I am not defending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but this is their side of the story, so to speak. They feel threatened by the expansion of NATO.

Source: Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Federal prosecutors said Friday they have arrested the attorney general in Mexico’s previous administration on charges he committed abuses in the investigation of the 2014 disappearances of 43 students from a radical teacher college.

Prosecutors also announced they had issued arrest warrants in the case against 20 army soldiers officers, five local officials, 33 local police officers and 11 state police, as well as 14 gang members.

The roundup included the first arrest of a former attorney general in recent history, and one of the biggest mass arrests ever by civilian prosecutors of Mexican army soldiers.

Jesús Murillo Karam served as attorney general from 2012 to 2015, under then President Enrique Peña Nieto. The office of the current attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, said Murillo Karam was charged with torture, official misconduct and forced disappearance

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-caribbean-arrests-4d219a28ac3294e76b3254a93ac855fa

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I'm sure some of you remember the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico during 2014. Looks like the perps have been brought to justice.

Why do they always tell such horrid lies? Maybe she didn't have time to check her voicemail.

Source: Axios

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) had a message for her Democratic colleagues before she flew home to Arizona for the weekend: She's preserving her options.

Why it matters: Sinema has leverage and she knows it. Any potential modification to the Democrat's climate and deficit reduction package — like knocking out the $14 billion provision on carried interest — could cause the fragile deal to collapse.

Her posture is causing something between angst and fear in the Democratic caucus as senators wait for her to render a verdict on the secret deal announced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin last Thursday.

Driving the news: Sinema has given no assurances to colleagues that she’ll vote along party lines in the so-called “vote-a-rama” for the $740 billion bill next week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2022/07/30/sinema-schumer-manchin-deal-democrats

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We might have celebrated too soon.

The above is from Wikipedia. Here is a link to the new Siena survey, just in case any of you want to drill down:

Source: Reuters

LANSING, Michigan, June 6 (Reuters) - State police in Michigan have obtained warrants to seize voting equipment and election-related records in at least three towns and one county in the past six weeks, police records show, widening the largest known investigation into unauthorized attempts by allies of former President Donald Trump to access voting systems.

The previously unreported records include search warrants and investigators' memos obtained by Reuters through public records requests. The documents reveal a flurry of efforts by state authorities to secure voting machines, poll books, data-storage devices and phone records as evidence in a probe launched in mid-February.

The state’s investigation follows breaches of local election systems in Michigan by Republican officials and pro-Trump activists trying to prove his baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

The police documents reveal, among other things, that the state is investigating a potential breach of voting equipment in Lake Township, a small, largely conservative community in northern Michigan's Missaukee County. The previously unreported case is one of at least 17 incidents nationwide, including 11 in Michigan, in which Trump supporters gained or attempted to gain unauthorized access to voting equipment.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-michigan-widens-probe-into-voting-system-breaches-by-trump-allies-2022-06-06/

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More good news.

I have long suspected that fake vaccine cards are more widespread than we know.

My guess is, Trump will not respond in kind. He might host a rally somewhere in Alaska, but that's about it. He slings around quarters like they're manhole covers.

Source: CNN

A federal jury on Friday found two men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not guilty of kidnapping conspiracy and a mistrial was declared for two other defendants.

Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta faced federal charges for allegedly conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor. All four defendants, who pleaded not guilty, faced up to life in prison if convicted of kidnapping conspiracy.

Harris and Caserta were found not guilty of kidnapping conspiracy. The jury also found Harris not guilty on other charges. The jury could not reach a verdict for Fox and Croft, after which US District Judge Robert Jonker declared a mistrial for those defendants.

US Attorney Andrew Birge said in a statement to CNN that the Michigan US Attorney’s Office is “disappointed” with the jury’s decision but that it respects the jury trial system. He added that two defendants await a retrial and so he would not comment further.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/08/politics/whitmer-trial/index.html

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WTF? What else could it possibly require for a jury to convict these fascists?

Source: CNN

*Biden's victory.

In the weeks after the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump's allies sent fake certificates to the National Archives declaring that Trump won seven states that he actually lost. The documents had no impact on the outcome of the election, but they are yet another example of how Team Trump tried to subvert the Electoral College -- a key line of inquiry for the January 6 committee.

The fake certificates were created by Trump allies in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico, who sought to replace valid presidential electors from their states with a pro-Trump slate, according to documents obtained by American Oversight.

The documents contain the signatures of Trump supporters who claimed to be the rightful electors from seven states that President Joe Biden won. But these rogue slates of electors didn't have the backing of any elected officials in the seven states -- like a governor or secretary of state, who are involved in certifying election results -- and they served no legitimate purpose.

The documents were first posted online in March by the government watchdog group. But they received renewed attention this week, as the January 6 committee ramps up its investigation into Trump's attempted coup, including how his allies tried to stop states from certifying Biden's victory, in part, by installing friendly slates of electors who would overturn the will of the voters.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/12/politics/trump-overturn-2020-election-fake-electoral-college/index.html

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Back in the olden days, states used to send in conflicting elector certificates. This is why Congress was certifying Biden's victory on January 6 last year, in what had become a ceremonial process.