Wake-UP Call: Biden Meets With Johnson Ahead Of G7 Summit

President Biden met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday ahead of the start of the Group of 7 (G-7) summit today in the U.K. Biden emphasized the deep bonds between the U.S. and Britain, telling reporters afterward, "We affirmed the special relationship -- it’s not said lightly -- the special relationship between our people. We renewed our pledge to defend the enduring democratic values that both of our nations share that are the strong foundation of our partnership." The two discussed topics including the pandemic, climate change, and an infrastructure financing program for developing countries and Afghanistan, and also announced a new task force to work on resuming travel between their countries, which has been halted for more than year due to the pandemic. 

"I told the prime minister we have something in common—we both married way above our station," Pres. Biden says.

"I'm not going to disagree with the president on that," PM Boris Johnson replies, "or indeed on anything else, I think it highly likely." https://t.co/5kPNSskUFr pic.twitter.com/AfINJGIt8W

— ABC News (@ABC) June 10, 2021

➤EX-POLICE CHIEF, FIVE OTHERS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY IN U.S. CAPITOL ATTACK: A former police chief of La Habra, California, and five other men have been indicted on conspiracy charges related to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents made public yesterday. They are accused of plotting together to block the certification of Joe Biden's presidential election win. Prosecutors say four of the men are members of the Three Percenters, an antigovernment extremist group. The ex-police chief, Alan Hostetter, is the founder of a far-right group called the American Phoenix Project, and in the weeks leading up to January 6th, he called for violence against those who supported the results of the election. Authorities say communications show how the men coordinated their travel to Washington, D.C., and their efforts to block the certification. The Justice Department has brought similar conspiracy cases against members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys far-right extremist groups.

➤WOMAN, ONE-YEAR-OLD GRANDSON SHOT AND KILLED AT FLORIDA SUPERMARKET: A grandmother and her one-year-grandson were shot at killed at a Publix supermarket in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, yesterday around 11:30 a.m. The shooter, whose identity wasn't immediately revealed, also died, killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said there's no known motive or relationship between the gunman and the victims. The families of the victims have requested that their identities not be made public.

NEW: 3 dead, including suspect, in shooting at Publix supermarket in Royal Palm Beach, Florida. https://t.co/NsLLJ9STsb

— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 10, 2021

 
➤'EL CHAPO'S WIFE PLEADS GUILTY TO U.S. CHARGES: Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of former Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, pled guilty Thursday (June 10th) to U.S. charges in a federal court in Washington, admitting she helped her husband run his criminal empire. The 31-year-old was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been jailed since. 

She pled guilty to three charges as part of a plea deal: knowingly and willfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine; a money-laundering conspiracy charge; and engaging in transactions with a foreign drug trafficker. She'll be sentenced in September. Guzman was convicted in the U.S. in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.

➤UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS FALL FOR SIXTH WEEK: The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell for a sixth straight week, with the Labor Department reporting yesterday that they'd declined by 9,000 to 376,000 from the week before. Businesses have been reopening as Americans have been getting vaccinated, and first-time unemployment claims have been falling since passing 900,000 in early January. However, the number is still historically high, with weekly first-time claims regularly below 220,000 before the pandemic struck in March 2020.

➤OREGON HOUSE EXPELS MEMBER WHO LET VIOLENT PROTESTERS INTO STATE CAPITOL: The Oregon House of Representatives expelled one of its members in an historic vote last night after he let violent, far-right protesters in the state Capitol last December 21st. Republicans voted with the majority Democrats to expel Republican Rep. Mike Nearman in a 59-1 vote, the first time in the Oregon House's 160-year history that a member has been expelled. The only vote against expulsion was that of Nearman, who's been unapologetic, saying he let the protesters in because he believes the Capitol, which has been closed to the public because of the pandemic, should have been open. The far-right protesters at the state Capitol that day broke windows, assaulted journalists, shoved police and sprayed officers with bear spray.

➤QUARAISHI BECOMES FIRST MUSLIM FEDERAL JUDGE: The Senate confirmed one of President Biden's judicial nominees, Zahid Quaraishi, Thursday in an 81-16 vote, making him the first Muslim federal judge. The former military prosecutor, who's the son of Pakistani immigrants, will be a U.S. district judge in New Jersey. He was previously a U.S. magistrate judge in the state. Quaraishi served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2006.

➤STUDY..PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO USE STRONG SWEAR WORDS IN EVERYDAY LIFE COMPARED TO FIVE YEARS AGO: People are getting bolder in their use of swear words, finds a new study. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has determined that around a third of people in the UK are more-likely to use strong swear words now than they were five years ago. They polled 1,000 British adults and found about 60 percent saw strong swear words, such as f*** and mother***er, as part of everyday life. They also found that respondents ages 18-to-34 were more likely to swear and are more desensitized to the impact of swearing. The study, unsurprisingly, found that among people ages 65 and up, 75 percent said they would not use strong swear words in public. They also found that parents still want their children sheltered from the use of strong swear words, including in the media.

➤HARD SELTZER CONSUMPTION SLOWS AS CONSUMERS HEAD BACK TO BARS: People are drinking less hard seltzer as they head back to restaurants and bars. Analysts say that many consumers had yet to become loyal fans to hard seltzer before the pandemic changed life across the globe. The analysts note they believe the current decline in regular consumers is driven by, and correlates to the “steady rise of intentions to dine out.” They also note that they expect hard seltzers to increase in sales as the year progresses “due to easy comps but also due to a return to group gatherings (which is a key occasion for the hard seltzer category).”

For the second year in a row, the free Slurpee giveaway won't be a one-day deal but rather a monthlong offer redeemable in July for members of the chain's 7Rewards loyalty program https://t.co/glnCv2JbBZ

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) June 10, 2021

➤7-ELEVEN FREE SLURPEES RETURN IN JULY, BUT YOU NEED TO BE A REWARDS MEMBER: For the second year in a row, 7-Eleven’s free Slurpee giveaway won’t be a one-day deal, but a month long offer redeemable in July for members of the chain’s 7Rewards loyalty program. They did the same thing last summer, to reduce the crowds on July 11th, or 7/11, which is also known as 7-Eleven Day or Free Slurpee Day. The chain will drop coupons for free small Slurpee drinks into the accounts of new and existing 7Rewards loyalty members on July 1st. There’s a limit of one free Slurpee per member, available at participating U.S. locations while supplies last.

🏑VEGAS DEFEATS COLORADO TO ADVANCE IN NHL PLAYOFFS: The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 last night to win their second-round NHL playoff series 4 games to 2. Vegas came back in the series after falling behind 2 games to 0 at the start of the match-up. They are now advancing to the Stanley Cup semifinals for the third time in four years of the franchise's existence. The Golden Knights will be facing off against the Montreal Canadiens.

NHL PLAYOFFS: Results from second-round games yesterday:

• Vegas Golden Knights 6, Colorado Avalanche 3 - Vegas wins series 4 games to 2

🏀NBA PLAYOFFS: Results from second-round games yesterday:

• Milwaukee Bucks 86, Brooklyn Nets 83 - Brooklyn leads 2 games to 1
• Utah Jazz 117, Los Angeles Clippers 111 - Utah leads 2 games to 0

🎾KREJCIKOVA, PAVLYUCHENKOVA WIN TO FACE EACH OTHER IN FRENCH OPEN FINAL: Unseeded Czech player Barbora Krejcikova and 31st-seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia will face each other in French Open final after winning their semifinal matches yesterday. Krejcikova upset 17th-seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 and Pavlyuchenkova downed unseeded Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 7-5, 6-3. The men's semifinals will be played today, between top-seeded Novak Djokovic and Number 3 Rafael Nadal, and between fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and Number 6 Alexander Zverev.

🏈COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF MAY EXPAND TO 12 TEAMS: The College Football Playoff announced yesterday that it will consider expanding from four teams to 12, with six spots reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions and the other six going to at-large selections. Executive Director Bill Hancock said, "This proposal, at its heart, was created to provide more participation." Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, part of the group that has been working on an possible expansion, noted that only about four percent of major college football teams reach the playoff, compared to 20 percent that participate in the championship event in most other NCAA sports. The four-team playoff was begun in 2014, after the Bowl Championship Series was used from 1998 to 2013.

🏀NBA TO RETURN TO NORMAL SCHEDULE NEXT SEASON: The NBA told its teams yesterday that it plans to return to a normal schedule next season, which will have the regular season begin on October 19th, according to media reports. Commissioner Adam Silver had said several times over the past months that the league wanted to go back to a regular schedule after having two years of the calendar being disrupted due to the pandemic.

 

Bo Schembechler’s son says he was molested by team doc Robert Anderson in 1969, and the famous Michigan coach violently silenced him and backed Anderson when he tried to speak up. Anderson is accused of abusing hundreds in the 3 decades that followed. https://t.co/5hn8QJBWUP

— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) June 10, 2021

➤SON OF MICHIGAN'S SCHEMBECHLER, TWO EX-PLAYERS SAY HE KNEW ABOUT TEAM DOCTOR'S ABUSE: One of the sons of late University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler and two of his former players said Thursday that they were molested decades ago by the team's longtime doctor, and that Schembechler knew about it. His son, 62-year-old Matt Schembechler, said his father punched him when he told him about the abuse by Dr. Robert E. Anderson, who died in 2008. Schembechler and the two former players, Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson, are among hundreds of men who alleged they were abused by Anderson during his nearly four decades at Michigan. Kwiatkowski said he told Schembechler about the abuse after one of the required physicals and the coach told him, "Toughen up." Matt Schembechler said during a news conference that Anderson, quote, "was supported by a culture that placed the reputation of the university above the health and safety of the students." He continued, "That is the culture that made my father a legend and placed his statue in front of Schembechler Hall. Dr. Anderson was part of the University of Michigan team, he was part of Bo’s team, therefore, he was more important than any man."