x.com/phillipspobrien/status/2074083475548758299
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apple.news/AhqghaOb6Rnu_DCG4TNQ3Tg
“Deadly Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s capital ahead of key NATO meeting
The overnight attacks on Kyiv killed at least 19 people as Russia stepped up a new offensive. Ukraine’s president said NATO must do more to help his country intercept incoming missiles.
KYIV — Russia launched a major aerial attack on Kyiv overnight, killing at least 19 people, just a day before leaders of NATO countries are set to meet in Ankara, Turkey and after a weekend in which Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with President Donald Trump.
Facing acute fuel shortages in Russia and a growing global perception that Putin’s war is stalling, Moscow’s forces have stepped up airstrikes on Kyiv and other cities in recent days, including an attack on Kyiv last week that killed 30 people.
Putin late last week donned green military fatigues and visited a command post where he insisted that claims of Ukraine’s success were being fabricated.
However, Russian appointed officials in Crimea recently declared a state of emergency there, and Ukraine’s mid- and long-range drone strikes on oil refineries and other infrastructure have led to fuel rationing in many Russian regions and long queues at gas stations including in Moscow, the ”
Excerpt From
“Deadly Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s capital ahead of key NATO meeting”
David Stern, Anastacia Galouchka
The Washington Post
https://apple.news/AhqghaOb6Rnu_DCG4TNQ3Tg
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apple.news/Ah5qMzfXKQE6MD3CAGhiUmw
Trial begins
“For the first time, widow Erika Kirk and the 23-year-old Utah man charged with shooting and killing her husband sat in the same courtroom Monday.
Wearing black and listening intently, Kirk dabbed her eyes with a tissue at the start of a weeklong hearing in Provo, nearly 10 months after conservative political activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem. She has succeeded him as CEO of the organization he led, Turning Point USA.
Tyler Robinson, who faces the potential of a death sentence if he’s convicted of aggravated murder, sat expressionless in a gray suit. Prosecutors on Monday began laying their foundation for why he should stand trial, parsing evidence in painstaking detail and questioning two law enforcement officers about early steps in the investigation.
Their objective at this early stage in the case is not to prove Robinson is guilty, but rather to show there’s probable cause — a reasonable basis — to believe he carried out the crimes. A judge is set to decide whether they’ve met that threshold after the weeklong hearing concludes. That finding would send the case to a full trial.”
Excerpt From
“1st day of weeklong hearing begins in Charlie Kirk killing, with widow Erika Kirk in attendance”
Annie Knox
Utah News Dispatch
https://apple.news/Ah5qMzfXKQE6MD3CAGhiUmw
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apple.news/AMsVa0NRBRtmW8qwNiZlXaw
“Cubans were gradually getting power back on Tuesday after the third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, causing mounting despair in the face of an energy collapse precipitated by a US fuel blockade.
The communist island was already struggling to keep the lights on before US President Donald Trump cut off its oil supplies in January, depleting the dwindling supply of fuel for its power plants.
Union Electrica (UNE), the state electricity company, announced a “total disconnection” to the entire island at midday Monday, leaving the communist country’s 9.6 million inhabitants without power while not providing a reason.
It said early Tuesday that power was restored to over 30 percent of the capital, including 43 medical centers and nine water distribution installations.”
Excerpt From
“Cuba slowly gets power back after third nationwide blackout in six months”
AFP News
https://apple.news/AMsVa0NRBRtmW8qwNiZlXaw
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LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM A CHILDLESS CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK:
Russian military abuses, new mobilization
Sunday 5 July 2026
Ukraine and Russia
Articles:
Langford, Antonia (6/25/26) Putin risks public fury with army call-up. The Telegraph
· State Duma elections occur in Russia in September, and Putin is said to be waiting while considering a new wave of mobilization. The media will be tasked with selling the new mobilization to the public.
· This won’t be an easy task. There are record high fatalities at the front, 30,000 per month, and new recruits are down by a third.
· The mobilization call-up in 2022 is referred to as “disastrous” by some in the media. It trigged the exodus of some 700,000 Russians from the country along with their expertise and their money.
· Ukrainian military officials believe that the Kremlin is looking to recruit 18,500 foreigners in the near future.
· Viral videos from the city of Penza show Russian draft officers seizing people and hauling them into enlistment offices.
· Russian troops also told Russian news outlets that the quality of the incoming recruits had declined. “Some are pulled out of prison, others off the street…criminals, as well, often already of such an age and with such poor health that they can barely stand…People who were literally lying on the streets until recently.” “They’re disposable.”
· Another Russian told a media outlet: “We’re short of everything: manpower, shells, drones. We’re eating livestock feed.”
· A third military source said that around half of new recruits deserted and that new soldiers don’t last unless they have connections. This leads to widespread corruption.
Article: Farmer, Ben (1/26/26) Putin targets migrant smuggling networks to boost his ranks. The Telegraph.
· “Headhunters dupe men from 126 countries into fighting in Ukraine, where many die within 72 hours.”
· Some from Africa where migration is big business are told that they will be working well away from the front lines.
· One video showed a black mercenary with a bomb strapped to his chest being forced to act as a human bomb. Another video showed black African mercenaries being mocked as “disposables.”
· “Kremlin information warfare in developing countries has exploded since the invasion of Ukraine, as Russia brands itself as an anti-colonial partner to sway political elites and their populations.”
· African influencers are invited to Russia where they talk to their subscribers of the opportunities for Africans in Russia, and show off luxuries. (Note: Remember Tucker Carlson in the Russian grocery store?)
· Not all of the recruitment is for men. Some of it in Africa has been for women to work, for example, in a drone factory in Tartarstan.
· Ukrainians tell of foreign recruits being captured and forced to sign paperwork they cannot read and having their passports confiscated. Some of the foreign recruits talk of borrowing money to fly to Russia based on promises.
Article: Quenelle, Benjamin (6/28/26) “Their mouths, eyes, hands, were taped…” Le Monde
· Due to a security flaw, a Russian exile media outlet gained access to nearly 7,000 letters from Russian soldiers and their families to the Kremlin.
· Because of complaints from service men and their families, the Kremlin set up a computerized hot line for communication. Echo, an independent Russian media outlet in exile, was able to access the data base.
· The letters, according to the researchers, barely mention Ukraine. They complain about their own military commanders. They “denounce the self-inflicted violence of the Russian army.”
· Some of the men pay extortion so that they will not have to go back over the “line” the occupied territories where law doesn’t exist.
· Complaints: sending untrained recruits to the front; failing to evacuate or search for soldiers who do not return; covering up losses by recording those who are dead as “missing.” This allows the government to freeze the financial payments promised to their families.
· Some soldiers who are captured and then returned to Russia in an exchange are accused of surrendering or having “betraying the motherland.”
· Some soldiers are treated to “annulment” that is being killed for showing cowardice.
· This has led to a “necro-economy”. Commanders know that recruits have received large sums of money for enlisting. Officers can refuse to hand over bonuses, or demand bribes. Sometimes are requires to hand over bank cards and pin codes before going to the front lines.
Additional Articles:
Vincent, Faustine (5/18/26) Captured, imprisoned and tortured… Le Monde
Aubenas, Florence (1/9/24) The painful return of Ukrainian prisoners… Le Monde
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apple.news/Avfe-g2KoSEmaoGfDMv6E2g
“Putin Adopts Nazi Strategy With Strikes On Ukraine’s Most Sacred Sites
Published Sun, 28 Jun 2026 23:47:35 pm EDT
With escalating airstrikes on ancient cathedrals and synagogues across Ukraine, and targeted killings of religious leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin is reviving the war strategies of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi storm troopers, says an American scholar tracking the likely war crimes committed by Kremlin commandants during their invasion of democratic Ukraine.
Just days after Moscow dispatched bomber aircraft to destroy a thousand-year-old monastery complex in the capital Kyiv, one of the most sacred centers of the Eastern Orthodox Church, an expert on Russia’s exploding human rights violations during its missile and drone blitzes says its rulers are copying the playbook of the Nazi Party as it waged war on religious patriarchs and worshippers throughout Germany, and then across Europe.
Virtually from the beginning of Moscow’s missile and tank crusade to blast Ukraine into surrendering four years ago, churches and temples and mosques, and their guardians, have been locked in the crosshairs of attacks, says Mercedes Sapuppo, who chronicles the atrocities and potential war crimes committed during Russia’s attempt to forcibly annex Ukraine.
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Excerpt From
“Putin Adopts Nazi Strategy With Strikes On Ukraine’s Most Sacred Sites”
Forbes
https://apple.news/Avfe-g2KoSEmaoGfDMv6E2g
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The childless cat lady -
LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM A CHILDLESS OLD LADY WORKING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK
Saturday 4 July 2026
There was a fairly good turn out at the anti-Trump rally in downtown today. We had a lot of horn blowing, but also some bird throwing and cursing. What a nice group of people, but it was scorchingly hot. We stand at a popular intersection and protest twice a week. Most of the participants are over 60 at least.
NEWS NOTES
Russia: Assassination of high-profile opponents of Ukraine.
Article: Nechepurenko, Ivan (7/10/26) Senior Russian military official is killed… New York Times
· “The episode appeared to be the latest targeted assassination of high-profile opponents of Ukraine in Russia’s heartland. It came as Kiev had successfully thwarted Moscow’s attempt to launch a summer offensive and as the Ukrainian military has been bringing the war home to Russia, including through long range strikes on Moscow and on oil assets across the country.”
· Russian media outlets said that the man who died was DAMIR. R DAVYDOV. Davydov was said to be an officer in the supply department for the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian military responsible for getting supplies to Ukraine. (Note: This fits in completely with Ukraine’s practice of targeting sites and people directly involved in the war, not civilians as does Russia.)
· The explosion occurred in the same neighborhood where an attack took place in April of 2025. In that strike, Major General Yaroslav. Moscovici, deputy head of the main operational department of the General Staff, was killed by a car bomb.
· These attacks embarrass the Kremlin’s security services.
· At the end of December. Lieutenant General FANIL. SARVAROV. Head of the General Staff’s Army Operational Training Directorate died in the car bombing the year before.
· In December of 2024. EGOR. KIR. ILLOV. A general in charge of the Russian military’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces died after an explosive device planted in a scooter detonated near the entrance to a residential building.
· (Note: A number of other sudden deaths have befallen corporate executives, regional officials and public figures. For example, (10/2025) The U. S. Sun. Putin’s politician’s body found hanging from tree with hands bound while ex-transport boss discovered dead at Moscow hotel.”)
Article: Shuster, Simon (7/1/26) Putin is slipping into delusion. The Atlantic.
· When things seem rough, Putin frequently disappears. On Monday, he did a carefully scripted interview on state TV. He “looked bored…” “He spent most of the 19-minute conversation with the Russian news anchor dissecting the minutiae of the fighting, even naming a particular St. in one small town in the region of Donetsk where, according to Putin, his forces had managed to gain a bit of ground. The performance seemed designed to suggest that away from the cameras, the Russian leader spends his time hunched over maps in the battlefield.”
· In a recent survey, it was found that 81 percent of Russians want the war to end. Given long lines at gas stations and social media postings lamenting the hardships of life in Russia, it is not surprising that the war, finally affecting the population, has become more than just a temporary “military operation.”
· If past meetings are any indications, Putin is reportedly bored with anything except war and the details of his current car. Putin (as Trump) was reported to have appeared to have been making up facts as he went along including making up rivers nobody had ever heard of. “The Russian president’s obsession with the details of the fighting appears to have crossed the line into delusion.”
· Unfortunately, that mania for war doesn’t make him any more likely to cut his losses and accept a negotiated peace.”
· The Russians struggle to make up the estimated 30,000 troop loss a month, even while offering recruitment bonuses of up to $80,000. For those sent to the front the life expectancy stands at two to three weeks.
· A third draft would “devastate the Russian economy and risk a surge of popular unrest.” Many, however, argue he has little choice.
· (Book by Shuster: “The Showman.” About the Russian invasion of Ukraine.)
LIFE AND NEWS NOTES
Sunday 5 July 2026
Article: Davis, Julia (7/2/26) Putin is in so much trouble he’s lost his no. 1 propaganda star. Daily Beast.
· Putin has had a falling out with his number 1 decorated state TV host, Vladimir Solovyov. He is also losing credibility with the Russian public.
· This war has “destroyed the Russian economy, cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and cratered Putin’s reputation at home.”
· After (supposedly) reporting from the front to lionize the military in Ukraine, this year Solovyov has been snubbed. He was not invited to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) he says because he might ask awkward questions about “the four horsemen of the economic apocalypse: high interest rates, a growing tax burden, a strong ruble, and problems associated with administrative barriers.”
· Solovyov, according to the reporter, “overpromised and underdelivered” just like Putin. His shows feature a “panicked host urging his viewers not to panic.” He “complains about Russia’s inability to protect its infrastructure from Ukrainian drones, bemoans fuel shortages, highlights…failure to manufacture its own drones in the necessary quantities, and underscores an ongoing need for more recruits.”
· New soldiers have an estimated 20 to 35minutes of life expectancy in combat in Ukraine.
· He constantly urges his viewers to enlist.
· The mood in Russia is “rapidly shifting, now that Ukraine has brought this war to Russian soil.” An “absolute Majority of Russians. Dash 81%. Would support ending the war tomorrow.”
· He characterizes his viewers as complaining: “You are depriving us and our children of a future.”
· Solovyov. Usually ends. His program by threatening that the whole world will cease to exist if Russia loses in Ukraine. But during his June 28th. Program. He ended. By predicting that Russia, and not the entire planet, will perish if it doesn’t win.
KEN BURNS DOES NOT NEED TO BE ON MSNOW. -
www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/briefing/ukraine-war-casualties-air-force-one.html
A new study found that more than two million Russian and Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded since Russia invaded four years ago. It’s a bleak accounting of a war that continues to grind on.
The count is according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which uses data from the American and British governments because both Ukraine and Russia are known to shield their true casualty counts.
The study found that Russia, which sent many more troops to the battlefield, has borne the heavier toll: Ukraine has suffered 125,000 to 150,000 deaths, while about 450,000 Russian troops have been killed. Russia’s toll is roughly four times the number of U.S. fatalities in all conflicts combined since World War II.
Recently, Ukraine has ramped up its attacks. “Russia is facing, by far, its darkest period of the war,” wrote one of the authors of the study, which found that it lost more territorial control in Ukraine than it gained this spring.
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apple.news/A3O2MXtSkTRiaACngPYTP6g
“The Telegraph writes that Washington has sent warnings to Warsaw over new intelligence suggesting the country’s critical infrastructure could become the target of missile and drone strikes by the Kremlin. Moscow might also order ground troops in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad into Poland from the north, the newspaper writes.
Officials close to Polish President Karol Nawrocki confirmed to Onet, a national news outlet and part of the same corporate network as The Telegraph, that his office had received those reports. They said that Washington “systematically informs Poland about ever-new Russian plans for a conventional attack on NATO’s eastern flank, from which Poland is by no means excluded.””
Excerpt From
“Crazed Putin’s New Invasion Plot Revealed”
Will Neal
The Daily Beast
https://apple.news/A3O2MXtSkTRiaACngPYTP6g
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apple.news/Aa3amFhmfRtivUJpaeAA7Rg
“For four years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has largely managed to shield the population from the economic consequences of his war in Ukraine. No more.
The Ukrainian missile and drone strikes on key energy infrastructure in recent weeks has turned the war from a relatively minor irritant that most Russians could ignore into an immediate and increasingly acute fuel crisis. ”
Excerpt From
“Putin’s economy is running on fumes after Ukrainian attacks”
Geoffrey Smith
POLITICO
https://apple.news/Aa3amFhmfRtivUJpaeAA7Rg
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Sam Clemens relaxing on the porch. sam is the youngest rescue we have. He is a rascal and afraid of nothing. .
Law, Power, and Justice 