THE WAR ROOM: Russia is at the brink of civil war.

  Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group mercenary army have taken control of the city of Rostov-on-Don, a key Russian military headquarters, after he claimed that the regular military attacked his forces with a missile. Russian generals responded by accusing Prigozhin of trying to mount a coup against President Vladimir Putin.

      Troops and armored vehicles have been reported to be guarding key sites in Moscow while Wagner vehicles and armed men are in the streets of Rostov near the front line where Prigozhin’s fighters have been operating.

  After hours of silence, Putin issued a video statement in which he said, “Those who organized and prepared the armed rebellion, those who raised weapons against comrades in arms, betrayed Russia. And they will answer for this.”

  Putin said he has ordered his military to squash the rebellion. Without referring to Prigozhin by name, he said, “Exorbitant ambitions and personal interests have led to treason.”

  After the missile attack on his positions, the outspoken Prigozhin had said that his troops would march to “uncover the reasons behind the ongoing chaos in the country.” The mercenary tycoon denounced his country’s invasion of Ukraine as a “racket” perpetrated by a corrupt elite chasing money and glory without concern for Russian lives. Incredibly, Prigozhin is one of the more successful military leaders prosecuting that war, particularly against the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which was flattened in the fighting. 

  Once known as “Putin’s Chef,” Prigozhin got rich catering for the Kremlin and being fed lucrative construction contracts before establishing the private army that has operated in as many as 20 countries until becoming a major force in the Ukraine war. Prigozhin has been openly critical of how Russian military leaders have run the Ukraine invasion. Responding yesterday to Prigozhin’s actions, the deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency said, “This is a stab in the back of the country and the president. This is a coup.”

IMMIGRATION: The Supreme Court has upheld the Biden administration’s policies for handling illegal immigration with a focus on humane treatment. By an 8-1 vote, the Court said the states challenging the policy lacked standing to sue, and that immigration needs to be handled at the national level.

  The ruling set new limits on partisan lawsuits filed by states to challenge federal programs. 

  The Biden administration backed off the Trump policy of deporting any and all illegal immigrants.  The Biden administration said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would instead focus on national security threats and those immigrants who had recently crossed the border.

DEAD AIM: In 2020 during the months of the covid pandemic lockdowns and personal isolation, Americans went on a gun buying spree, and consequently a killing spree, the NY Times reports. Dealers sold 22 million guns that year, 64 percent more than in 2019, and as many as eight million of them to people who had never owned a firearm, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

  Gun killings rose correspondingly, up from 14,392 in 2019 to 19,350 in 2020. Overall deaths, including suicides, rose to 45,222 in 2020 from 39,702 in 2019. That number rose again in 2021, to 48,830.

  More women and non-white people are buying guns. But it’s notable that about half of gun deaths are suicides, and Michael Anestis, the executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, told the Times that “If you look at who purchased a firearm during the surge, and if it was their first firearm, they were much more likely than others to have had suicidal thoughts in the last month, year or lifetime overall.”

RIGHTS IN CONFLICT: As today marks the first anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning the decision that guaranteed a woman’s right to abortion, the next round of the abortion-rights battle is taking shape as politicians prepare for the 2024 elections.

  Polls show that support for abortion rights has risen since the so-called “Dobbs” decision allowed the states to make their own rules, although most abortions are now banned in 14 states.

  President Biden warned in a speech yesterday that “They’re not stopping here,” and that some Republican leaders are pushing for a national abortion ban. Speaking also yesterday at the annual  Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, a major evangelical event, former Vice President Mike Pence called for a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

THE SPIN RACK: CNN reports that Special Counsel Jack Smith has compelled at least two Republican fake electors to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Some Republicans who asserted that Trump won in seven battleground states that he actually lost, signed documents claiming they were the rightful electors. Those fake electors could be criminally charged, and that’s the leverage the special counsel has over them. — The entertainment news outlet TMZ reports that the cause of death six months ago for Adam Rich, who played the cute mop-haired little boy in the 70s sitcom “Eight is Enough,” died of a fentanyl overdose. — A quickie fix has allowed the reopening of the I-95 expressway through Philadelphia, which collapsed less than two weeks ago in the inferno of a burning tanker truck. The road is still going to need permanent repair, but it’s handling traffic for the time being.

BELOW THE FOLD: Television viewers often hate the weather, but not the weatherman. But like the climate, that’s changing  just like the weather. Chris Gloninger at Des Moines news station KCCI has quit, citing death threats he received for explaining that extremes in weather are connected to climate change. He said, “The threat of course was concerning, but the stream of harassing emails is even more distressing.” He said it finally got to be too much.

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