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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

6/12 WAKE-UP CALL: A Biden Now Convicted Felon


Hunter Biden was found guilty of falsely claiming to be drug-free when applying to buy a handgun six years ago. A federal jury in Delaware deliberated for about three hours over two days before convicting President Biden’s son of three felony counts. The case exposed the trouble Hunter’s addiction caused in his family and cast a shadow over his father’s reelection campaign. Hunter is the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of criminal charges. He faces up to 25 years behind bars, although any prison term is likely to amount to a fraction of that. President Biden said that he was “so proud” of who Hunter is now and that he will “accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” The senior Biden has said he wouldn’t pardon his son.

➤PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE LOOMS:  Hunter Biden's felony conviction on Tuesday could continue to distract President Joe Biden during pivotal weeks of his 2024 reelection bid, with the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump fast approaching and the president's son's second criminal trial coming shortly before Election Day. Although not a part of his father's campaign and not on the ballot himself, Hunter Biden's conviction on three gun related charges could also complicate Joe Biden's campaign's labeling of his opponent, Trump, as a felon who should not return to the Oval Office.

Trump has largely avoided talking about the trial proceedings, but it's not clear whether that'll continue. In the hours after the verdict, he did not address it on social media, and people in his orbit issued contrasting messages, indicating they hadn't decided on a strategy for handling the guilty verdict. Trump and Joe Biden will face each other for the first time in a presidential debate June 27.

➤HOSTAGES ENDURED HORRORS: Rescued Israeli hostages endured punishments, fear and isolation, according to their relatives and Israeli security and medical officials. The Israeli military on Saturday rescued three men and one woman held captive since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. For six months, the three men lived in one dark room in central Gaza, sleeping on small mattresses on the ground. Their sole contact with the outside world was the guards who brought food and at times said that no one was coming for them. Israeli security forces and the hostages identified a Palestinian journalist as one of their captors. He and his father—a doctor and imam at a Hamas-run mosque—were killed during the operation.

➤APPLE INTELLIGANCE SHAKES UP COMPETITIVE BALANCE: The Apple-OpenAI deal is shaking up the competitive balance in the artificial intelligence race. The agreement, announced Monday, gives Apple a chance to bring AI to the masses and sell more phones as it develops its own AI models. Integrating its ChatGPT product into Apple offerings gives OpenAI access to a far larger universe of user potential. But the collaboration also raises questions about OpenAI’s partnership with its most important big tech partner, Microsoft. OpenAI declined to describe the differences between the two deals. The OpenAI-Apple agreement also deals a setback to Google, which has long paid Apple billions of dollars a year to be its default tool for internet searches. A wedge between Apple and Google could benefit Microsoft; Google is its most direct rival in AI.


➤PARAMOUNT-SKYDANCE TALKS END:  The company that controls Paramount Global ended deal talks with Skydance Media. The news comes after months of negotiations in one of the messiest deal dramas in recent years. Shari Redstone, whose family movie-theater company, National Amusements, owns a controlling stake in Paramount, will now likely pursue a sale of only National Amusements, some of the people said. Under the proposed deal from David Ellison’s Skydance, the production company would have bought National Amusements for around $1.7 billion in cash and, in a second step, would have merged Paramount into Skydance, in a stock deal. Hollywood producer Steven Paul and media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. are each interested in National Amusements

➤SANDY HOOK SURVIVORS GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL:  Sandy Hook shooting survivors are set to graduate from Newtown High School with mixed feelings knowing 20 of their slain classmates won’t be walking across the stage with them. About 60 of the 330 graduating seniors from the Connecticut high school were in Sandy Hook Elementary School when a deranged gunman opened fire on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 first graders and another six staffers. 

While the victims of one of the worst school shootings in US history will be honored during the ceremony, it hasn’t been revealed how.

🌭NATHAN'S HAS BEEF WITH JOEY CHESTNUT: For the first time since 2015, the Mustard Belt will be around a new, very bloated waist come Independence Day. Joey Chestnut has chomped competition in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every Fourth of July since 2007, save one year when he was unseated (and over-eated) by Matt Stonie. This year, Chestnut won't be able to defend the Mustard Belt due to a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods. As first reported by the New York Post, Chestnut won't be participating in this year's contest amidst a dispute with Major League Eating, the organization which sanctions the contest. According to the Post, Chestnut has agreed to a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a brand that sells meat substitutes. That is a no-no for MLE and Nathan's leaving the partnership belly up.

⚾YANKEES 10 ROYALS 1: Aaron Judge, back from his first day off of the season, homered and knocked in three runs as the New York Yankees demolished the host Kansas City Royals 10-1 Tuesday. Following a rest day, Judge returned to deliver a first-inning RBI single, plating Anthony Volpe, who tripled on the second pitch of the game. In the seventh, Judge hit a two-run, 436-foot blast to center, his 25th, for a 9-0 Yankees lead. He is hitting .401 with 21 homers and 49 RBIs over his past 41 games.

Dodgers Slam 4 HRs In One Inning
⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Yankees 10 Royals 1
  • Phillies 4 Red Sox 1
  • Rays 5 Cubs 2
  • Dodgers 15 Rangers 2
  • Astros 3 Giants 1
  • Mariners 4 White Sox 3
  • Padres 4 Athletics 3
  • D-Backs 9 Angels 4
  • Blue Jays 3 Brewers 0
  • Pirates 2 Cardinals 1
  • Rockies 5 Twins 4
  • Guardians 5 Reds 3
  • Marlins 4 Mets 2
  • Nationals 5 Tigers 4
  • Orioles 4 Braves 0

⚾D-BACKS POUND 15 HITS: Randal Grichuk and Corbin Carroll each fell one component short of the cycle as two of four Diamondbacks to record three hits during Arizona's 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday in Phoenix. Grichuk finished a single shy and Carroll was missing the homer while Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. joined them as part of the three-hit brigade. Grichuk, Gurriel and Moreno drove in two runs apiece as Arizona racked up 15 hits while winning for the seventh time in 10 games.

🌧GULF SYSTEM IS A RAINMAKER: Although not officially a tropical storm, a weather system drenching much of Florida Tuesday with heavy rain and thunderstorms is associated with a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico, one that the National Hurricane Center is giving a 20% chance of development into a depression or tropical storm over the next seven days. However, "regardless of development, heavy rainfall is expected across portions of Florida during the next few days," the hurricane center said. The system is expected to move northeast across Florida over the next few days, the hurricane center said.  Some areas could see almost two feet of rain, according to AccuWeather.

➤WEDNESDAY'S WEATHER:



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