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Thursday, June 6, 2024

6/6 WAKE-UP CALL: D-Day Remembered


Last World War II vets converge on Normandy for D-Day . . . Veterans of World War II, many of them centenarians and likely returning to France for one last time, pilgrimaged Tuesday to what was the bloodiest of five Allied landing beaches on June 6, 1944. They remembered fallen friends. They relived horrors they experienced in combat. They blessed their good fortune for surviving. And they mourned those who paid the ultimate price. They also bore a message for generations behind them, who owe them so much: Don’t forget what we did. 


More than 4,400 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, including more than 2,500 Americans. The Allied toll grew appallingly in the Battle of Normandy that ensued, with 73,000 killed and 153,000 wounded. 

➤HUNTER'S EXes TESTIFY ON HIS ADDICTIONS: Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend testified about his history of addiction in his trial for allegedly lying about his drug use when buying a gun in 2018. Kathleen Buhle told jurors about confronting her then-husband in 2015 about a crack pipe she’d found in the porch of their Washington, D.C., home and his admitting to using crack cocaine. Then, Zoe Kestan, a woman who dated Hunter Biden in 2018, said that, throughout their relationship, she saw him smoking crack cocaine. President Biden’s son faces federal gun-related charges and has denied knowingly lying on a government form. During opening statements yesterday, the junior Biden’s lawyer said that the jury should consider whether the form’s questions were asked clearly.

➤TRUMP POLLING:  Conviction has not harmed Trump in polls / An Issues and Insights (I&I)/TIPP poll published Monday revealed that Trump and Biden are tied at 41 percent in a head-to-head matchup. That is an improvement for Trump, who was behind Biden in an I&I/TIPP poll in May by two points (42 to 40). In a Morning Consult survey conducted on May 31, the day after Trump was found guilty, Biden led Trump by one point (45 percent to 44 percent) in a poll of 2,200 registered voters. 

➤WATCHDOG SUES DOJ FOR TRUMP RECORDS: A conservative nonprofit is suing the Department of Justice after it failed to release records requested under the Freedom of Information Act pertaining to Matthew Colangelo, a key figure in the New York criminal trial of former President Trump. Colangelo left his high-ranking DOJ post to join Bragg's investigation of Trump months before the indictment of the former president. "It is not every day that the number three ranking DOJ official — the Acting Associate Attorney General — leaves his post to join a district attorney’s office," American First Legal said.

➤TRUMP FLIPS ON ABSENTEE VOTING: Trump flips his 2020 stance, launches absentee ballot and early voting push. Former President Trump is urging Republicans to use "every appropriate tool to beat the Democrats," which the presumptive GOP nominee says includes early voting and absentee balloting. It's a major reversal from Trump's stance four years ago, when he repeatedly condemned early-in-person voting and mail-in balloting and said they were to blame for what he argued was massive election fraud that led to his defeat at the hands of President Biden.

➤TRUMP AFTER PHILLY BLACK VOTERS:  Two of Donald Trump’s most prominent Black surrogates, Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, ventured into Philadelphia this week to make their pitch at an event billed as “Congress, Cognac and Cigars.” Between sips of Remy Martin and Hennessey and drags on Romeo Y Julieta cigars, the two Republicans tried to persuade the racially mixed, largely Black audience on why more Black voters would benefit from abandoning the Democratic Party. 

➤BIDEN EXECUTIVE ORDER FULL OF LOOPHOLES: President Joe Biden’s executive order to limit illegal crossings on the southern border is full of exemptions for migrants who claim asylum, according to an internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But even after the border is allegedly shut down after 2,500 average illegal crossings a day over the course of the week, a number of migrants may still enter the United States. Any "noncitizen," the memo states, may be permitted to enter under "urgent humanitarian" conditions.

➤ISRAEL TARGETS HAMAS COMPOUND IN SCHOOL BUILDING:  Israel targeted a Gaza school on Thursday that it said contained a Hamas compound, killing fighters involved in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the eight-month war, but Gaza media said the strike killed at least 27 people seeking shelter. Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run government media office, rejected Israel's claims that the U.N. school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post."The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people," Thawabta told Reuters.  Israel's military said that before the strike by Israeli fighter jets, the military took steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.


➤FULL SCALE WAR LOOMS:  Israel and Hezbollah are moving closer to a full-scale war after months of escalating hostilities with the Lebanese militant group, adding pressure on Israel’s government to secure its northern border. Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization closely aligned with Iran, opened a battle front with Israel on Oct. 8, a day after the deadly Hamas-led raid inside Israel sparked the current war in Gaza.

➤TRUMP RICO CASE ON HOLD: The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday temporarily halted the 2020 election racketeering case involving former President Donald Trump and 14 others until the appeal seeking the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is resolved. The late afternoon ruling, which came without elaboration, issues a stay in the election subversion case until the appellate court can weigh the evidence and make a decision. The court on Monday scheduled the appeal for Oct. 4, strongly suggesting that the case will not be tried before the Nov. 5 election. Trump and eight other defendants are seeking to overturn a ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said in March that Willis can stay on the case despite their allegations of misconduct and financial conflict of interest. He had said he would allow some trial preparations to continue while the case is appealed.

👑KATE MAY NEVER RETURN TO ROYAL ROLE:  By all accounts, Kate appears to be on the road to recovery. In her emotional March announcement, the princess revealed that she was in the treatments. But according to a source: But "she’s not able to see many people because she is susceptible to getting sick and they don’t want her compromised, but she’s up and about," a source said. Kate’s team is “reevaluating what she’s going to be able to take on when she comes back,” noting, “She may never come back in the role that people saw her in before.”

🎤HOT MIC ZINGER: Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was caught on a hot microphone appearing to mock President Joe Biden over his claim that his uncle was eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during World War II, according to video footage circulating on social media. While walking off the stage after a conference centered on the border crisis, Ernst was speaking with Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy when she took a jab at the president that was caught on the microphone. “Bottom line, never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals,” she said, according to the footage.

🏈10 NFL TEAMS REFUSE PRIDE MONTH MESSAGING: As many as ten professional NFL teams have refused to offer any LGBTQ Pride Month messaging for the month of June. Of the NFL’s 32 professional teams, just 22 commemorated Pride Month with the start of June over the weekend via social media, reaching a combined 42 million followers overall. The teams are mostly red state: The Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, and the Atlanta Falcons. Last year, the National Hockey League said its teams would no longer wear rainbow-colored LGBTQ-themed jerseys during pregame warmups for Pride nights.


⚾PIRATES 10 DODGERS 6: Shohei Ohtani hit a home run off of Paul Skenes, but the touted right-handed rookie and the Pittsburgh Pirates prevailed 10-6 over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. Nick Gonzales matched his career high with four RBIs for Pittsburgh, including a two-run double that ignited a seven-run second inning. Yasmani Grandal, Edward Olivares and Ke'Bryan Hayes each had RBI singles for the Pirates, who can sweep the three-game series with a win on Thursday.Skenes (3-0) surrendered a two-run blast to Ohtani and a solo shot to Andy Pages but earned the win by limiting Los Angeles to those three runs on six hits while striking out eight and walking one over five innings. Jason Heyward led the Dodgers with three hits and two runs, while Ohtani, Pages and Will Smith tallied two hits apiece.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Red Sox 9 Atlanta 0
  • Reds  12 Rockies 7
  • Mets 9 Nationals 1
  • Cardinals 4 Astros 2
  • Giants 9 D-Backs 3
  • Phillies 2 Brewers 0
  • Pirates 10 Dodgers 6
  • Blue Jays 3 Orioles 2
  • Rangers 9 Tigers 1
  • Cubs 7 White Sox 6
  • Angels 3 Padres 2
  • A's 2 Mariners 1
  • Yankees 9 Twins 5
  • Royals-Guardians PP
🠊Carlos Rodon retired the first 16 hitters he faced and pitched six solid innings as the New York Yankees recorded a 9-5 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night. The Yankees matched a season high with their seventh straight win and improved to 5-0 in the season series against the Twins. New York has outscored Minnesota 28-7. Rodon (8-2) won his career-high sixth straight start since allowing seven runs (six earned) in four-plus innings at Baltimore on May 2. On Wednesday, he gave up two runs on three hits and no walks to go along with a season-best nine strikeouts.

➤STORMS HIT CENTRAL-EASTERN U-S: Strong thunderstorms barreled across the central and eastern U.S. on Wednesday, reportedly claiming the life of a young child, triggering flood advisories and a series of travel delays while a heat dome baked California's Central Valley, other parts of the West and southern Texas. A 2-year-old was killed and a two-month old and their mother were injured when a tree fell on their house in Livonia − 20 miles northwest of Detroit − amid high winds from a storm, WJBK-TV reported. There were no details on the condition on the mother and the baby, who were hospitalized. Separate storms were set to roll over the Midwest, lower Plains, Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic region throughout the day and into the night, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. By the morning, flash flood warnings were in effect across parts of north-Central Texas and northwestern Louisiana as well as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Philadelphia.

➤THURSDAY'S WEATHER:



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