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Wednesday, May 31, 2023

5/31 WAKE-UP CALL: Crucial Debt Deal Vote Expected


Legislation brokered by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to lift the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt ceiling and achieve new federal spending cuts passed an important hurdle late on Tuesday, advancing to the full House of Representatives for debate and an expected vote on passage on Wednesday.

The House Rules Committee voted 7-6 to approve the rules allowing debate by the full chamber. Two committee Republicans, Representatives Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, bucked their leadership by opposing the bill. That vote underscored the need for Democrats to help pass the measure in the House, which is controlled by Republicans with a narrow 222-213 majority. House passage would send the bill to the Senate. The measure needs congressional approval before June 5, when the Treasury Department could run out of funds to pay its debts for the first time in U.S. history.

➤McCARTHY FACING REBELLION: Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces a rebellion from the right flank of his party over his deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the debt ceiling before a crucial vote Wednesday in the House − including a threat to oust him from the speakership. Several hard-line conservatives who make up the House Freedom Caucus, which has about 45 members, said they won't vote for the bill, dubbed The Fiscal Responsibility Act. They lambasted McCarthy for agreeing to a compromise they said doesn't go far enough to cut spending and marks a "betrayal" of his commitment to their caucus.

➤DeSANTIS RIPS DEBT DEAL: Ron DeSantis came out guns blazing against President Joe Biden, Democratic policies and took veiled swipes at Donald Trump in his first campaign remarks since announcing his bid last week as he and wife Casey DeSantis dazzled in Iowa. The Florida governor railed against the overrun border, spiking crime in Democratic cities, drug-out COVID-19 lockdowns, Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and lamented the president's son Hunter would already be in jail if he were a Republican. He vowed to send Biden 'back to his basement,' a call-back to the 2020 presidential election when the president conducted the majority of his campaign from a basement make-shift television studio.

➤UKRANIAN DRONE SPARKS RUSSIAN REFINEY FIRE: A Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week, damaging buildings and setting vehicles ablaze, Russian officials said on Wednesday. A day after Russia accused Ukraine of sending drones to attack buildings in Moscow, the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region said a drone was the likely cause of a fire that broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery.  The fire was soon extinguished and there were no casualties, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on the Telegram messaging app.

➤FBI DIRECTOR MAY FACE CONTEMPT CHARGES: Republicans are moving forward with contempt charges against FBI Director Chris Wray after he failed to hand over an internal document that they claim shows President Joe Biden was involved in a $5 million 'criminal' scheme with a foreign national. Tuesday marked the deadline for the agency to turn over an internal unclassified FD-1023 form that apparently details an 'arrangement' for an exchange of money for policy decisions. The Republicans issued a subpoena for the document last month. 'Today, the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee,' House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Tuesday.

🍺MORE POOR SALES FOR BUD: Bud Light sales suffered their worst week ever, falling 25.7% — endangering its status as the world’s No. 1 beer brand, according to the latest data. The plunge follows a 24.6% decline from the previous week and the sixth straight week sales have been hit since trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted Bud Light on April 1. The precipitous drop has narrowed the gap in sales between Bud Light and nearest rival Modelo Especial, which saw its sales surge 9.2% for the week ending May 20, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsonIQ data. “While Bud Light loses week after week, Modelo Especial gains week after week and now Modelo outsells Bud Light on a national basis across all trade channels combined,” Bump Williams, who runs the consulting firm, told The NY Post.  “If this continues Modelo will surpass Bud Light for the year,” he added. Anheuser-Busch InBev owns both brands, but it does not control Modelo in the US, where it is owned by New York-based conglomerate Constellation Brands.

➤MANY CHICK-FIL-A FANS UPSET: Chick-fil-A, the chicken sandwich chain long beloved by conservatives for its longstanding opposition to same-sex marriage, is now sparking boycott calls after announcing that it has hired an executive in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion. The Atlanta-based company announced on Tuesday that it was naming Erick McReynolds to the post of vice president of DEI — igniting angry denunciations on Twitter from conservatives who allege that the firm has “gone woke.” McReynolds has been employed by Chick-fil-A since 2007. He was promoted to the position of vice president of DEI in November 2021, according to his LinkedIn page. But the recent LGBTQ controversies involving brands such as Bud Light, Target, and Kohl’s have triggered scrutiny of other corporate actors.


➤WOKE APPRENTICE ON DUTY: A male Disneyland employee dressed as a 'Fairy Godmother's apprentice' has caused outrage and led to calls for the entertainment resort to be boycotted. Footage of the mustachioed worker wearing a blue and purple dress as he welcomed a young girl at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Anaheim, California has gone viral. Critics have hit out at hit out at Disney for allowing a male to wear a costume dress and called it 'inappropriate'.

➤OCEAN CITY NJ TO SHUT BEACHES EARLY: The crackdown on teenagers continues at the Jersey Shore as officials in Ocean City aim to curb bad behavior on the beaches and boardwalk. All beaches will close at 8 p.m. and carrying backpacks will not be permitted after 8 p.m. on the beach and boardwalk. The new rules will apply to all ages.

➤NEXT UP  'CLIMATE REPARATIONS': The San Francisco Bay community of West Oakland faces an environmental threat caused by toxic waste lurking in the soil as groundwater levels rise due to climate change. Residents, predominantly people of color, are advocating for climate justice as a means of reparations as buried contaminants will likely rise to the surface. There is an urgency with human-induced climate change already causing groundwater levels to rise in West Oakland and other parts of the Bay Area. Left, Margaret Gordon, 75, is one of the climate activists demanding reparations. 

➤SAD NEWS ABOUT FORMER FLOTUS: Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, her family said Tuesday, a diagnosis that comes as her husband, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, is receiving hospice care. The Carter family said the former first lady, 95, "continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains (Georgia) and visits with loved ones." "We hope sharing our family's news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country," the family said in a statement.

➤SEE YOU IN 2034: Elizabeth Holmes has reported to a federal prison in Texas to begin her 11-year sentence for conning the world with her health technology start-up. Theranos founder Holmes, 39, smiled as she arrived at a federal facility in Bryan, on Tuesday, flanked by officials. She wore a beige sweater, blue jeans, and glasses. The casual outfit she reported to prison in was a far cry from the poised red-lipped, black turtleneck tech CEO she once was during her blood-testing hoax heyday. Married mother-of-two Holmes laughed and smiled while talking to her handlers as she walked into the minimum-security federal women's prison camp - which is 100 miles northwest of her hometown, Houston. Her long-awaited arrival comes more than a year after a jury convicted her on four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy in January 2022. She was sentenced in November after defrauding investors out of $945 million.

➤TEENS ARRESTED IN BEATING OF MARINES: Nine teenagers were arrested Tuesday in connection with the brutal on-camera beatdown of three Marines on a California beach over the weekend, authorities said. Four males and one female were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and were admitted to the juvenile hall, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced. Another four minors were reportedly charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, according to CBS News.

⚾JUDGE REMAINS HOT: Aaron Judge hit a home run for the third time in two games, Anthony Volpe and Greg Allen also went deep and the New York Yankees stretched their winning streak to four with a 10-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Judge hit a towering fly ball on the first pitch of the seventh inning from reliever Darren McCaughan that carried just enough to clear the fence in left-center field, even if it would not have been a homer at Yankee Stadium. It was the 18th of the season for Judge, who hit a pair of homers in the series opener on Monday night.

While Judge hitting another homer will get the headlines, it was Volpe´s long ball that broke open the game. With two outs in the third inning, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert caught too much of the plate with a 1-2 slider and Volpe drove the pitch 413 feet for a three-run shot and a 6-0 lead. It was Volpe´s eighth homer of the season and snapped a 2-for-22 slide for the rookie.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Mets 2 Phillies 0
  • Cubs 2 Rays 1
  • Rangers 10 Tigers 6
  • Padres 9 Marlins 4
  • Orioles 8 Guardians 5
  • Blue Jays 7 Brewers 2
  • Reds 9 Red Sox 8
  • Cardinals 2 Royals 1
  • White Sox 7 Angels 3
  • Astros 5 Twins 12
  • Athletics 2 Braves 1
  • Diamondbacks 5 Rockies 1
  • Priates 2 Giants 12
  • Dodgers 9 Nationals 3

⚾BLUE JAYS PITCHER APOLOGIZES FOR HURTFUL VIDEO: Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized Tuesday for expressing support on social media for anti-LGBTQ+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light. Bass shared a post on his Instagram stories Monday urging others to spurn the American companies over support they showed for the LGBTQ+ community.  Both companies are dealing with fallout from those campaigns, which have included hostile and homophobic criticisms and calls from LGBTQ+ activists not to cave to anti-LGBTQ+ groups.

➤CHASE ELLIOTT SUSPENDED: NASCAR suspended Chase Elliott one Cup race for wrecking Denny Hamlin in Monday’s Coca-Cola 600, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday. “We take this very seriously,” Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “The incident that happened off Turn 4, again after looking at all the available resources — in-car camera, data, SMT, which basically gives us (a car’s) steering, throttle, gives us braking — it was an intentional act by Chase in our opinion.” Hendrick Motorsports stated that it would not appeal the penalty.



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