Proud Boys Indicted, Boris Johnson Survives No-Confidence Vote, Migrant Caravan

Your Daily Debrief

June 7th, 2022

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, and here’s the scoop we have for you:

Today’s Highlights

‘Proud Boys’ members indicted on seditious conspiracy charges
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson survives a vote of no-confidence
Thousands in migrant caravan approach the U.S. border from Mexico

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‘Proud Boys’ members indicted on seditious conspiracy charges

A federal grand jury on Monday indicted five members of the Proud Boys, including the group’s former leader Enrique Tarrio, with seditious conspiracy charges related to the January 6th storming of the United States Capitol.

The indictment alleges that the Proud Boys conspired to “oppose the lawful presidential transfer of power by force” after the 2020 election, and maintains that the group held meetings and communicated through encrypted messages in the days leading up to the storming of the Capitol building on January 6th.

Tarrio was arrested in Washington for burning a Black Lives Matter banner at a church two days before January 6th, and wasn’t present at the Capitol on the day when thousands of individuals descended on the building. However, the indictment acknowledges his leadership role in helping to put the riot in motion.

The five members of the Proud Boys named in the indictment (Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola) were previously charged with different conspiracy counts, and are scheduled to stand trial in Washington, D.C.’s federal court in August.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson survives a vote of no-confidence

Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, survived a vote of no-confidence on Monday brought about by gatherings he and his aides hosted during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns.

The vote of no-confidence was forced by members of Johnson’s own political party–the Conservative wing of Parliament colloquially known as the “Tory” party–and a majority vote of 180 members was needed to oust the Prime Minister from his seat as leader of the Conservative party. All in all, 211 members of Parliament voted in support of keeping Johnson in his current position, against 144 members who voted to oust him.

Percentage-wise, 58.6% of Conservative members backed Johnson, a lower percentage than the 63% of members who backed former Prime Minister Theresa May when she faced a vote of no-confidence in 2018 amidst political fallout from Brexit. Since the Tory party failed to secure enough votes to oust Johnson, they can't challenge the Prime Minister again for another 12 months under the current rules.

"I think it's an extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result which enables us to move on to unite," Johnson remarked in an interview after the vote, adding that, "What it means is that as a government, we can move on and focus on the stuff that really matters to people."

Thousands in migrant caravan approach the U.S. border from Mexico

Thousands of migrants on Monday set off from southern Mexico on Monday in hopes of reaching the United States at the same time as the Summit of the Americas takes place this week in Los Angeles.

According to witnesses, roughly 6,000 people left the border city of Tapachula early Monday morning, walking in the rain. The group could be one of the region's largest migrant caravans in recent years, per migration activists, though Mexico's National Institute for Migration did not provide any additional comment on the caravan, nor an estimate of the group's size.

Luis Garcia Villagran–the caravan’s organizer–said the group was composed of people of various nationalities fleeing hardship in their home countries, including many from Venezuela. When remarking on the caravan, he said, "These are countries collapsing from poverty and violence. We strongly urge those who attend the summit…to look at what is happening, and what could happen even more often in Mexico, if something is not done soon.”

President Joe Biden will host Latin American nations at the Summit of the Americas later in the week, and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed yesterday that he will not be attending this year’s summit.

Around the Globe

Britain begins the world’s largest trial of the 4-day workweek for over 3,300 workers
Dominican Republic minister of environment and natural resources Orlando Jorge Mera was shot and killed in his office by a close personal friend
A federal judge issued warrants for the seizure of two luxury airplanes worth roughly $400 million owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich

On the Homefront

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating Twitter “for potentially misleading Texans on the number of its ‘bot’ users”
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia says raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 for purchasing semi-automatic rifles could potentially curb gun violence
Rescuers found a 4-year-old boy after he had gone missing on Friday near his home in Montana, per authorities

Glitz & Games

Paramount Pictures was sued for releasing Top Gun: Maverick without securing a license from the estate of the writer Ehud Yonay, whose article inspired the original 1986 film
Twenty-four women have filed lawsuits against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson for sexual misconduct during massage sessions
Actress Neve Campell exits Scream 6 for receiving an offer to star in the new sequel that “did not equate to the value” she has brought to the franchise, she says

Money Moves

Major indexes in the stock market started off with gains and fell throughout the day, but still closed down higher than where they opened (Dow +0.05%, Nasdaq +0.40%, S&P 500 +0.31%)
Amazon stock (NASDAQ: AMZN) split today for the first time since 1999 in a 20-for-1 ratio; share prices closed +1.99% higher after it took effect
Kohl’s enters into advanced talks to be sold in a deal valuing the retail store chain at nearly $8 billion
Elon Musk threatens to nix his acquisition of Twitter, claiming it is “actively resisting and thwarting” his right to information regarding the number of fake accounts on its platform

Tips & Tricks

Bump This: We’re getting pseudo-Queen vibes from the new Panic! At the Disco release “Viva Las Vengeance;” check out the new track on Spotify and Apple Music
Give Back: Dave Chappelle will donate all proceeds from his stand-up show in Buffalo on Sunday to the families of victims who died in the May 14th shooting at Tops Friendly Market
Nerd Out: Here’s everything that Apple revealed during the keynote at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, including new software for iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and iPad, as well as a new M2 chip
Say What: Perfume brand Layer’r Shot apologized after Priyanka Chopra and others accused its recent commercial of promoting rape culture
Hot Goss: Texas A&M spokesperson says Kyle Rittenhouse “has not been admitted as a student this summer or fall” after the 19-year-old claimed that he would be attending the university on a podcast
Life Hack: You can clean a blender by adding liquid soap and warm water to the inside, blending the mixture, and rinsing it afterwards

Question of the day

What's a song that gets stuck in your head as soon as you hear it? Let us in on it here:

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Looking Back...

On June 7th, 1982, Graceland—Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, Tennessee, where he died in 1977—was opened for public tours; it went on to become one of the top tourist attractions in the United States.