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Russia beat: Prigozhin Drama’s Not Over
At first, Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin “seemed to be operating under the assumption that he was in open rebellion only against” Russia’s defense minister and a top military commander, observe Mark Toth & Jonathan Sweet at The Hill. Yet President Vladimir Putin “changed all that” when he called Prigozhin’s march to Moscow “treason.” Prigozhin ultimately stood down, but “Putin is unlikely to forgive” him. It seems only “a matter of time” until Prigozhin “finds himself falling out of a window,” “drinking the wrong cup of tea” or “forced to decamp” to Africa, “where the bulk of his cash flow is derived from such activities as the theft of gold.” Still, one thing’s certain: We’ve “not yet seen the last of Prigozhin.”Libertarian: Hunter’s Two-Tier Treatment
Hunter Biden’s jail-avoiding sweetheart plea deal is “a hint of the restraint prosecutors exercise for the powerful, and which the rest of us would appreciate,” snarks Reason’s J.D. Tuccille. Tax-cheating Hunter “benefited from the sort of deal his father frowns upon for everybody else.” Normally, “the federal government is merciless on prohibited categories of people possessing firearms,” yet Hunter escaped “serious time behind bars.” Politicians “love harsh sentencing, until it affects their families, friends, or approval ratings.
