The idea of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in an orange suit is so pleasing.

Mr Trump, the first US president to face charges, denies wrongdoing.

BZZZZZZZZT!

A grand jury voted to indict him on criminal charges, after investigating a $130,000 pay-out to Stormy Daniels in an attempt to buy her silence over an alleged affair.

Mr Trump, the first US president to face charges, denies...

And China has been caught out with their fingers in the mess.

Chinese companies are shipping rifles, body armor to Russia.

Chinese Company Admits Its Drone Was Shot Down in Ukraine.

This latest leak of a story rehashing an old story, and claiming "low probability", and from an unexpected department that is more usually out of the news, and at an opportune time in the world of politics...

SUPERDon and SUPERKari

Wat a Team.

Next Prez and VP

A sugar replacement called erythritol – used to add bulk or sweeten stevia, monkfruit and keto reduced-sugar products – has been linked to blood clotting, stroke, heart attack and death, according to a new study.

“The degree of risk was not modest,” said lead study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.

People with existing risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, were twice as likely to experience a heart attack or stroke if they had the highest levels of erythritol in their blood, according to the study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

WASHINGTON — New intelligence has prompted the Energy Department to conclude that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic, though U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the origins of the virus, American officials said on Sunday.

The conclusion was a change from the department’s earlier position that it was undecided on how the virus emerged.

Some officials briefed on the intelligence said that it was relatively weak and that the Energy Department’s conclusion was made with “low confidence,” suggesting its level of certainty was not high. While the department shared the information with other agencies, none of them changed their conclusions, officials said.

Officials would not disclose what the intelligence was. But many of the Energy Department’s insights come from its network of national laboratories, some of which conduct biological research, rather than more traditional forms of intelligence like spy networks or communications intercepts.

...

In addition to the Energy Department, the F.B.I. has also concluded, with moderate confidence, that the virus first emerged accidentally from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese lab that worked on coronaviruses. Four other intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council have concluded, with low confidence, that the virus most likely emerged through natural transmission, the director of national intelligence’s office announced in October 2021.

Another fine stunt, worthy of a good chuckle:

Ukraine war: Group turns Russian Embassy road yellow and blue

MUNICH (AP) — The United States has determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday, insisting that “justice must be served” to the perpetrators.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Harris said the international community has both a moral and a strategic interest in pursuing those crimes, pointing to a danger of other authoritarian governments taking advantage if international rules are undermined.

“Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population — gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and deportation,” Harris said. She also cited “execution-style killings, beatings, and electrocution.”

The Biden administration formally determined last March that Russian troops had committed war crimes in Ukraine and said it would work with others to prosecute offenders. A determination of crimes against humanity goes a step further, indicating that attacks against civilians are being carried out in a widespread and systematic manner.

Speaking to the security conference Friday morning, McConnell called on European leaders to strengthen their commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance and emphasized the strength of bipartisan support in Congress for Ukraine.

“I am a conservative Republican from America and I come in peace! Reports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated,” he declared.

“Don’t look at Twitter, look at people in power. Look at me and Speaker Kevin McCarthy [R-Calif.]. Look at the top Republicans on the Senate and House committees that handle armed services, foreign affairs, appropriations and intelligence” issues, he said.
...
McConnell pledged that Republican leaders are committed to a strong trans-Atlantic alliance and to helping Ukraine because “America’s own core national interests are at stake” given the ties between American and European security and prosperity.

The GOP leader posted a picture on Twitter of himself and Schumer standing next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with the caption: “We’re in a critical moment for American and European commitments to our militaries and our collective defense.”

In a Fox News interview Thursday, McConnell said “defeating the Russians in Ukraine is single most important event going on in the world right now.”

Palmdale (California) catalytic converter thief fatally run over, investigators say

Michigan State University shooting: Three dead after gunman opens fire.

Then there's this bunch of creeps.

Full List of Republicans Backing Matt Gaetz's Resolution to End Ukraine Aid.

Sources? Evidence? Only the author's reputation: Seymour Hersh and his sources within the U.S. administration