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Monday, May 15, 2023

5/15 WAKE-UP CALL: Debt Ceiling Talks To Resume Tuesday


U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he expects to meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday for talks on a plan to raise the nation's debt limit and avoid a catastrophic default. Speaking to reporters in Delaware, Biden said he remained optimistic about agreeing on a deal. Biden had been scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Friday but the meeting was postponed. Biden said he had received an update on how talks had gone between administration staffers and their congressional counterparts . "I remain optimistic because I'm a congenital optimist," Biden said. He said he believed there was a desire on both sides to reach an agreement. "I think we’ll be able to do it.” Biden said he still planned to leave on a trip to Japan this week for a meeting of G7 leaders. He has been scheduled to leave on Wednesday.

Wall Street and Washington got jolted this month by government warnings that the U.S. could become unable to pay all its bills as soon as June 1. That crunch came months sooner than expected, raising the specter of a default on federal obligations unless Congress increases the debt ceiling.  The reason: the expected annual gusher of tax-season payments didn’t flood into the Treasury. When the Congressional Budget Office analyzed tax collections for the current fiscal year through April, the tally fell about $250 billion short of predictions from just a few months ago.  The immediate impact is that the U.S. may run out of cash before mid-June tax payments roll in, and that is spurring urgent talks between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans on how to lift the debt ceiling. 


➤U-S SAYS MIGRANT CROSSINGS HAVE DROPPED: Migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have unexpectedly fallen, not risen, since Title 42 curbs expired and reinstating criminal penalties for illegal entry is likely the biggest reason, the Biden administration said on Sunday. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said border patrol agents have seen a 50% drop in the number of migrants crossing the border since Thursday, when President Joe Biden's administration shifted to a sweeping new asylum regulation meant to deter illegal crossings. "The numbers we have experienced in the past two days are markedly down over what they were prior to the end of Title 42," Mayorkas said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. He said there were 6,300 border encounters on Friday and 4,200 on Saturday, but cautioned it was still early in the new regime.

➤YUMA SHOOTING KILLS 2, WOUNDS 4: Two people have died and five others were injured after a shooting about 10 miles from the US-Mexico border in Arizona. Cops were called to South J. Edward Drive in Yuma, Arizona, just before 11pm on Saturday night. They found several people injured after gunfire erupted at a gathering. Two men, aged 19 and 20, have since died from their wounds after being taken to the Yuma Regional Medical Center.  Four other teenage boys, aged 15, 16, 18, and 19, were rushed to hospital with injuries. A fifth victim, aged 16, was flown to Phoenix in critical condition.   Yuma Police Department are still trying to track down a suspect and the motive for the shooting, but believe there is no wider threat to the community. 

➤RUNOFF NEXT FOR TURKEY: Turkey headed for a runoff vote after President Tayyip Erdogan led over his opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Sunday's election but fell short of an outright majority to extend his 20-year rule of the NATO-member country. Neither Erdogan nor Kilicdaroglu cleared the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round, to be held on May 28, in an election seen as a verdict on Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian path.

➤RUSSIA LOSES 2 MILITARY COMMANDERS: Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that two of its military commanders were killed in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv's forces renewed efforts to break through Russian defenses in the embattled city of Bakhmut. In a daily briefing, the ministry said that Commander Vyacheslav Makarov of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade and Deputy Commander Yevgeny Brovko from a separate unit were killed trying to repel Ukrainian attacks.


It said that Makarov had been leading troops from the front line, and that Brovko "died heroically, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds". The defense ministry rarely announces the deaths of military command in its daily briefings. It also said Ukrainian forces waged attacks in the north and south of Bakhmut over the past 24 hours, but that they had not broken through Russian defences. "All attacks by units of Ukraine's armed forces have been repelled," it said. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary force which has spearheaded much of the Russian advance on Bakhmut, said his forces had advanced up to 400 feet over the past 24 hours.

Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary force, offered to reveal the location of Russian troops if Kyiv withdrew forces surrounding his fighters in Bakhmut. In exchange for Ukraine withdrawing its soldiers from the area, Prigozhin in January offered to tell its intelligence service the positions of Russian forces, the Washington Post reported , citing leaked U.S. intelligence documents. Ukraine rejected the offer. Prigozhin has repeatedly threatened to pull Wagner out of Bakhmut unless Russia's regular armed forces send more ammunition. Last week, he said his troops were receiving only 10 percent of the shells they needed. 

➤AMAZON REVAMPS DELIVERIES: Amazon.com has upended its vast logistics network to reduce how far packages travel across the U.S. in an effort to get products to customers faster and improve profitability. The company’s overhaul has cut delivery times, transformed inventory management and altered the search results customers see on its flagship e-commerce website, according to executives, analysts and sellers who list their items on Amazon. The move also appears to be improving the company’s bottom line. The changes that have been rolled out in recent months represent one of the biggest shifts to Amazon’s system of shipping goods around the world.

➤NORTH CAROLINA'S GOVERNOR VETOED A 12-WEEK ABORTION BAN, SETTING UP AN OVERRIDE FIGHT: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation Saturday that would have banned nearly all abortions in his state after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The veto launches a major test for leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly to attempt an override vote after they recently gained veto-proof majorities in both chambers. The bill was the Republican response to last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

➤JAMIE FOXX’S DAUGHTER SAYS HE’S ‘BEEN OUT OF THE HOSPITAL FOR WEEKS’: Jamie Foxx’s daughter, Corinne Foxx, provided a health update regarding the Ray actor on her Instagram stories Friday (May 12th). Addressing a headline that said his loved ones are “reportedly preparing for the worst,” she wrote, “Update from the family: Sad to see how the media runs wild. My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating.” Corinne added, “In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyone’s prayers and support. We have an exciting work announcement coming next week too!”

➤KELLY CLARKSON ADDRESSES ‘TOXIC WORK ENVIROMENT’ CLAIMS: On Saturday, Kelly Clarkson took to Instagram to address the Rolling Stone exposé about her eponymous talk show. 11 current and former staffers told the outlet they felt “bullied and intimidated,” “overworked,” and “traumatized” on set. In her post, Clarkson wrote, “I love my team at ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show,’ and to find out that anyone is feeling unheard and or disrespected on this show is unacceptable.” She added, “As we prepare for a move to the East Coast, I am more committed than ever to ensuring that not only [for] our team that is moving, but also [that] our new team in NY is comprised of the best and kindest in the business.”


🏀TATUM SCORES 51 POINTS: Jayson Tatum scored the most points in a Game 7 ever - 51 - as the Boston Celtics reached the NBA Conference Finals Sunday night. The Celtics dominated the semifinal series decider to secure a 112-88 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers and advance to the Conference Finals for the second successive year. One game after missing 14 of his first 15 shots only to awaken in the fourth quarter, Tatum got off to the fast start the Celtics needed.  The Celtics, who lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals last year, will face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals, which begin on Wednesday in Boston.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Rays 8 Yankees 7
  • Rockies 4 Phillies 0
  • Guardians 4 Angels 3
  • Pirates 4 Orioles 0
  • Blue Jays 6 Braves 5
  • Tigers 5 Mariners 3
  • Marlins 3 Reds 1
  • Astros 4 White Sox 3
  • Brewers 9 Royals 6
  • Twins 16 Cubs 3
  • Rangers 11 Athletics 3
  • Dodgers 4 Padres 0
  • Diamondbacks 2 Giants 1
  • Mets 8 Nationals 2
  • Cardinels 9 Red Sox 1

MLB Mets 8 Nationals 2: Max Scherzer pitched five steady innings in his return from neck spasms as the New York Mets finally broke loose for eight runs in the fifth to beat the Washington Nationals 8-2 on Sunday. Slumping outfielders Starling Marte and Mark Canha both had two hits and two RBIs during New York's biggest inning this season.

After losing 3-2 hours earlier in the completion of a game suspended Saturday because of rain, the scuffling Mets improved to 6-14 in their last 20. The 38-year-old Scherzer (3-2) allowed one run and two hits against his former team, striking out six and walking two. He threw 83 pitches, 50 for strikes, and lowered his ERA to 4.88. The three-time Cy Young Award winner was scratched from his scheduled start last Tuesday in Cincinnati due to neck spasms. In the completion of Saturday's game, suspended after a rain delay that lasted three hours, 56 minutes, Washington center fielder Alex Call made a pair of outstanding defensive plays in the ninth inning to preserve a 3-2 win.

MLB Pirates 4 Orioles 0:  Amid a dreadful May stretch for Pittsburgh, Mitch Keller provided another reminder of how good the Pirates looked just a few weeks ago. Keller struck out a career-high 13 in his second straight outstanding start, and the slumping Pirates won for only the second time in 13 games, 4-0 over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. 'That might be the best pitching performance of the season. That was a pitching clinic,' Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. 'He's got four or five really plus pitches. We were 0-2 on every at-bat, it felt like.'

MLB Dodgers 4 Padres 0: Mookie Betts slammed a two-run homer, blew a kiss to his mother in the stands, and helped the Los Angeles Dodgers complete a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres. Even on Mother's Day, the All-Star slugger won't be changing diapers when he gets home. The Dodgers got away with a 4-0 win Sunday, their fifth in a row and 13 in 15 games overall.

MLB Rays 8 Yankees 7: Taylor Walls hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the fifth inning, Jose Siri caught Aaron Judge's fly in front of the center-field wall for the final out as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 8-7 on Sunday for a four-game series split. Walls fell a double shy of the cycle after going 3 for 15 in his first five games against New York. Major league-leading Tampa Bay is 4-3 against the Yankees, with six of the games decided by one run. The teams don't meet again until July 31.

MLB Rockies 4 Phillies 0: Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper was ejected from Sunday's 4-0 loss to Colorado after charging at the Rockies' dugout following the last out of the top of the seventh inning, setting off an altercation that cleared both teams' benches and bullpens. Harper appeared to respond to Colorado reliever Jake Bird, who clapped a hand against his glove and said something toward the Philadelphia dugout. 'I get emotion,' Harper said. 'I understand getting fired up for an inning and stuff like that, but once you make it about a team or make it about yourself and the other team, that's when I've kind of got a problem with it.


🏀MORANT WOES RETURN:  Ja Morant could be in hot water with the NBA after another video involving an apparent gun surfaced on social media. The Grizzlies suspended their star guard from all team activities on Sunday after an Instagram Live video from the account “_dtap2” showed Morant in a car holding what appeared to be a gun. While the video was deleted from the account, clips of it spread on social media Sunday morning.

“We are aware of the social media video involving Ja Morant,” the Grizzlies said in a statement. “He is suspended from all team activities pending League review. We have no further comment at this time.” The video comes more than two months after Morant posted an Instagram Live video on March 4 in which he brandished a gun while at the Shotgun Willie’s strip club in Glendale, Colo.

Morant, who went to a counseling program in Florida after the March video, was suspended eight games by the NBA, and it could be much worse this time around. “Ja Morant is facing the very real possibility of a lengthy suspension to start next season,” Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown.”

DE SHANE RAY, OUT OF NFL SINCE 2019, SIGNS WITH BILLS: After being out of the NFL since 2019, defensive end Shane Ray is back in the league, signing with the Buffalo Bills after trying out at the team's rookie minicamp on Friday and Saturday. Ray was picked 23rd overall by the Denver Broncos in the 2015 draft out of Missouri and played four seasons for the Broncos. He played in 49 games, starting 15, with 14 career sacks, 94 tackles and 33 quarterback hits. He was on the Broncos team that won Super Bowl 50, forcing a fumble in the game. Beginning in 2017, Ray dealt with a left wrist injury and subsequent surgeries.

➤SCIENTISTS WARN AN EL NINO IS LIKELY COMING THAT COULD BRING SCORCHING HEAT TO EARTH: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reported that an El Niño phenomenon is developing in the eastern Pacific Ocean along the equator. There is a higher likelihood that this El Niño will be a strong one. This has raised concerns among climate scientists regarding its potential impacts both in the United States and globally. Of particular worry is the possibility of increased temperatures.



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