6 Aug, 2023 14:35

Ukraine strikes bridges in Crimea with Storm Shadow missiles

Two bridges connecting the peninsula to Russia’s mainland were damaged in the attack, according to local authorities

Ukraine has launched a massive barrage of British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at two bridges connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia’s Kherson Region, according to its acting governor, Vladimir Saldo.

Some 12 missiles were fired during Saturday's attack, with at least three making it through Russian anti-aircraft defenses, Saldo told Rossiya 24 TV channel. The strike damaged two bridges across the Strait of Chongar and the Tonkiy Strait, the official stated.

The Chongar bridge sustained at least one hit, according to the acting governor, who shared imagery of the aftermath of the attack on his Telegram channel. The missile left a large hole in the bridge deck paving, images show.

Breaking News—DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://www.rt.com/russia/580910-storm-shadow-bridge/

>>19309153

Updated

6 Aug, 2023 14:35

Ukraine strikes bridges in Crimea with British-made missiles

Two bridges connecting the peninsula to Russia’s mainland were damaged in the attack, according to local authorities

Ukraine has launched a barrage of British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at two bridges connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia’s Kherson Region, according to its acting governor, Vladimir Saldo.

Some 12 missiles were fired during Saturday's attack, with at least three making it through Russian anti-aircraft defenses, Saldo told Rossiya 24 TV channel. The strike damaged two bridges across the Strait of Chongar and the Tonkiy Strait, the official stated.

The Chongar bridge sustained at least one hit, according to the acting governor, who shared imagery of the aftermath of the attack on his Telegram channel. The missile left a large hole in the bridge deck paving, images show.

The attack damaged a rural school and ruptured a local gas pipeline, leaving the nearby town of Genichesk without supply, according to Saldo. Both bridges have hardly been used for military needs and are purely civilian infrastructure installations, he stressed.

While Saldo did not elaborate on the damage sustained by the second bridge, unverified footage circulating online suggests one of its sections has partially collapsed. The images show a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge, ruptured and aflame.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580910-storm-shadow-bridge/

Ex-Stripper Says Hunter Biden Is an Easily Manipulated 'Puppy'

ANTHONY GONZALEZ AUG 05, 2023

An ex-stripper from Hunter Biden’s past has come out and revealed that Hunter — as we all know — is simply a patsy who can be easily manipulated.

Like father like son, right?

Hunter was an easily manipulated “puppy” according to the ex-stripper, who goes by the name Kennedy.

Kennedy admitted that she was able to manipulate Hunter into giving her $2,000 during her relationship with him, which lasted from 2018-2019, according to the New York Post.

This was around the same time Hunter had falsely portrayed himself as an intelligent and honest international powerbroker who raked in millions of dollars for his corrupt family.

“He was like a dog that I dragged and led on,” Kennedy told investigative organization Marco Polo. “I just led him on and played with him like a walking ATM.”

“I had a few guys like Hunter who I would lead on and take tips and shopping from and leave them ‘hanging.’ It’s part of the stripper gig. Get all you can out of these idiots and move on,” Kennedy added. “I was able to finesse Hunter without sex because I’m beautiful and smart. I saw a whale and took advantage, It was that easy.”

Kennedy told Marco Polo that her relationship with Hunter began “through the strip club,” and admitted they were once intimate with one another.

“He’s a piece of s—t but most addicts are,” Kennedy noted. “He was a f—king crackhead. Hunter became useless when I couldn’t extort him any longer.”

During her one-year relationship with Hunter, Kennedy said she garnered nearly $20,000.

However, Kennedy was recently interviewed by the New York Post and tried to walk back her comments concerning Hunter.

She said that she didn’t actually meet Hunter at a strip club, but rather at a tanning salon she owned. Kennedy also insisted she never slept with Hunter in exchange for money.

“The girls I knew would meet Hunter when he would frequent the club. He asked one of the girls, ‘Do you know where I could get a good spray tan?’ and they gave him my card,” Kennedy said. “He came to my one-room salon that I rented and got a spray tan. He tipped me $500 and I was like ‘WTF? Who is this guy?’ And one of the girls texted me that we gave Joe Biden’s son your card.”

Kennedy said that around the time revelations of Hunter’s abandoned laptop surfaced, Hunter approached her and told her not to believe any of the things being said about him in the news.

“I was at a beauty convention in Philadelphia and he said to me, ‘I need to talk to you, let’s meet for dinner.’ He said, ‘There are things about me that are coming out. I want you to not believe them. None of them are true,’” she said. “The last time I saw Hunter he said to me, ‘Promise me that you will just be my friend.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/anthony-gonzalez/2023/08/05/ex-stripper-says-hunter-biden-is-an-easily-manipulated-puppy-n1716604

‘Highly provocative’: US sent destroyers after stunning Russia, China joint naval operation off coast of Alaska

By Isabel Keane

August 6, 2023 9:20am

China and Russia conducted a joint naval operation near the coast of Alaska earlier this week in a “highly provocative” move amid the war in Ukraine that triggered a robust US military response.

Eleven Russian and Chinese ships neared the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska earlier this week near the maritime boundary Russia shares with the US, but the fleets never entered US waters, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The fleet of ships have since left, and were tailed by four US destroyers and P-8 Poseidon aircraft, officials confirmed to the newspaper.

“It is a historical first,” Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a retired Navy captain, told the oulet. “Given the context of the war in Ukraine and tensions around Taiwan, this move is highly provocative.”

A spokesperson for the US Northern Command confirmed to the paper that the two American adversaries carried out a combined naval patrol near Alaska, but did not confirm the number of ships or their exact location.

“Air and maritime assets under our commands conducted operations to assure the defense of the United States and Canada. The patrol remained in international waters and was not considered a threat,” the command said in a statement.

The exact time and location of the near invasion have not been made public, and information about the event is still being declassified.

Republican Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan confirmed the incursion took place “within the last few days,” and that while the US military had a strong response, such an incident was unprecedented.

“First, this is unprecedented, not just for Alaska, but for America to have 11 warships jointly being operated by the Chinese and Russians — who are increasingly working together — essentially doing freedom of navigation and navigation operations incursions into Alaska’s area,” Sullivan told KTUU.

The incident was “yet another reminder that we have entered a new era of authoritarian aggression led by the dictators in Beijing and Moscow,” Sullivan wrote on the X platform, which was formally known as Twitter.

Sullivan, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has repeatedly asked military leaders to increase the assets available to defend Alaska.

“After last year’s incursion, I mentioned to several leaders in the military, hey, we need to prepare for this happening again. And when it does, we need to have a much more robust response,” Sullivan said.

In September, a single US Coast Guard cutter was on the scene when a flotilla of seven Russian and Chinese ships were near the Aleutian Island chain, prompting what Sullivan called a “tepid” response.

As it stands, Russia has greater assets than Alaska — something Sullivan says stands as a reminder that there’s still work to do for Alaska.

“I think it just underscores the need for the continued build up of not only forces in Alaska, but the infrastructure that can handle them, particularly infrastructure like the deepwater port of Nome, and a greater naval, Coast Guard and Marine Corps presence in Alaska,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC told The Journal the patrol wasn’t aimed at Washington.

The Russian Embassy in DC did not immediately return request for comment.

China had become Russia’s most important trading partner since the nation invaded Ukraine almost 18 months ago, but had not been tied to its war effort, the article noted.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/russia-and-china-sent-large-naval-patrol-off-coast-of-alaska/

Trump lawyer John Lauro, CNN host Dana Bash clash over claim Biden involved in ex-president’s Jan. 6 indictment

Ryan King. August 6, 2023

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer accused the Biden administration of being involved in the latest criminal case against his predecessor — sparking an on-air clash with CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday.

The heated interview began with Bash asking attorney John Lauro if he’d agree to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s call on Friday for a judge to institute a protective order limiting whatTrump, 77, and his team can share with the public about the case. (Negative articles in NYP seemingly always mention his age)

“This protective order that’s being suggested by the Biden administration is an effort to keep from the press important non-sensitive information that the Biden administration has that may speak to…,” Lauro began to answer.

That’s when Bash interjected: “This isn’t from the Biden administration.”

“Joe Biden said in November 2022 that he wanted to see President Trump prosecuted and taken out of this race,” Lauro shot back.

“I’m just going to stop you because there’s no evidence that Joe Biden is involved in this,” Bash stressed, again cutting Lauro off. (What is evidence? It can’t be Bidan saying it out loud I guess. Just like Lesley Stahl “there’s no evidence”!)

Lauro then argued that the public has a right to know what evidence the Justice Department has against Trump during the thick of the 2024 campaign season — in which the ex-president is polling ahead of his Republican rivals for the nomination.

He blasted the request for the protective order as an attack on Trump’s First Amendment rights.

Bash and Lauro proceeded to interrupt and talk over each other throughout the combative interview.

Washington DC federal court Judge Tanya Chutkan has given Trump’s legal team until Monday at 5 p.m. ET to reply to Smith’s call for the order, and denied a request for an extension from the defense.

Smith was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland last year, after Trump had launched his campaign for a third term in the Oval Office.

Trump was arraigned on a four-count indictment brought by Smith Thursday over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

The day after the arraignment, Trump wrote, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” on his Truth Social page — a post Smith’s team cited in the protective order request.

Trump also derided Smith as “mentally ill” and denounced the charges against him as a “sham indictment,” in the Friday post.

Lauro largely sidestepped questions about the Truth Social missives, noting that he’s “not involved in the campaign.”

He also contended that Trump was using his First Amendment rights and following advice from lawyers.

“All of this played out in the open. It’s all free speech,” Lauro insisted. “There was a Supreme Court decision, Hammerschmidt, which is right on point that says when you’re exercising free speech, you’re not engaging in a fraud on the government.”

He later added, during a back-and-forth with Bash, that “President Trump was following the advice of his lawyer.”

In Hammerschmidt v. United States, the Supreme Court opined on the parameters for a conspiracy to defraud the US. The high court found in the 1924 decision that the charge mainly relates to attempts to swindle the government out of money or to obstruct its functions.

Lauro roundly rejected allegations in the crux of the indictment, underscoring “there no defrauding, there was no trickery” on Trump’s part.

At one point, he also downplayed Trump’s involvement in an alleged scheme to furnish an alternative set of electors before Congress when it was tasked with certifying the election on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The Senate parliamentarian acknowledged to Vice President Pence that they always receive protest alternative electors, none of those electors were counted,” Lauro said.

Trump and his allies allegedly put pressure on former Vice President Mike Pence to decertify the 2020 race under the pretenses that the election was “stolen” and that there was a dispute over it.

Allies of Trump allegedly encouraged battleground state officials to produce an alternative set of electors in hopes of tipping the election to the former president.

Ultimately, Pence refused to decertify the election, adamant that he lacked the constitutional authority to do so.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/trump-lawyer-john-lauro-clashes-with-cnns-dana-bash-over-jan-6-case/#

Mike Pence trashes Trump as ‘wrong then and wrong now’ on alleged attempts to overthrow 2020 election

By Carl Campanile

August 6, 2023 12:30pm Updated

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday trashed his former boss Donald Trump for allegedly attempting to overthrow the 2020 election — and defended his actions in blocking the ex-president from doing so.

“What I want the American people to know is that President Trump was wrong then and wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said on CNN’s “State of the Union” while stumping in New Hampshire.

“By God’s grace, I did my duty under the constitution of the United States and I always will.”(He really shouldn’t use God’s name when he knows he is lying)

Pence, along with Congress, certified the election of President Biden as the winner of the 2020 election — over Trump’s objections.

The former VP’s criticism of Trump Sunday parrots statements he made last week afterTrump, 77, was indicted on four counts over his alleged efforts to cling to power and overturn the 2020 presidential race.

Prosecutors allege Trump unlawfully supported a scheme to put forward fraudulent electors and pressured Pence and various state officials to reject Biden’s victory. The ex-president said Pence was “too honest,” according to the indictment.

“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence tweeted Tuesday.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in Washington, DC federal court on Thursday.

Pence on Sunday said he couldn’t recall Trump ever admitting he had lost the election.

“I do know what he and his lawyers asked me to do and it’s what no vice president in American history had ever done before and frankly no vice president or any one person in Washington should do … The presidency belongs to the American people,” Pence said.

“Our founders never vested authority in one person to overturn elections and I stood on that principle.”

Pence said he doesn’t plan on testifying at Trump’s trial, but noted he testified to the grand jury under subpoena and will comply with whatever the law says.

He also refused to say if he would support Trump should the ex-president win the 2024 Republican nomination — dancing around the question by saying he didn’t expect him to be the GOP’s standard bearer. (I think its pretty obvious he won’t!)

“It’s awfully early here,” Pence said. “I don’t think we have to make that decision. I’m confident I will be able to support the Republican nominee, especially if it’s me.”

Pence — Trump’s No. 2 for four years — insisted that Republican primary voters will “choose new leadership for a new time,” though polls show the former president as the clear frontrunner for the nomination.

“We simply have got to move our country forward,” Pence said.

Trump slammed Pence on Saturday as a loser who’s gone to the “dark side” in a Truth Social post.

“WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side,” Trump wrote.

“I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was ‘too honest,’” the former president added.“He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy.”

Trump supporters heckled Pence as a “traitor” and “sell out” during the former VP’s campaign stop in New Hampshire Friday.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/pence-trashes-trump-as-wrong-then-and-wrong-now-on-alleged-attempts-to-overthrow-2020-election/