largely by a sharp decline among Democrats, whose level of trust is half of what it was one year ago. The new poll marks the first time that less than half of Democrats and independents express faith in the judicial branch.’
Two more findings: (1) ‘The new Gallup poll also finds a record-tying-low of Americans saying they approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing.” (2) “Meanwhile, a record high percentage of Americans say the Supreme Court is ‘too conservative.’’
The Supreme Court has long been one of the few major institutions in America to survive with relatively high levels of bipartisan approval, but voters’ views of SCOTUS now more closely track the polarized views of Congress, the president and the media.
The justices themselves are well-aware of their diminished standing. The Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin documents how Justice ELENA KAGAN and Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS have sparred over the legitimacy issue during public appearances this summer.
Key quotes from Kagan at recent events in Rhode Island and Montana, respectively:
‘The very worst moments [in the court’s history] have been times when judges have even essentially reflected one party’s or one ideology’s set of views in their legal decisions. The thing that builds up reservoirs of public confidence is the court acting like a court and not acting like an extension of the political process.’
‘If, over time, the court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that is a dangerous thing for democracy.’
Roberts’ response earlier this month in Colorado:
‘Simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court.’
Kagan and Roberts declined to comment to the Journal, but in an unusual and rare statement, Justice SAMUEL ALITO, author of the Dobbs decision that has driven down the Court’s approval, directly responded to Kagan’s critiques (without naming her), telling the paper:
‘It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit. But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line.’
We cannot recall the last time justices sparred with each other in the press in this manner.
Meanwhile, in a victory for much-needed transparency, a spokesperson said on Wednesday that the court would continue its pandemic-instituted measure of offering live audio broadcasts of arguments when the new term begins Oct. 3. AP’s Jessica Gresko notes, ‘Monday will be the first time in more than two and a half years that the justices will hear arguments with members of the public present.’” Read more at POLITICO
Putin will sign agreements on Friday to absorb four Ukrainian territories, the Kremlin says.
“President Vladimir V. Putin will sign agreements on Friday to add four new territories to the Russian Federation, the Kremlin said on Thursday, outlining plans to annex the Ukrainian regions after referendums that were widely denounced as a sham.
The announcement by Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, also said Mr. Putin would make a speech at the Kremlin.
Authorities in Moscow put up billboards and a giant video screen in Red Square and announced road closures for Friday, as the Kremlin prepared a show designed to present a sheen of legitimacy to its annexation of the Ukrainian regions into the Russian Federation. The move has been greeted with international condemnation.
Billboards in Moscow’s Red Square proclaimed: ‘Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson — Russia!’ naming the regions in southern and eastern Ukraine that voted in the last week. All four regions are partially occupied by Russian troops and the referendums, put on hastily in the face of military setbacks for the Kremlin, returned big majorities in favor of joining Russia.
Following the announcement of results, Russian proxy officials in the four occupied areas appealed on Wednesday to join Russia. Members of Russia’s Parliament, which acts as a rubber stamp for Mr. Putin were invited to an event at the Kremlin on Friday.
Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced on Wednesday that the Duma should hold its accession sessions to approve the annexation on Oct. 3 and 4.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine reiterated his denunciation of the votes in an overnight speech and said he was working with foreign leaders to coordinate a strong international response.
‘Our key task now is to coordinate actions with partners in response to sham referenda organized by Russia and all related threats,’ Mr. Zelensky said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing fighting, the presence of Russian military pressure to coerce voters and the fact that large numbers of civilians have fled the four regions have all contributed to the widespread dismissal of the votes.” Read more at AP News
Meta executives said they didn’t release details of a study on hate speech in India because of security concerns, according to audio recordings heard by The Wall Street Journal.
“In July, Facebook’s parent company made public a four-page summary of a human-rights impact assessment on India, its biggest market by users, where it has faced accusations of failing to adequately police hate speech against religious minorities. Representatives for the rights groups said Meta was burying the findings, according to the recordings.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“More than 40 years after policymakers embarked on a crusade to slash taxes and disentangle government influence from the economy, the pendulum is swinging back.
From Washington to Tokyo, elected officials are unleashing an avalanche of cash to shield people and companies from skyrocketing prices and pouring money into bolstering national industries after decades of globalization.
Key reading:
Big Government Is Back With Massive Interventions to Avert Chaos
Biden Rebrands Reagan’s Supply-Side Economics to Save His Agenda
Germany Nationalizes Gas Giant in Step to Avert Energy Collapse
EU to Weigh Feasibility of Gas Price Cap Before Energy Talks
As Alan Crawford reports, state intervention is back in a way not seen since the 1980s. And while the scale is reminiscent of the taxpayer-funded bank bailouts of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, much of it is aimed at parts of the population hammered by decades of inequality.
The pandemic was the start: The US allocated about 25% of annual gross domestic product to Covid relief, according to the IMF. More recently, China has rolled out some $461 billion in tax breaks to soften the blow of its Covid Zero policy.
Inflation is another driver: India is giving away free rice and wheat to 800 million of its people to the tune of 9% of its annual budget.
Then there’s the energy crisis, sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Germany announced a second multibillion euro nationalization of a power utility last week, adding to the bill for taxpayers in European Union countries and the UK of about an estimated 500 billion euros and counting.
The measures confound years of economic orthodoxy and lectures to developing countries to pay down debt and reduce political meddling in the economy.
Investors are so far tolerating the swing, but not at any cost. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s government is scrambling to shore up its credibility after announcing a vast package of spending and unfunded tax cuts that sank markets.
It’s a new dawn for big government, but the battles to come are over who’ll eventually pay for it all.” — Michael Winfrey Read more at Bloomberg
A woman collects subsidized grain in Madhya Pradesh, India, on Aug. 7. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
200,000 Russians flee Putin’s draft
“Over 194,000 Russians have fled to neighboring countries in the week since President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military call-up to bolster the war against Ukraine.” (Vox) Read more at AP / Dasha Litvinova
“Many ventured overland to Kazakhstan and Georgia, while some who could afford airline tickets traveled to Turkey, out of fear the Kremlin could begin drafting every man.” (Vox) Read more at Washington Post / Kareem Fahim, Zeynep Karatas, and Robyn Dixon
“Russian federal security forces sent armored vehicles to border crossings Tuesday to issue draft notices to departing reservists.” (Vox) Read more at New York Times / Marc Santora, Andrew E. Kramer, and Eric Nagourney
“Meanwhile, hundreds of Ukrainians escaped Russian-occupied parts of the country as Russia staged sham referendums to drum up support for annexation.” (Vox) Read more at Reuters / Jonathan Landay
“Mounting pressure | Truss remained defiant today as she faces calls from members of her ruling Conservative Party to reverse a package of planned tax cuts that sparked days of turmoil in financial markets, and prompted the Bank of England to stage a dramatic intervention. Growing anger has left the Tories, who've been in power since 2010, trailing the opposition Labour Party by a record 17 percentage points, according to a YouGov poll.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is alarmed over the market turmoil triggered by the UK’s economic program and is seeking ways to encourage Truss’s team to dial back the tax cuts.
The pound snapped a two-day gain after the BOE’s bond-buying program failed to quell jitters over the tax-cut plan.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Drone attacks | After being hammered on Ukraine’s battlefields by US-provided kamikaze drones and longer range rocket systems, Russia is striking back with a new capability of its own — winged missiles supplied by Iran. Loitering munitions, which can fly long distances and wait for hours before hitting a target, have brought the war back to Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, Marc Champion reports.
The highly prized HIMARS artillery system included in the US’s latest $1.1 billion security package for Ukraine will take a few years to build, a Pentagon official said.
The EU proposed a new package of sanctions that would ban European companies from shipping Russian oil to third countries above an internationally set price cap.
A fourth leak was discovered on the Nord Stream pipelines, casting further doubt on whether it will be possible to repair the gas infrastructure that traverses the Baltic Sea to Germany from Russia.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing firebrand who scored a landslide victory in Italy’s elections, has signaled to voters that she will govern as a moderate. But her opposition to abortion and campaign claims that families are under attack are worrying members of the LGBTQ+ community in Italy, which lags behind much of Europe in protecting their rights.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Military role | Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is finding his push to put the army at the center of his security strategy challenged by revelations about the role of soldiers in one of the country’s most horrific massacres. Eight years after 43 students at a teachers’ college disappeared, he is struggling to strike a balance between carrying out his pledge to dig up the truth in the case while not discrediting the army.” Read more at Bloomberg
Demonstrators rally on the anniversary of the 2014 kidnapping in Mexico City on Monday. Photographer: Luis Antonio Rojas/Bloomberg
“The angry street protests roiling Iran were sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the so-called morality police who enforce Islamic laws on women’s clothing. But as Golnar Motevallireports, they now highlight the scope of all the grievances against the Islamic Republic: acid attacks on women, laws that limit their freedom and economic rights, the state murders of intellectuals in the 1990s, and a ban on ‘Western’ vaccines at a time when Iran was suffering the region’s deadliest Covid-19 outbreak.” Read more at Bloomberg
A protest in Tehran on Sept. 21. Source: Anadolu Agency/AFP/Getty Images
“Deadly West Bank raid. An Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank has killed at least 4 Palestinians and injured 44 more, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. It is one of this year’s deadliest clashes in the West Bank.
Israeli forces said they planned to arrest two Palestinians linked to an April attack in Tel Aviv, and that clashes broke out after the two men fired back and detonated an explosive. State-backed Palestinian media said ‘a large army’ was ‘firing in all directions and shooting tear gas canisters while surrounding and shelling a house.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Unrest in Europe. Tens of thousands of people marched through Prague to protest skyrocketing energy prices and costs of living and called for the Czech government’s resignation on Wednesday. Earlier in September, 70,000 protesters also gathered in the city to protest the government’s response to the energy crisis.
Prague’s example could be a harbinger for what could await other European leaders as the energy crisis deepens. “It has been a wake-up call, and I hope it has been a wake-up call for others across Europe,” Tomas Pojar, an adviser to the Czech prime minister, told the New York Times.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Solomon Islands snub. In a diplomatic setback for Washington, the Solomon Islands’ government will not sign the Biden administration’s joint summit declaration for the Pacific, saying it wanted to “reflect” on the statement. In recent years, the country has deepened its ties with China and the two nations recently finalized a security pact.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“US Vice President Kamala Harris went to the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, in a high-stakes visit for Washington that came just hours after Kim Jong Un’s regime fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to three more years in prison today, after she was found guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act, a source says.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Elections in Kuwait today to a 50-member legislature may decidewhether the Arab Gulf nation can end years of political impasse.” Read more at Bloomberg
Mexico is world’s deadliest spot for environmental activists
By MARK STEVENSON
“VICAM, Mexico (AP) — Mexico has become the deadliest place in the world for environmental and land defense activists, according to a global survey released Wednesday, and the Yaqui Indigenous people of northern Mexico are still mourning the killing of water-defense leader Tomás Rojo found dead in June 2021.
The murder of Indigenous land defenders often conjures up images of Amazon activists killed deep in the jungle — and Colombia and Brazil still account for many of the deaths. But according to a report by the nongovernmental group Global Witness, Mexico saw 54 activists killed in 2021, compared to 33 in Colombia and 26 in Brazil. The group recorded the deaths of 200 activists worldwide in 2021.
Latin America accounted for over two-thirds of those slayings — often of the bravest and most well-respected people in their communities.
That was the case with Tómas Rojo, who authorities claim was killed by a local drug gang that wanted the money the Yaquis sometimes earn by collecting tolls at informal highway checkpoints.” Read more at AP News
3 Chimpanzees Kidnapped for Ransom From Congo Sanctuary
In a country where wildlife trafficking already runs rampant, conservationists fear that ransoming of animals may become a common tactic used by criminals.
By Rachel Nuwer
Sept. 23, 2022
“Two weeks ago, Roxane Chantereau, the co-founder of the JACK Primate Rehabilitation Center in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, awoke before sunrise to the buzz of incoming WhatsApp messages. Someone had sent her a disturbing video showing two baby chimpanzees scuttering across a squalid dirt floor strewn with toppled furniture. The video panned across the room to show a third chimpanzee standing on a dresser with her arms chained over her head.
In three voice messages, the senders threatened to kill the chimpanzees unless Ms. Chantereau paid them a six-figure sum. They also threatened to kill her and kidnap her two children.
Ms. Chantereau recognized the young chimpanzees in the video as Monga, César and Hussein. The animals had just been abducted from JACK, a wildlife sanctuary Ms. Chantereau, a Belgian citizen, runs with her French husband, Franck. The center provides a haven for 40 chimpanzees and 64 monkeys of 14 species, all rescued from Congo’s illegal wildlife trade.
Illegal wildlife trafficking is all too common in Congo. But the chimp-napping is the first time that a primate is known to have been stolen from a sanctuary anywhere in Africa and held for ransom. While an endangered pangolin was held for ransom earlier this year in another region of the country, it was captured from a forest rather than abducted from a high-security facility. The two incidents worry the country’s experts in wildlife crime, who fear that kidnapping of animals for ransom may become a tactic used by more criminals in Congo.” Read more at New York Times
61 (and counting): Yankees slugger Aaron Judge ties American League home run record
“TORONTO – In his ‘season for the ages,’ New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge reached a magical home run milestone Wednesday night, indoors at the Rogers Centre.
Batting in the seventh inning, Judge launched his 61st home run of the year, a go-ahead, two-run shot to left off Blue Jays' lefty reliever Tim Mayza.
In game No. 155, Judge moved past Babe Ruth and into a tie with Roger Maris, who set the single-season franchise record with 61 home runs in 1961.
With Roger Maris Jr. in attendance, Judge joined the late Maris for a share of the all-time American League record for homers in a season.” Read more at USA Today
Coolio, rapper of hits 'Gangsta's Paradise,' 'Fantastic Voyage,' dead at 59: Reports
“Coolio, a rapper and record producer best known for hits like ‘Gangsta's Paradise’ and ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ has died, according to reports. He was 59.
His longtime manager Jarez Posey confirmed the news to Rolling Stone, NBC News and Today Wednesday. He said he believes Coolio had a heart attack, but did not provide an official cause of death.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1963, Coolio, whose real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., later moved to Compton, California, where he was raised. He recorded records in the 1980s, and his career blew up in 1995 with his song ‘Gangsta's Paradise,’ which was featured in the Michelle Pfeiffer-led film ‘Dangerous Minds.’
His 1994 single ‘Fantastic Voyage’ also hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.” Read more at USA Today
Coolio in 1995.Credit...Paul Bergen/Redferns, via Getty Images