Month: June 2023

CINCINNATI – Tens of thousands of people marked 50 years of Cincinnati Pride at the parade and festival along The Banks on Saturday. The event was a recognition of half a century of celebration that began, and continues to be, a fight for the rights of LGBTQ people according to many in attendance. “It’s absolutely more important than ever to continue this fight,” Sonya Powers said. The powers that be, like many others, remain concerned about a national movement targeting young LGBTQ and trans people. “We can’t let it go,” he said. “We can’t give up. It’s been extremely hard….

Washington CNN — U.S. intelligence officials believe Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military group Wagner, had been planning a major challenge to Russia’s military leadership for quite some time, but it was unclear what the ultimate goal would be, they three people familiar with the matter told CNN. . Intelligence officials briefed congressional leaders known as the Gang of Eight earlier this week about the Wagner group’s movements and build-up of equipment near Russia, two of the people said. U.S. and Western intelligence officials saw signs that Prigozhin was preparing for such a move, including by stockpiling weapons and…

DeSantis didn’t mention Trump by name, but he did take a veiled shot at the losses Republicans have suffered over the past three election cycles as Trump helped lead the GOP’s efforts. “None of that matters if we don’t win,” DeSantis said. “There’s no substitute for winning. We can’t continue the culture of losing where we lose winnable runs.” Never Back Down, a pro-DeSantis super PAC, also framed his comments as anti-Trump, even when DeSantis didn’t directly mention him by name. After his speech, the group tweeted that the crowd booed “Trump for siding with Woke Disney!” The crowd booed…

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia always seemed to thrive on chaos. Then he threatened to consume him. In recent months, as mercenary chief Yevgeny V. Prigozhin intensified his feud with the Russian military, Mr. Putin did not publicly reveal any discomfort with his rants. The silence fostered the kind of political ambiguity that has long been a trademark of Putin’s government: tolerating, even encouraging, conflict among the elite because it kept potential rivals in check, while emphasizing that final authority always rested with the president himself. The key test of the Russian leader was loyalty, a fact that Mr….

Three San Antonio police officers have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was experiencing what the city’s police chief said was a “mental health crisis.” Sgt. Alfred Flores and officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos were suspended without pay and later arrested on warrants for murder in the shooting death of Melissa Perez, 46, when she refused police commands to leave her apartment, he said Police Chief William McManus on Friday. “The officers’ actions were not consistent with SAPD policy and training,” McManus said during a news conference Friday night. “They put themselves in…

CNN — Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, has agreed to leave Russia for Belarus, the Kremlin said Saturday, in a deal that ends an armed insurgency that has posed the biggest threat to the Russian president’s authority Vladimir Putin in decades. In a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said an agreement had been reached with Prigozhin, referring to an apparent deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “Are you going to ask me what will happen to Prigozhin personally?” Peskov said. “The criminal case will be filed against him. He will go to…

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Republican presidential candidate, speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, June 23, 2023. (Pete Marovich/The New York Times) WASHINGTON — In a speech a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, former Vice President Mike Pence challenged the entire 2024 Republican presidential field to support a national ban on abortion at 15 weeks, demanding that the party go beyond your main favorite. , former President Donald Trump, has so far been willing to go. Pence made the call at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, a major two-day evangelical gathering in…