Monday, June 19, 2023

6/19 WAKE-UP: Russia Rolls Old Tanks Filled With Explosives


Russian soldiers are packing defunct, Soviet-era tanks with devastating explosives and rolling them directly into Ukrainian positions in the latest desperate attempt by the Kremlin to gain an advantage on the battlefield.

In video footage posted online, a 70-year-old T-54 tank rigged with six tons of explosives could be seen guided by remote control as it rolls toward a Ukrainian trench. The vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, however, is obliterated into a cloud of dust and smoke when it suddenly strikes a mine before being demolished by a Ukrainian anti-tank missile, according to Forbes. The massive explosion took place just about 200 feet from Ukrainian soldiers, some of whom may have been killed or injured by the blast. The clandestine move by Russian forces shows the desperation of Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin 16 months into a difficult and protracted conflict.

Russia reported fierce fighting on Sunday on three sections of the front line in Ukraine while Ukraine's president praised his troops for repelling enemy advances and said their counter-offensive was progressing well. The death toll from the June 6 collapse of the Kakhovka Dam is up to 45 people, 29 of them in Russian-occupied territory and 16 in areas held by Ukraine. In some of the southern Ukraine provinces downstream from the dam, water contamination is becoming an increasingly dire problem following the massive flooding that has devastated dozens of towns along the lower Dnieper River and led to an ecological catastrophe, threatening crops and killing millions of fish. And the evidence increasingly points to an explosion set off by Russia as the cause.

➤SHOOTINGS PLAGUE THE NATION DURING THE WEEKEND: At least five people including a Pennsylvania state trooper were killed and dozens injured in a string of weekend violence and mass shootings across the U.S. The shootings in suburban Chicago, Washington state, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. As of Sunday evening, none of the weekend events fit the definition of a mass killing, because fewer than four people died at each location. However, the number of injured in most of the cases does match the widely accepted definition of mass shootings.

Here's a look at the shootings across the country this weekend:


  • At least 23 people were shot, one fatally, during a gathering in a parking lot that drew hundreds of people in a suburban town southwest of Chicago early Sunday, authorities said. The mass shooting took place in a parking lot in a strip mall in Willowbrook, Illinois, shortly before 12:30 a.m., Battalion Chief Joe Ostrander with the Tri-State Fire Protection District told WGN, a Chicago-area news station. The DuPage County Sheriff’s Office said hundreds of people were at the “peaceful gathering” to celebrate Juneteenth before multiple shots were fired into the crowd.
  • In Washington State, two people were killed and three injured in a shooting near a campground where many people were staying to attend a two-day music festival. Thousands of people were in attendance. Organizers of the Beyond Wonderland electronic music festival said the second day of events at the Gorge Amphitheatre were canceled.
  • In St. Louis, a shooting at 1:03 a.m. Sunday killed one person and injured 10, half of whom were under the age of 18, Police Chief Robert Tracy said in a news briefing Sunday afternoon aired by KMVO television. A 17-year-old boy died in the attack and police had one person in custody but more arrests were also possible, Tracy said. The incident occurred in the downtown area on the fifth floor of an office building that police believe was being used as a party site.
  • One state trooper was killed and a second critically wounded just hours apart in central Pennsylvania on Saturday after a gunman attacked a state police barracks.  The suspect drove his truck into the parking lot of the Lewistown barracks about 11 a.m. Saturday and opened fire with a large-caliber rifle on marked patrol cars before fleeing, authorities said Sunday. Lt. James Wagner, 45, was shot and critically wounded after encountering the suspect several miles away in Mifflintown. Later, Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr., 29, was ambushed and killed by a gunshot through the windshield of his patrol car as he drove down a road in nearby Walker Township, authorities said. The suspect was shot and killed after a fierce gunbattle, said Lt. Col. George Bivens, who went up in a helicopter to coordinate the search for the 38-year-old suspect.
  • A shooting at a pool party in Carson, California, a city about 17 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, left eight people wounded, authorities said Saturday. KABC-TV reported the shooting occurred around midnight at a residential pool party. The eight victims were between the ages of 16 and 24, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. They were taken to area hospitals, and two were listed in critical condition, the statement said.
  • A Friday night shooting in Baltimore injured six people but all were expected to survive, police said. Baltimore Police Department spokesperson Lindsey Eldridge said victims range in age from 17 to 26. Police found three men with multiple gunshot wounds just before 9 p.m. after hearing shots fired. The three men were transported to area hospitals.

➤SPEEDING DRIVER KILLS 5 WOMEN: Five young Minnesota women and teens were killed while preparing for a friend’s wedding the next day when a speeding SUV violently crashed into their car Friday, according to authorities and community leaders. The five young women were on their way home from the mall Friday night when the car they were in was slammed into, according to reports, with all five pronounced dead at the scene.

The five victims, identified Sunday as Sabiriin Ali, 17; Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sagal Hersi, 19; and Siham Adam, 19, were getting henna applied and doing other shopping ahead of their friend’s Saturday nuptials, the Star Tribune reported. “They weren’t doing anything wrong,” Khalid Omar, who leads the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center where the five attended, told the newspaper. “They were just getting ready for their friend’s wedding.”

➤SENATOR TIM SCOTT WELCOME NEGATIVE COMMENTS BY OBAMA: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) struck back at claims former President Barack Obama made last week, where he said that minority GOP candidates uncritically validate the United States while ignoring race. Scott, a Republican presidential candidate, pushed back on Obama's comments by arguing that the "truth of my life disproves lies of the radical left," while speaking on Fox's Fox News Sunday.  "There is no higher compliment than to be attacked by President Obama. Whenever the Democrats feel attacked, they drag out the former president and have him make some negative comments about someone running, hoping that their numbers go down. Here is what people need to know, truth of my life disproves lies of the radical left," Scott said. Obama, in a wide-ranging discussion on Axe Files podcast last week, called out minority GOP candidates and alleged that they gloss over historic racism and do not acknowledge it, arguing that voters should be "skeptical" of these candidates.

➤BLINKEN AWAITS NOD TO MEET XI: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi at the start of the second and final day of a rare visit to Beijing on Monday, aimed at preventing the many disagreements between the rival powers from spiraling into conflict. The two top diplomats shook hands inside a red-carpeted hall at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing, before talks that State Department officials said lasted for around three hours. All eyes will be on whether Blinken will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day, an engagement sources familiar with the matter said was expected but was yet to be confirmed by the State Department or Chinese officials.

➤FETTERMAN STUMBLES OVER WORDS DURING I95 BRIDGE VISIT BY BIDEN: Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman stumbled over his words, mispronouncing 'infrastructure' and 'delegation', as he spoke to the media on Saturday after showing up in a hoodie and shorts to tour the collapsed I-95 bridge with President Biden. Fetterman, who continues to recover from a stroke, was slammed Sunday for his casual outfit choice while his fellow Democrat politicians were all smartly-dressed in suits. 

In his remarks to the media, Fetterman said that Biden 'is here to commit to work with the governor and the 'delegadation' to make sure that we get this fixed quick, fast, as well, too. This is a president that is committed to 'infructure,' yeah, and then on top of that the jewel kind of a law of the 'infration.' Biden - no stranger to verbal gaffes - nodded politely as Fetterman stumbled over his speech.  It comes just a few days after the embattled senator sparked health concerns at a Senate Environment Committee hearing Wednesday when he stumbled through his remarks about the I-95 bridge collapse. 

➤U.S. BEACHES CONTAMINATED BY FECAL MATTER: As the summer season gets underway, a new report finds that many coastal U.S. waterways, including popular beaches for swimming, are contaminated with unsafe levels of fecal bacteria.After sampling water sites around the country, the Surfrider Foundation, an ocean protection advocacy organization, found unsafe levels of fecal contamination at 19% of the 9,095 water samples. Of the 496 sites sampled, 301 — 61% — had at least one sample from last year that tested above the recreational water health standard. During storms, U.S. beaches are often inundated with runoff from streets and sewers, bringing bacteria into the ocean or inland waterways such as rivers and lakes. Pavement doesn’t absorb water the way forests, wetlands and other natural areas do. Many older cities have a combined sewer system collecting rainwater runoff, sewage, and industrial wastewater into one pipe. In heavy rains — which are increasingly common due to climate change — sewage treatment plants can become overloaded, leading them to discharge untreated sewage directly into the water.

➤WOMAN DECLARED DEAD AFTER WAKING IN COFFIN: A woman who had been declared dead and surprised her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake this month has died after seven days in intensive care. Gilberto Barbera Montoya, the woman's son, said doctors at the state hospital where she was rushed after the incident said she died on Friday evening local time. Ecuador's health ministry confirmed in a statement that 76-year-old Bella Montoya died from an ischemic stroke after spending a week in intensive care. It said Ms Montoya had remained under "permanent surveillance", but didn't provide further information on the medical investigation surrounding the case. Mr Barbera Montoya said he had not receivr.ed any report from authorities explaining why she was declared dead a week earlier.

Daily Mail Composite 6/19/23

🏌FROM WORST TO FIRST: Wyndham Clark, who was ranked 293rd in the Official World Golf Ranking a year ago and had never finished better than a tie for 75th in a major championship, held off Rory McIlroy, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler in the final round to win the 123rd U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club.  Clark, from Denver, carded an even-par 70 on Sunday. His 10-under total of 270 was 1 stroke ahead of McIlroy, who failed to end a nearly nine-year drought without a major championship.

⚾MLB MARLINS 4 NATIONALS 2: The Miami Marlins completed a three-game sweep Sunday, defeating the Washington Nationals 4-2 to move 10 games over .500 for the first time in 12 years. The Marlins improved to 41-31 and are off to the second-best start in franchise history through 72 games, behind only the 1997 team that was 43-29 and went on to win the World Series. Miami, which is 10 games over .500 for the first time since May 28, 2011, has swept the Nationals in three of its four trips to Washington since the start of last season. 'Proud of the guys and how they go about their business every day,' first-year manager Skip Schumaker said. 'Win or lose, they're going about their business right. That's the main thing. That's the culture we're trying to set.'

⚾MLB CARDINALS 8, METS 7: Nolan Arenado's second homer of the game was a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning that lifted St. Louis past New York for a rare series win. Arenado hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Cardinals, who blew an early 5-1 lead before the third baseman homered off Adam Ottavino (0-3) with one out in the ninth. Paul DeJong and Jordan Walker also homered while Paul Goldschmidt had a two-run double and Brendan Donovan added an RBI single among his three hits for St. Louis.

⚾MLB PADRES 5, RAYS 4: Manny Machado drove in two runs, Joe Musgrove worked six solid innings and Fernando Tatis Jr. and catcher Austin Nola teamed up to punch out a potential tying run at home plate as San Diego beat MLB-leading Tampa Bay to take the three-game series.  The Padres were ahead 5-4 in the top of the eighth inning when Tatis threw a near-strike to Nola at the plate to get Manuel Margot, who was trying to tie the game by scoring from second base on a single to right field by Christian Bethancourt.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Red Sox 6 Yankees 2
  • Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
  • Phillies 3 Athletics 2
  • Orioles 6 Cubs 3
  • Braves 14 Rockies 6
  • Angels 5 Royals 2
  • Brewers 5 Pirates 2
  • Tigers 6 Twins 4
  • Reds 9 Astros 7
  • Rangers 11 Blue Jays 7
  • Mariners 5 White Sox 1
  • Giants 7 Dodgers 3
  • Guardians 12 D'Backs 3


➤FORECASTERS WATCHING DEVEOPING SYSTEM: The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is monitoring Invest 92L, which may become the second named tropical system of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, along with an area just east of the invest.  Invest 92L is moving to the west at 16 mph and is expected to continue moving across the central Atlantic over the next several days. Forecasters expect Invest 92L to become a tropical depression or tropical storm in the next day.The second area that the NHC is monitoring is an area of showers and thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave that recently emerged off the coast of Africa. (Fox Weather)



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