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Thursday, October 13, 2022

Wake-Up Call: West Rushes Defensive Systems To Ukraine


In just two days this week, Russian forces fired more than 100 cruise missiles and dozens of exploding drones at cities across Ukraine, far more than the nation’s aging air defenses were ever expected to encounter. And yet fewer than half made it to their targets, Ukrainian officials say.

Ukraine’s success in knocking down those projectiles, and the death and destruction caused wherever missiles slipped through, has reinvigorated calls by officials in Kyiv for Western countries to provide more sophisticated defensive weapons systems. At a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, the United States and other allies readily agreed, pledging to rapidly provide the weaponry.

Germany began delivery of four units of a missile defense system so advanced even its own forces have yet to use it. The Netherlands promised millions of dollars in air-defense missiles, and President Emmanuel Macron of France said his country would send “radars, systems and anti-air missiles.”  And a day after the Biden administration said it was working to speed up delivery of two advanced missile systems, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said, “The systems will be provided as fast as we can physically get them there.”


➤RUSSIA MAY BE RUNNING OUT OF AMMO: The director of Britain’s top spy agency says Russia may be running out of weapons, ammunition and cruise missiles to use against Ukraine. In an interview on BBC News, Sir Jeremy Fleming said that sanctions against Russia had deprived it of supplies and munitions that would be needed.


➤ALEX JONES OWES SANDY HOOK FAMILIES $965 MILLION: A Connecticut jury has ordered Infowars founder Alex Jones to pay $965 million in damages to eight of the families of children murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting and a first responder to the scene of the tragedy. Earlier, a jury in a separate case tried in Texas ordered Jones to pay two other families $50 million. The talk show host repeatedly claimed on air that the shooting was a hoax perpetrated by crisis actors. After the verdict, Jones went on Infowars to call the verdict a “joke” and to say he would continue to question the facts of other mass school shootings including Uvalde and Parkland. In court testimony under oath, Jones acknowledged that the Sandy Hook murders were not a hoax.

➤3 PHILADELPHIA OFFICERS SHOT: Three Philadelphia SWAT team officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and a teenager was killed after gunfire broke out early Wednesday when the officers attempted to arrest the teenager on a homicide warrant. The suspect opened fire on the officers when they arrived to detain him, Fox News channel 29 reported. Two of the officers were treated and released while a third was listed in stable condition.


➤LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL ROCKED BY RACIST REMARKS: The president of the Los Angeles City Council has resigned after a leaked recording revealed a conversation she took part in about diluting the political power of Black voters in the city. Then-City Council President Nury Martinez had the conversation with two other City Council members and a labor leader. They were discussing ways to use the city’s redistricting power to weaken the Black vote in the city. President Joe Biden was among those calling for her resignation.

➤U.S. OFFERS LIMITED ENTRY FOR VENEZUELANS: The Biden Administration will offer a legal path to entry for up to 24,000 Venezuelans who apply in advance but will start turning others away at the Mexican border, the Department of Homeland Security said. The Biden administration had been allowing Venezuelans to cross at the border and stay while their requests for asylum were being processed. The new rule extends a Trump-era restriction on border crossings. More than 150,000 Venezuelans have attempted to enter the U.S. since October 2021. They are fleeing their nation’s economic collapse.

➤JAN 6 COMMITTEE TOL HOLD FINAL TV HEARING:  Closing Argument: The January 6 committee will hold its final televised hearing ahead of the November midterms on Thursday afternoon. Notably, the hearing is occurring in the afternoon — not prime time. That's likely a result of how difficult it would have been for the committee to have wrestled away hours of fall prime time programming from networks. When the broadcast networks initially aired the first hearing in prime, it was during the summer when almost nothing else of interest was airing.  But networks have now rolled out their fall shows and spent not-insignificant sums of money promoting them, making the ask for prime time air a lot more challenging. Plus, it would be competing with October baseball and "Thursday Night Football.

🛢MAD ABOUT OIL PRICES: Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, has threatened to block all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in response to OPEC’s decision to cut oil production to force prices up in the middle of a global energy crisis. This is not an idle threat. Menendez is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has veto power over foreign arms sales. He also urged President Joe Biden to “immediately freeze all aspects” of U.S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia. The OPEC production cut is seen as a gift to Russia, as it helps prop up that nation’s oil revenues just when it needs the money for its assault on Ukraine. Biden has hinted that there will be consequences for Saudi Arabia but hasn’t offered any specifics.

🏙MOST DANGEROUS AND SAFEST CITIES: St. Louis is the nation’s most dangerous city, according to a WalletHub report. The report rates U.S. cities for their safety on many factors including rates of crime and traffic accidents, vulnerability to natural disasters, signs of financial stress and even vaccination rates. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and San Bernardino, California, ranked just above St. Louis on the most dangerous list. The safest cities in the U.S. included Columbia, Maryland; Nashua, New Hampshire, and Laredo, Texas.  CHECK IT OUT: For the full rankings of U.S. cities, click here .🏠MORTGAGE RATES SKYROCKET ACROSS AMERICA:   The average interest rate on U.S. home loans has hit 6.81%. This is the highest it's been since 2006. Mortgage rates have doubled since the start of 2022 as the Fed attempts to fight inflation. The housing market has now cooled, with many areas that were popular during lockdown now seeing fewer mortgage applications. "Application volumes for both refinancing and home purchases declined and continue to fall further behind last year's record levels," Economist Mike Fratantoni said. California and Florida cities in particular are seeing fast market cooldowns.



⚾WEDNESDAYS MLB Division Series Game 2 Scores (Home teams in italics.)
Atlanta Braves 3, Philadelphia Phillies 0 (Series tied 1-1)
San Diego Padres 5, Los Angeles Dodgers 3 (Series tied 1-1)

🏈ODELL SAYS RAMS ARE LOW-BALLING HIM: Some very public negotiations are going on regarding Odell Beckham Junior’s return to the Los Angeles Rams. Beckham was not pleased with the team’s recent contract offer and turned to Twitter to say that he knows his worth and the latest offer didn’t reflect it. Coach Sean McVay was quick to reply that the Rams really, really love Odell and no way was that the team’s final offer. Beckham joined the team last November and had 21 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns before injuring his left knee during Super Bowl 56.

➤NASCAR SLAPS STEWART-HAAS TEAM WITH BIG FINES: NASCAR has slapped the Stewart-Haas racing team with $200,000 in fines for allegedly manipulating the results of Sunday’s playoff elimination race at Charlotte. NASCAR accuses Cole Custer of slowing on the backstretch of the final lap to help teammate Chase Briscoe advance to the next round of the playoffs. Briscoe finished ninth, bumping reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson from the playoffs. The penalty includes a $100,000 fine for Custer, while crew chief Mike Shiplett was fined $100,000 and suspended indefinitely. Briscoe was cleared of any involvement in the alleged scheme. Stewart-Haas Racing says it will appeal. The NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings keep Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney as the top three for the week going into Round 8 in Las Vegas this Sunday.

🏈RAIDERS’ ADAMS CHARGED WITH MISDEMEANOR: Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams was cited by the Kansas City Municipal Court with a charge of misdemeanor assault for inflicting “bodily injury” on a photographer who got in his way just after his team’s Monday Night Football loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Adams has to appear in court on November 10th. The photographer reportedly was treated for whiplash, headache, and a possible minor concussion. Adams has apologized for the incident twice.

🏈GIANTS’ JAMIE GILLAN STUCK IN LONDON: New York Giants punter Jamie Gillan is staying in London until Thursday to resolve an issue with his passport and visa. Gillan was born in Scotland but moved to Maryland with his family as a teenager. The visa issue came up as he was leaving the U.K. after the Giants’ victory over the Green Bay Packers there on Sunday. An emergency passport is in the works.

🐟FISHERMEN ACCUSED OF STUFFING FISH: Two fishermen have been indicted by a Cleveland grand jury on felony charges of cheating in a fishing tournament. Jacob Runyan, of Ashtabula, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, allegedly stuffed a walleye with lead sinkers and fillets to win a tournament on Lake Erie. The scheme unraveled when suspicious tournament officials gutted the fish and looked inside. The grand jury indicted them on felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft and possessing criminal tools. The competitive fishing world is now mightily suspicious about several other recent victories that netted the duo hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes.

Daily Mail Composite 10/13/22


🏀GRINER NOT SURE SHE'LL EVER MAKE IT BACK TO THE U-S:  Brittney Griner doubts whether or not she will ever be allowed to return home to the US as the 6-foot-9 WNBA star spends the vast majority of her days inside of tiny cell with two other prisoners. U.S. citizen Griner, 31, a two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist, was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison on Aug. 4 after pleading guilty to drug charges. She insisted she inadvertently broke the law when she traveled with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Griner is scheduled to appeal her sentence on October 25. Now her lawyer, Alexandr D. Boykov said in an interview with the New York Times that his client is struggling in the prison. In July, the Times referred to the prison as having 'gray painted halls and grim tall walls.' Her cellmates at Correctional Colony No.1 or IK-1, a pre-trial detention center, are both English speakers who are in jail on drug charges. Prison rules dictate that inmates are only allowed to shower twice a week. It is located around an hour from Moscow. The building is a former children's orphanage that was converted into a prison around 2012. There are 1,248 prisoners in the facility.



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