Random News and Notes 5 June
In response to an Egyptian naval blockade of the strait of Tiran and a build-up of Arab forces along its borders Israel carries out an aerial attack against Egypt kicking off the 6 day war. In six days of fighting, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem, both previously under Jordanian rule.
I disagree with the characterization of the attack as pre-emptive. Egypt’s forcible closure of the strain of Tiran was an act of war on its own. Regardless of semantics, in just 6 days, the IDF inflicted horrific losses on the Arab coalition. Egypt alone had 15,000 dead and the total dead for the Arab armies exceeded 25,000. They also lost some 60% of their military equipment, either destroyed or captured. The Jordanian Air Force ceased to exist by the 2nd day.
The Arab coalition suffered sweeping territorial defeats as well. Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Jordan lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Syria lost the strategically vital Golan Heights.
In contrast, despite being outnumbered badly, the IDF lost about 800 dead, fewer than 100 tanks and around 40 aircraft to the Arabs.
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary. Immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was ready to end its fractious divisions, Kennedy was shot several times by 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. He was pronounced dead a day later, on June 6, 1968.
We start the news in the land of Fruits and Nuts where First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced his office is pursuing multiple election fraud cases with the FBI. He criticized California’s universal mail-in voting and lack of voter ID as creating undetected fraud risks. The statement coincides with early strong showings by Republicans Steve Hilton in the governor’s race and Spencer Pratt for L.A. mayor, while millions of ballots remain uncounted.
Essayli referenced an audit dispute over non-citizen registrations now before the Ninth Circuit, as officials stress fraud is rare despite recent prosecutions like a plea from a woman who paid homeless people to register.
That thing they say isn’t happening keeps happening. . .
You all know this Editor is a massive baseball fan and an even bigger Yankees fan (Prayers up for Aaron Judge IYKYK) but I may have to switch my team allegiance. The Texas Rangers are not celebrating pride month. They will however host Faith & Family Night on 18 June against the Minnesota Twins at Globe Life Field, featuring personal stories from players like Wyatt Langford, Josh Jung, and Cody Bradford about how faith shapes their lives on and off the field. This continues their policy of no Pride Nights since at least 2003.
Here is a handy chart to show you how gay your baseball team is:
All I can say is I am glad I am a fan of the non-homo NYC team. I can deal with being an ally. Rogue Unicorn is a Mets fan and they are one of the worst teams in baseball this year and gay.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command conducted a boarding of the motor tanker MT Davina, a stateless vessel sanctioned in October 2024 for shipping Iranian crude to China on behalf of networks supporting the National Iranian Oil Company. Tracking showed it loaded 1.9 million barrels at Kharg Island on March 20, 2026, then went dark before anchoring near Sri Lanka.
. . . We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.
International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors. The Department of War will continue to deny illicit act ors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.
he operation underscores U.S. resolve to deny illicit actors safe passage in international waters, amid broader efforts targeting vessels tied to Iran, Venezuela, and Russia.
Please Sir, may I have some more?
In more Iran related news, the IRGC claims – once again – to have chased off the US Navy. This time it supposedly happened in the Sea of Oman. They even posted a video of some missiles being launched. At what it is not clear, but that they were launched from a truck on dry land is.
While the anti-shipping missiles Iran is known to have (or had) could cause pretty serious damage if they struck a ship, there is no way they even get close.
CENTCOM issued a fact check on the claims: