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Tuesday, July 11, 2023

7/11 WAKE-UP CALL: NATO Meets On Ukraine Question

NATO leaders will grapple with Ukraine's membership ambitions at their summit Tuesday, their determination to face down Russia boosted by a breakthrough in Sweden's bid to join the alliance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to head to Vilnius for the two-day summit to make the case that Kyiv has earned the right to join when the Kremlin's invasion ends. "Ukraine deserves to be in the alliance. Not now, because now there's war, but we need a clear signal," Zelensky said in Kyiv on the eve of the summit.

 The Western military alliance is set to offer its full-throated backing for Kyiv's quest for victory, but its 31 nations are divided over how far to go on letting Ukraine join their ranks. While Ukraine's neighbors have pushed for an explicit timetable, heavyweights the United States and Germany are reluctant to go beyond an earlier vow that it will become a member one day. US President Joe Biden has said there is no agreement to offer Kyiv membership while its war with Russia rages, as this would drag NATO directly into the conflict.

➤TRUMP ATTORNEYS WANT TO DELAY DOC TRIAL: Donald Trump's lawyers on Monday night filed a motion to delay his trial on mishandling classified information, potentially pushing the case back until after the 2024 election. An initial date had been set by Judge Aileen Cannon of August 14. Prosecutors then asked for that to be pushed to December to give Trump's legal team the time needed to get the required security clearances. On Monday, Trump's team responded to the prosecutors' December request, and said it was too soon. They argued the unprecedented case requires 'a measured consideration and timeline.' Jack Smith, the special counsel leading the prosecution, has yet to respond.


➤RFK JR PLEDGES TO PROSECUTE FAUCI: Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy, known for his anti-vaccine views linking jabs to autism stated he would direct his Attorney General to pursue legal action if 'crimes were committed'. Speaking on Fox News Kennedy criticized Fauci for allegedly withholding treatments from Americans in the early stages of the pandemic. Kennedy's accusations against Fauci align with the claims made in a book written in 2021.

➤TUCKER CARLSON TO MODERATE CANDIDATES' FORUM: Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will host a Republican presidential primary forum in Iowa on Friday that will include five candidates, according to Blaze Media.  The forum will notably not include the 2024 GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump, who has indicated he is considering skipping debates because of his double-digit lead in the polls. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence will participate in the forum, which will be held at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 14. 

NY Post Front Page 7/11
➤BIDEN REPORTED TO HAVE HAIR-TRIGGER TEMPER: President Biden has displayed a hair-trigger temper with aides behind closed doors and is known for cursing out White House staffers, according to a new report — the latest to contradict the octogenarian’s carefully cultivated image as a folksy, kindly grandfather. Current and former Biden aides told Axios the 80-year-old president has hurled insults such as “God dammit, how the f–- don’t you know this?!,” “Don’t f–-ing bulls— me!” and “Get the f–- out of here!” Some say they are so fearful of the president’s wrath that they bring along colleagues to meetings as a kind of shield against Biden’s paint-stripping language. “No one is safe,” not even senior aides, one administration official told the outlet. In one particularly memorable exchange, Biden bore down on then-COVID czar and current White House chief of staff Jeff Zients in late 2021 for bungling the testing kit rollout for the Omicron variant.

➤FL. GOVERNOR RON DeSANTIS PRESSED ON NEW LAW: DeSantis has taken what some see as a harsh stance against immigration, such as relocating immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border to California in June or claiming responsibility for ordering two planeloads of migrants to travel from Texas to Martha's Vineyard last September. DeSantis' stance against immigration only heightened after he announced his 2024 presidential campaign. In May, DeSantis approved stronger measures against undocumented immigrants living and working in Florida, and the law went into effect July 1. On Monday, Fox Business' talk show host Stuart Varney pressed DeSantis on the new law, arguing that he's seen immigrants working in Florida, especially helping rebuild the state after it was ravaged by Hurricane Ian last fall.

➤DeSANTIS DEFENDS WIFE FROM MSNBC COMMENT: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his wife, Casey, Monday after left-wing commentators tastelessly dubbed her “America’s Karen” over the weekend. “My wife is an incredibly strong first lady of Florida, a fantastic mother and a great wife, and that threatens the left,” DeSantis, 44, told Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” Over the weekend, MSNBC analyst David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida, hurled the “Karen” epithet at the breast cancer survivor and mom of three during a segment on the channel’s “Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart.”

“Casey DeSantis is a fairly compelling political figure in Florida, and now nationally. For many, she’s the brighter side to Florida’s angry governor. For others, she’s become America’s Karen,” Jolly said during the segment, drawing chuckles from his fellow panelists. The name “Karen” has been increasingly used in recent years as slang for a white woman who acts prickly and entitled.

➤THREADS HAS 100,000 SIGN-UP: Meta Platforms' Twitter rival Threads crossed 100 million sign-ups within five days of launch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday, dethroning ChatGPT as the fastest-growing online platform to hit the milestone. Threads has been setting records for user growth since its launch on Wednesday, with celebrities, politicians and other newsmakers joining the platform that is seen by analysts as the first serious threat to the Elon Musk-owned microblogging app. "That's mostly organic demand, and we haven't even turned on many promotions yet," Zuckerberg said in a Threads post announcing the milestone.

Meta Platforms' social media apps Instagram and Facebook, messaging app WhatsApp and Twitter-rival Threads were all back up after a brief outage affecting thousands of users on Monday, according to Downdetector.com. At the peak of the outage, lasting over an hour, over 14,000 users reported issues with accessing Instagram, while around 7,000 and 2,700 users faced issues with Facebook and WhatsApp, respectively.

➤E-Vs DOOMED TO FAIL:  President Joe Biden's electric car push is doomed to fail because it 'underestimates' key challenges such as the cost to consumers, two of the world's biggest carmakers have said.  The White House has set out a target requiring that two-thirds of new vehicle sales be electric by 2032.But in comments filed to the Federal Government, Toyota and Stellantis - which owns Vauxhall - blasted the plan as 'overly optimistic' because of inadequate charging infrastructure and high prices.

It comes after Dailymail.com revealed that it can take up to ten years to break even on an electric car - which are more expensive to buy but supposedly cheaper to run. And separately a recent report by Cox Automotive found that while interest in electric vehicles was high, sales were waning.

➤PRIME DAYS ARE HERE: Amazon.com hopes to tempt U.S. shoppers on Tuesday to open inflation-thinned wallets by offering deeper discounts on a wide range of goods and services during this year's "Prime Day" 48-hour shopping event, including its first-ever travel discounts. A year of inflation has lifted mortgage rates, rents and food prices for consumers ahead of Prime Day, which falls on July 11-12 this year. CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram said Amazon's U.S. Prime Day discounts this year are mostly deeper than in previous years. The online retailer is marking 60% off Gap clothing, 50% off on Sony headphones and 40% off Peleton exercise bikes, according to Bank of America.

Last year, U.S. online sales during Amazon's Prime Day shopping event reached nearly $12 billion, up 8.5% from the previous year, as inflation-hit Americans pounced on discounted essentials and electronics, according to Adobe, which tracks online spending.

📸BBC PHOTO ALLEGATIONS CALLED 'RUBBISH': Allegations that an unnamed BBC presenter paid a young person to pose for explicit photos are "rubbish", a lawyer acting for the young person has told the broadcaster in a letter. British media has been gripped in recent days by a report in the Sun newspaper that cited the young person's mother as saying the presenter paid the now 20-year-old $44,828 for photos over three years beginning when they were 17. The presenter, who has not been named by the BBC or the Sun newspaper, was suspended on Sunday following the claims. The BBC reported on Monday, however, that a lawyer for the young person had written to the broadcaster stating that the allegation was "rubbish". The lawyer said the young person sent a denial to the Sun newspaper on Friday evening, when it first published the allegation, saying there was "no truth" to it, the BBC said.


⚾GUERRERO JR. WINS HOME RUN DERBY: Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. joined Vladimir Sr. to become the first father-son duo to win the All-Star Home Run Derby, beating Tampa Bay's Randy Arozarena 25-23 in the final round on Monday night. Guerrero defeated Julio RodrĂ­guez 21-20 in the semifinals after the Seattle Mariners star hit a record 41 in the first round in front of his hometown fans.

⚾YANKEES HIRED NEW HITTING COACH: A day after dismissing Dillon Lawson in the middle of his second season as hitting coach, the Yankees hired Sean Casey for the role. The likelihood is the deal is for the rest of the season so the organization can gauge his abilities, and the 49-year-old Casey can decide whether this is something he would like to do into the future. Casey has strong ties to both Boone, whom he played alongside with the Reds from 1998-2003, and Yankees vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring, who was then Reds’ director of player development.

Casey’s hiring is an extreme departure from Lawson, who never played in the majors and relied strongly on analytical elements revolving around exit velocity and pulling the ball in the air. Casey was a lefty, use-the-whole-field hitter who batted .302 over 12 major league seasons, in which he made three All-Star games. Known as “The Mayor” for his gregarious nature, Casey has never coached for a major league team. He has been working at MLB Network for the past 15 years.


➤STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN VERMONT AS TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS AND FLASH FLOODS CUT OFF TOWNS: Rescue teams raced to Vermont on Monday after heavy downpours across the Northeast washed out roads and forced evacuations. One woman was killed in New York and dozens of others had to be rescued from submerged cars. Torrents poured through the verdant landscape and small towns of the state after Vermont Governor Philip Scott declared a state of emergency on Sunday. He told a press conference that “this may be just the start of what we’ll see as rainfall continues and will worsen over the next several hours”. Mike Cannon of Vermont Urban Search and Rescue said crews from North Carolina, Michigan and Connecticut were among those helping to get to towns that have been unreachable since torrents of rain belted the state overnight.

➤NY WOMAN DROWNS IN FLOODING WATER: Pamela Nugent, 35, drowned while trying to flee her home in Highland Falls, New York, with her dog on Monday during the catastrophic flooding. Rescue teams recovered her body from the bottom of a ravine. Devastating downpours have blocked roads and battered homes across the East Coast, and more havoc is expected to hit in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Nugent - who was recently engaged to her partner before she drowned in the horrific flooding - was remembered by her neighbor Jessica Eshleman. Meanwhile, Vermont is expected to be battered with up to six inches of rainfall overnight.



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