In the “Kyiv Independent “…

 …the leader of the Ukraine Parliament, the Prime Minister and the President are asking to fast track Ukraine into NATO.

Ukraine should be made a member of NATO as soon as possible. They have fought and won. It is time to make them safe. 

Candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court. It is not an empty vote anymore.

Candidates to fill two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court (click here) were near unanimous during a candidate forum Wednesday evening: They said they would be impartial judges, not merely politicians sitting on the bench of the state's highest court.

The forum, held virtually by the League of Women Voters and the Jewish Bar Association of Michigan, was an opportunity for voters to hear from five candidates who will be on the ballot this November: Justice Brian Zahra, Justice Richard Bernstein, state Rep. Kyra Bolden, Paul Hudson and Kerry Morgan.

All of the individuals have been endorsed by a political party for the contest — Democrats have backed Bernstein and Bolden, while Republicans have endorsed Zahra and Hudson. Morgan has been endorsed by the Libertarian Party of Michigan....

...Zahra and Bernstein will likely be boosted by their incumbent status, as voters will see "Justice of the Supreme Court" next to their names when they receive their ballots, either on Election Day or during early voting. Zahra was appointed to the court by former Gov. Rick Snyder in 2011 before winning a partial term the next year and a full term in 2014. During the forum, Zahra highlighted his work as co-chair of the Michigan Justice For All Commission, a state-sponsored group that works to ensure equitable access to justice.

"One of the biggest areas of injustice in our civil justice system is when people who have legal problems are denied assistance," Zahra said.

Bernstein, whose family name is synonymous with the Sam Bernstein Law Firm in Michigan, is the first and only blind person to serve on the court....

..Bolden, a state representative whose district includes Southfield and other nearby communities, is in her second term in the Michigan House of Representatives. She is also an attorney, and would be the first Black woman to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Hudson leads Miller Canfield's appeals division. Hudson has argued more than 150 cases in the Michigan appellate system, per his website.

Morgan is an attorney for Pentiuk, Couvreur and Kobiljak. He specializes in a variety of fields, including labor law and municipal law, according to the law firm's website.

While there are two seats on the court that will be decided at the ballot box this November, a third new face will appear on the Michigan Supreme Court before next year. Chief Justice Bridget McCormack has announced her retirement from the court. Whitmer will name her replacement before the end of the year.

Snyder is not mentioned in any proceedings.

Have the payments to the lawyers for Snyder and his co-defendants ended?

September 30, 2022
By Ryan Jeltema

Days after the Flint City Council approved $300 water bill credits, over 28,000 customers got their money. (click here)

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said $8.4 million worth of bill credits were successfully applied to all active water customers in the city by Friday. City Council members approved the spending on Monday.

Money for the credits came from Flint's share of American Rescue Plan Act funding.

"I'm so proud that this administration has accomplished another one of our goals in reducing the cost of water for Flint residents,” Neeley said. “I’m grateful to our staff who were prepared to implement this so quickly following the resolution passing earlier this week."...

September 30, 2022

By Ron Fonger

A federal judge (click here) who presided over a bellwether Flint water crisis trial that ended with a hung jury in August has set the schedule for a retrial in 2023.

U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy published the schedule in an order filed Thursday, Sept. 29, targeting Feb. 22 as the first day of jury selection in the retrial at the federal courthouse in Ann Arbor.

Levy’s scheduling motion also sets multiple deadlines for later this year in preparation for the second trial, including the filing of expert depositions and reports....

September 30, 2022

By Katrenia Busch

Statistics released Friday by the Flint Police Department show a reduction in overall crime from last year.

Murder/nonnegligent manslaughter is down 50 percent for 2022 in comparison to 2021.  First-degree criminal sexual conduct is down just over 70 percent compared to 2021.  Overall crime is down 13.05 percent, according to the city’s Crimestat report.

September 30, 2022

By Ron Fonger

The House of Esther (click here) is asking a Genesee County Circuit Court judge to block the city from selling property that the organization says it has the right of first refusal to purchase — the former St. Agnes Catholic Church.

Paul Taylor, an attorney for the nonprofit group, asked Judge David J. Newblatt for the temporary restraining order in a motion filed Thursday, Sept. 29, just days after the Flint City Council voted down a resolution asking Mayor Sheldon Neeley to halt the sale of the property and the eviction of the House of Esther and the Flint Freedom School Collaborative....

42 dead in Florida is the first count by Ian.

September 30, 2022
By Tim Renaud

Hurricane Ian (click here) officially made landfall at 2:05 p.m. near Georgetown with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. This is Ian’s second landfall in the United States. It first made landfall in Cuba before taking on Florida’s west coast, making landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm at Cayo Costa near Fort Myers.

Ian collapsed a bridge and isolated two islands in Florida. That is where two of the deaths occurred.

September 30, 2022
By Amy Simonson, Christina Maxouris, Paul P. Murphy, Rebekah Riess and Dakin Andone

Hurricane Ian has left at least two people dead on Sanibel Island (click here) and ripped away several parts of the causeway that was the island’s only access to Florida’s mainland.

On Thursday night, dozens of people remained stranded, according to Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith. At least five sections of the Sanibel Causeway – which connects the barrier islands, including Sanibel and Captiva, to the mainland – were washed away by the storm, Lee County officials said. (Lee County includes Fort Myers in addition to Sanibel and Captiva islands and Cape Coral.)

Twelve people were rescued off Sanibel Island with injuries and about 40 people were rescued without injuries, the mayor told CNN on Thursday. Sanibel City Manager Dana Souza reported the two fatalities....

The world is witnessing the rebirth of Hitler…

 …in Vladimir Putin and his military. Hitler never had nukes. If he did he wouldn’t be as reckless as Putin.

Literally, Putin commits genocide in the name of Russian speaking people and then takes their land for his own purposes. 

He wants to end NATO by repeating the same process over and over. He wants to reconstitute the USSR in the name of Russian speaking people. He is coming. He needs to be stopped now while the people he is supposed to be protecting run from him.

Lavrov is just as bad in trying to defend him and make excuses. The communists of Russia will use every method of propaganda and aggression and death to maintain Putin in power as their puppet president.

Putin and his communists are Hitler and the Third Reich all over again only worse. His annexation is at the cost of genocide and is completely illegitimate. All of it is a war crime.