So long as they make the line go up!

Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights a Russian invasion.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka took part in an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg to open talks that will help Kyiv align with the 27-member bloc’s laws, standards and values.

“Aggression against Ukraine and threats against Europe is a permanent policy of Russia, so that’s why we need to be united,” Kachka told journalists. “That’s why we need faster and very comprehensive accession to the European Union.”

Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of it joining while the war continues.

Moldova also officially launched its membership talks. Russia has long tried to keep the country within its orbit, and last year Moscow was accused of waging a disinformation campaign driven by artificial intelligence during elections. EU values and principles are first up

Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, from agriculture to taxation and energy to trade, a process which can take years.

Monday’s meeting saw the opening of five key chapters — grouped as “clusters” — that underpin the values and principles on which the bloc was founded, notably the rule of law, fundamental rights and the functioning of democratic institutions.

The chapters are judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, public procurement, and statistics and financial control. The cluster is important for some EU countries that worry about Ukraine’s ability and willingness to fight corruption.

Last month, two national agencies fighting corruption named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff as an official suspect in a major graft investigation, but they said the Ukrainian leader was not under suspicion.

Some countries want Ukraine to join quickly

Some European countries have pushed to get Ukraine in the bloc as quickly as possible. They see Ukraine as vital to Europe’s security and have helped bolster its armed forces.

Last month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged his EU partners to consider offering Ukraine “associate membership” to help breathe new life into talks aimed at ending more than four years of war with Russia.

Other countries — France and the Netherlands among them — have suggested work-arounds to bring Ukraine into the fold more quickly but without the rights of full membership.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Justice Department is investigating him and his wife, accusing the Trump administration of targeting him for political purposes as he weighs a presidential bid.

Newsom, a longtime political rival of the Republican president, said in a video posted on X that federal agents in recent days have knocked on the doors of his friends and former employees, and have asked for records “not because they found a crime, but because they’re simply trying to find one.”

“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” Newsom said, referencing his use of social media to mock Trump. “He’s coming after me because I’m considering running for president, because he hates that I’ve consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit.”

The full details of any investigations related to Newsom were not immediately clear.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that there are multiple federal investigations into people around Newsom, including one related to his wife’s taxes. The probes began last year after whistleblower complaints in California government, and political leadership in Washington was not involved in the decision to open them, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss ongoing investigations.

They are the latest known Justice Department investigations related to one of Trump’s foes, a trend that has sparked criticism that the administration is using the law enforcement agency as a political weapon.

Link: https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2026/06/12/gotham-housing-alliance-hired-zombie-actors-at-demonstration/

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/shit/p/1197380/the-true-definition-of-tired

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WHAT YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY "I'M TIRED"

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By rabi https://x.com/rabiadraw/status/2066552052319187191

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to revive a lawsuit from an aide to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign who was the target of secret surveillance during the FBI’s Russia investigation.

The justices rebuffed an appeal from Carter Page, who settled with the U.S. for $1.25 million but wanted to continue a lawsuit against then-FBI director James Comey and other former officials alleging “unlawful spying” during a probe into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign had conspired with Russia to affect the outcome of the election.

Page vigorously denied any claim of improper ties to Russia and was never charged with any wrongdoing. A government watchdog report was harshly critical of surveillance applications used in his case.

Lower courts tossed out his lawsuit, though, in part because he hadn’t sued the people who carried out the surveillance. The Supreme Court’s brief order did not detail their reasoning for declining the case, as is typical.

Page alleged a series of omissions and errors made by FBI and Justice Department officials in applications they submitted in 2016 and 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to eavesdrop on Page on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia.

Former FBI and Justice Department leaders who were involved in signing off on the surveillance have since said they wouldn’t have done so had they known of the extent of the issues, and the FBI has said it had initiated more than 40 corrective steps aimed at improving the accuracy and thoroughness of applications.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether states can use juries made up of only six people in criminal cases, instead of the usual 12. The case puts a Florida chiropractor convicted of practicing with a suspended license in an unlikely leading role in a constitutional clash.

The justices will hear arguments in the fall in the case of Hamed Kian, who argues that a six-person jury violates his constitutional rights.

Florida uses six-person juries for all criminal cases that don’t involve the death penalty. Five other states, Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah, also conduct some criminal trials with six-member juries.

The 45-year-old Kian’s license was suspended after three women who were his patients complained he either kissed or touched them inappropriately, according to court records.

Prosecutors sought an indictment after amassing evidence that Kian, who had an office in Jupiter, continued to see patients even after the suspension. He was convicted by a six-person jury.

Kian’s lawyers argue that the smaller jury violates the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees “a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state.”

The amendment does not explicitly set the size of the jury, but Kian’s lawyers contend that the word jury could only have meant a body of 12 people at the time the amendment was adopted in 1791. Just over 100 years later, the Supreme Court ruled that juries had to have 12 people.