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Tuesday, June 27, 2023

6/27 WAKE-UP CALL: Putin Accuses Ukraine, West For Failed Coup

New York Post Composite Graphic

 Vladimir Putin last night insisted that a bloody civil war has been averted after the 'failed' Wagner coup, which stunned the country with an aborted march on Moscow over the weekend. In a short pre-recorded TV address to the nation, the warmonger accused Ukraine and its Western allies of wanting Russians to 'kill each other'. He denounced the Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted Wagner mutineers as 'criminals' and warned he would bring them to 'justice'. Putin then baselessly claimed that Ukraine and the West hoped that the rebellion would lead to civil war in Russia, in unsubstantiated remarks which appeared to suggest he was accusing Kyiv and its allies of having a part in the extraordinary developments at the weekend. The president attempted to reassure Russians that a civil war had been avoided and that the Kremlin was back in control of the nation.

Putin Honors Fallen: Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to pilots killed fighting an aborted mutiny and thanked the nation for showing patriotic unity while confirming for the first time that Russian pilots died opposing the Wagner militia group's march on Moscow. Putin's televised address on Monday was his first public comment since Saturday's armed revolt led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, and confirmed reports on social media that Wagner forces had downed Russian aircraft in the fighting. He said Russia's enemies wanted to see the country "choke in bloody civil strife". There has been no official information about how many pilots died or how many aircraft were shot down.

➤COUP ATTEMPT DEFENDED: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin (above right) defended his short-lived insurrection and claimed he wasn’t trying to oust Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, the Kremlin took steps to reassert control over the country following the most serious challenge to the Russian president’s authority in his 23 years in power. Prigozhin, whose whereabouts are unknown, said in a video that the armed march to Moscow, which threatened to plunge Russia into chaos, was to protest his paramilitary group’s treatment. State media reported that he was under criminal investigation. Putin blasted the mutineers for betraying their country but also thanked the Wagner soldiers who turned back. He reiterated that Wagner troops can sign contracts with the Defense Ministry or go to Belarus. Ukraine said it made fresh territorial gains in its counteroffensive as Kyiv looks to take advantage of the Russian disarray. European foreign ministers have since pledged additional military support for Ukraine, and Germany said it would permanently deploy roughly 4,000 soldiers to NATO ally Lithuania.

'Dead Man Walking': Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin is a “dead man walking” after leading a rebellion that was seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biggest threat to power in 23 years, experts said Monday. Ian Bremmer, president of the geopolitical risk firm Eurasia Group, said it is clear that Prigozhin will be executed over his attempted coup, despite public assurances from the Kremlin that Putin pardoned and exiled his former ally for quickly abandoning the insurrection. “[Prigozhin is] kind of dead man walking at this point,” Bremmer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” “I would be very surprised that he’s still with us in a few months’ time.


🖭TRUMP DOC TAPE EMERGES: Donald Trump's discussion with aides regarding his improper - and potentially illegal - possession of classified documents can be heard in a new audio recording released on Monday night. The two-minute recording of the former president's 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey reveals him talking about a document detailing plans to attack Iran, which he did not declassify before leaving office but took with him anyway. The quote was not included in the Justice Department indictment, which handed down 37 counts against the ex-president.

➤HOUSE REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR BIDEN IMPEACHMENT: Some hard-right House Republicans want to fast-track a move to impeach President Biden. GOP-led committees launched multiple investigations into his actions, but last week, with the probes still outstanding, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) sought a snap vote on impeaching Biden over his handling of migrants at the border. Cautious House Republican leaders deflected the move by opting for a vote directing the Homeland Security Committee to initiate an investigation. That passed along party lines. Democrats say this is retribution for Donald Trump’s two impeachments. Under the Constitution, treason, bribery and other “high crimes and misdemeanors” are grounds for impeachment.

➤BIDEN NO LIES: President Biden claimed yet again Monday that he was being truthful when he said he “never” spoke with his son Hunter about his foreign business dealings — despite growing evidence implicating the elder Biden in what Republicans say was a corrupt influence-peddling scheme. “Did you lie about never speaking to Hunter about his business dealings?” Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked Biden as he departed a White House East Room event focused on infrastructure. “No,” the 80-year-old president replied — just four days after the bombshell release of a text message from Hunter implicating him in an apparent 2017 shakedown of a Chinese government-linked business. Hunter Biden invoked his dad in the threatening WhatsApp text message on July 30, 2017, to an employee of CEFC China Energy. Within 10 days of the message, roughly $5 million began flowing to the Biden family from CEFC, a cog in Beijing’s “Belt and Road” influence initiative, according to prior documentation reported in 2020 by Republican-led Senate committees.


👗SKIRTS REQUIRED? SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO HEAR CASE CHALLENGING SCHOOL DRESS CODE: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a suit challenging a dress code at a North Carolina charter school that required girls to wear skirts. The decision leaves in place a ruling from a federal appeals court in Virginia that held the dress code violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Students and parents in Leland, N.C., have for years battled the Charter Day School over the uniform policy. The reason for the policy, a school administrator told one of the parents, is that girls are "fragile vessels" deserving of "gentle" treatment by their male classmates.

➤JAMES CROWN, OWNER OF ASPEN SKIING CO., DIES IN CRASH AT ASPEN MOTORSPORTS PARK: James “Jim” Crown, the 70-year-old businessman, socialite and member of the billionaire Crown family who owns Aspen Skiing Co., died Sunday in a crash at the Aspen Motorsports Park in Woody Creek. The Pitkin County Coroner’s Office says he collided with an impact barrier at the member-owned, country club motorsports park. “The official cause of death is pending autopsy although multiple blunt force trauma is evident,” the coroner’s office said in a news release. “The manner is accident.”

➤COLORADO LGBTQ+ NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING SUSPECT PLEADS GUILTY TO 5 COUNTS OF MURDER: The suspect in a mass shooting at LGBTQ bar Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that left five people dead accepted a plea deal Monday. Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary, has pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in the first degree, 46 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. They pleaded no contest to two bias-motivated crimes. Aldrich will receive five consecutive life sentences without the possibility for parole on the murder charges, according to Judge Michael McHenry. Aldrich will also receive 46 consecutive 48-year sentences for the attempted murder counts followed by mandatory periods of parole, according to the judge.

➤5 CO-WORKERS DEAD WHEN VEHICLE RUNS OFF FL ROAD: A group of Florida teenagers who worked at the same steakhouse were killed overnight Sunday when the car they were in ran off the road and plunged into a retention pond, authorities said. Three men and two women, ages 18-19, were found dead in the black Kia sedan after the vehicle was pulled out of the body of water next to Interstate 75 Monday morning, authorities said, according to reports. “It took a long time to get (that car) out,” Fort Myers Police Department spokesperson Kristin Capuzzi said, according to the News-Press. Four of the teens were identified as Amanda Ferguson, Eric Cox, Breanna Coleman and Jackson Eyre, according to reports. The four worked together at the Fort Myers Texas Roadhouse, which was closed Monday.

✞AIRPORT WORKER'S DEATH WAS APPARENT SUICIDE: David Renner has been identified as the San Antonio airport worker killed by jumping into the engine of a taxiing Delta Airlines jet. His brother, Joshua Renner, stated David's childhood was 'complicated at times with living in two separate households growing up just like all the other divorced kids.' 'This isn’t the first time David has tried something like this from my knowledge,' Joshua said. 'There were other times. His brother said in recent months that David had given no hints of self-harm. This time I thought it was different. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Monday ruled his death a suicide and confirmed Renner's identity.


🛫AIRPORTS TO AVOID THIS SUMMER:  The 10 WORST airports likely to face travel disruptions this summer as July 4 weekend is expected to see more than 24 million Americans flying across the country.

🛬OVER 1,400 FLIGHTS CANCELED AS SEVERE WEATHER STRIKES EAST COAST: The East Coast is bracing for severe thunderstorms on Monday from New York down to South Carolina, potentially impacting more than 60 million Americans. The biggest threats are lightning, large hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph. Airlines have cancelled more than 1,400 flights due to the severe weather, with airports in New York City, Boston and Atlanta getting hit the hardest.

🎤ESPN OFFERS ANCHOR $501,000 TO SETTLE LAWSUIT: SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele does not appear inclined to settle her lawsuit with ESPN following the network's settlement offer. Steele, 50, sued ESPN and its parent company Walt Disney Co. in April 2022 over allegations the network violated her free-speech rights in the aftermath of her comments about its Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Walt Disney Co. offered the presenter $501,000 and to cover 'reasonable' attorney fees last week to settle the lawsuit, according to Front Office Sports.

⚾MLB BREWERS 2 METS 1: The Mets fell a season-worst eight games under .500 after Joey Wiemer hit a go-ahead, two-run homer to straightaway centerfield in the sixth inning that lifted the Milwaukee Brewers to a 2-1 victory on Monday night.  Buck Showalter's solution for his struggling New York Mets seems simple enough. 'Win,' the manager said. 'It's not complicated.' So far, not much has worked out. New York, which won 101 games and shared the NL East title last year in Showalter´s first season, is 35-43 despite entering the season with a major league record $355 million payroll. The Mets have lost seven of nine and are 6-15 since completing a three-game sweep of Philadelphia on June 1 - their most recent series win.

⚾MLB ORIOLES 10, REDS 3:  Jordan Westburg had a productive night at the plate and made a slick defensive play in his big-league debut, helping the Baltimore Orioles to a rain-soaked 10-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. The game started 15 minutes late because of the weather, and there was another delay of 1 hour, 44 minutes in the third inning. Baltimore led 2-1 when play was halted, then quickly started adding runs after it resumed. Westburg, one of the game's top infield prospects, was called up before the game and started at second base. He had a hit, a walk, a run and an RBI, and in the fifth, he nearly started a double play by flipping the ball with his glove to shortstop Jorge Mateo on a grounder up the middle.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Braves 4 Twins 1
  • Tigers 7 Rangers 2
  • Angels 2 White Sox 1
  • Mariners 8 Nationals 4
🏀HAWKS DEAL JOHN COLLINS TO JAZZ, OPEN HUGE EXCEPTION, SOURCES SAY: The Atlanta Hawks are trading forward John Collins to the Utah Jazz. The Hawks are acquiring forward Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick for Collins, who is owed $78 million over the next three seasons. The swap creates a $25.3 million trade exception for the Hawks, the largest in the NBA. Atlanta has a year to potentially use the exception to take on a player's contract. The trade cannot become official until July 6.

🏀SPURS' VICTOR WEMBANYAMA TO SKIP FIBAS TO FOCUS ON ROOKIE SEASON: No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama has decided not to play for France in this summer's FIBA World Cup and instead will focus on preparing for his rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs and next year's Paris Olympics. This is a reversal from Wembanyama's previously stated plans for the summer and a blow to the French, the current Olympic silver medalists who are planning to be a serious contender for the world title this August and September in Manila, Philippines.



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