Mark McCloskey, a candidate for the Republican nomination to represent Missouri in the US Senate, and a pudgy soft white guy who became famous for pointing an AR-15 rifle at BLM protestors, made a campaign stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin to show his support for another pudgy soft white guy who also pointed an AR-15 at BLM protestors but actually fired at them. The campaign stop went so-so for him, as McCloskey was drowned out by MAGA and Anti-MAGA protestors screaming at the top of their lungs. One of them, a man who was off-camera, shouted something about white supremacy, but it was unclear whether or not he was for or against it given the cacophony.

Four months ago, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis debuted a catchphrase to sum up his and his Party’s insistence that coronavirus vaccines and public health regulations were useless against the pandemic and that people should just ignore medical professionals and get on with their lives.

His “Don’t Fauci My Florida!” campaign started in mid-July with the rollout of t-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs and a variety of other things on sale on his campaign website, to raise money for his reelection effort.

Besides filling the coffers of the DeSantis checkbook, the anti-science, anti-scientist slogan had a murderous secondary effect:  Florida saw more than 22,000 deaths in the last four month, tops in the nation and with Texas, the only two states to see more than 20,000 deaths over that time.

Rittenhouse defense attorney: “Other people in this community have shot somebody seven times and it’s been found to be ok. And my client did it four times, in three-quarters of a second, to protect his life from Mr. Rosenbaum.”

Reuters:  “Guatemala on Monday extradited a son of former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli to the United States, where he and his brother face bribery and money laundering charges linked to Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht.

“Luis Enrique Martinelli in the morning boarded an extradition flight bound for the United States, where he is wanted by a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.  Luis and his brother Ricardo Alberto Martinelli were arrested in July 2020 in Guatemala City as they attempted to board a flight to Panama. Ricardo Alberto’s extradition process is still pending in a Guatemalan court.

“The U.S. Department of Justice alleges the Martinelli sons were intermediaries for the payment of some $28 million in bribes from Odebrecht to a high-ranking Panama official when their father was president of Panama between 2009 and 2014. Denis Cuesy, an attorney for Martinelli, said U.S. lawyers were now handling the case, when asked about the accusations.  Former president Martinelli has spent the past few years embroiled in various criminal probes and was last week acquitted of wire-tapping charges linked to his time in office.”

CBS News:  “Five teenagers were hospitalized Monday after a shooting near a high school in Colorado, according to local police. Authorities said the shooting occurred at a local park north of Aurora Central High School.

“The Aurora Police Department said it was responding to a shooting in Nome Park just before 1 p.m. local time. Authorities said ‘multiple people’ were shot and five teens between the ages of 14 and 17 have been hospitalized, but they did not provide any additional information on the teens’ condition.

“Police said the suspect is unknown and no longer at the scene. Aurora Central High School has begun what the department called a ‘secure perimeter,’ but is not on lockdown.”

President Biden speaks live from the White House as he signs the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, something which should’ve happened about 209 weeks ago, but that wall that didn’t get built and Mexico didn’t pay for was way more important than roads, bridges, train tracks, and what not.

“I’m telling you right now:  this is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden,” powerless podcaster Steve Bannon said on the steps of the courthouse as he left his first court appearance for failing to respond to a Congressional subpoena.  ” Joe Biden ordered Garland to prosecute me from the White House lawn when he got off Marine One.  And we’re going to do, we’re going to go on the offence.  We’re tired of playing defense.  We’re gonna go on the offence, and stand by.  And by the way, by the way, by the way, you should understand Nancy Pelosi has taken on Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, she should ask Hillary Clinton how that turned out for them, okay?  We’re going on the offence.”

“Heard that Alyssa Farah was terrible on The View – they could have asked the people who know her and saved a lot of time. She was a ‘backbencher’ in the White House, and is now a nobody again. We put her out there to face the public as little as possible. It’s amazing how these people leave with respect and adoration for me and others in the White House, but as soon as CNN or other cameras get shoved in their face, or the losers from the The View ask a question, or money gets thrown at them, or someone writes a fake book, inglorious lightweights like Farah change so quickly. I watched this clown on television saying exactly what they wanted her to say and I watched the lies. Was she paid by low-ratings CNN? By the way, as soon as the Crime of the Century happened on Nov 3rd, I knew the Election was Rigged and Stolen, and never changed my view on that one bit. I did not go soft on the ‘Real’ Big Lie, the Election Scam, and never will.”

“Backbencher said I told her I lost the Election – never did. I virtually never even spoke to Farah (it’s like she didn’t even exist in the White House). Anybody who ever says that I thought the Election was legit, even for a moment, is wrong. All you have to do is look at the thousands of pages of documents and evidence—which continues to mount. When we told Alyssa to ‘hit the road,’ she wrote a very nice letter stating that working for ‘Trump’ was ‘the honor of a lifetime’ and she was ‘deeply proud of the incredible things we were able to accomplish to make our country stronger, safer, and more secure.’ Show the rest of the letter Alyssa, and explain why you wrote it!” says Former Guy in a particularly long and unhinged statement, even by his standards.

Without getting too deep into it, this statement’s length and venom seem to suggest that Trump feels emasculated by a young, attractive former aide like Farah turning against him by doing interviews with the lamestream media (Farah’s View appearance was over a month ago, looks like what Trump is really melting down over is her Sunday CNN interview where she said Mike Pence is the best GOP candidate for 2024). She probably had once seemed to him like a great candidate to promote from her role in White House comms to replacing Melania in the presidential bedroom.

Monmouth Polls: “Looking back at the riot at the U.S Capitol on January 6th, about 1 in 4 Americans (27%) say that the anger that led to this incident was at least partially justified, including a majority of Republicans (54%). Just over half of the public has either a lot (26%) or a little (31%) trust that the House Select Committee set up to examine this incident will conduct a fair investigation. Most Republicans (75%) have no trust at all in the committee.”

“Most Americans approve of having the select committee look into whether members of Congress (73%) or former President Donald Trump (67%) played a role in the incident along with looking into possible fraud in the 2020 election (60%). Majorities of Republicans support having the committee investigate possible election fraud (70%) and the role members of Congress may have played (58%), but only 40% approve of the committee looking into anything that could implicate Trump. About 9 in 10 Democrats approve of an inquiry into the role played by Trump (91%) and members of Congress (89%), while nearly half say the same about looking into possible election fraud (47%).”

Conservative personality Charlie Kirk goes on a rant claiming former First Lady Michelle Obama is planning a secret run for the presidency in 2024 despite her having made multiple statements that she has no intention of running for public office. And Kirk’s rationale for this is that she’s a Black woman. “Who might want to run in 2024 that would be a threat to Kamala [mispronounced] Harris?” Kirk muses. “Who might want to run in 2024 who’s a Black woman that would want Kamala [mispronounced] Harris out of the way? Who would want to run in 2024 who’s a best-seller author and who’s considered to be the savior of us all. What if Michelle Obama’s bio fit?”

Michelle Obama has said publicly repeatedly that she has no interest in running for public office.

Democrats, Eric Holder and Lois Lerner, were held in contempt of Congress.

Neither were prosecuted by the Obama/Biden DOJ.

But when Republicans are held in contempt? The Biden DOJ prosecutes them.

There’s always a double standard for the Left.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) November 15, 2021

Reuters:  “American journalist Danny Fenster said he was healthy and happy to be heading home after being freed from prison in Myanmar and flying to Qatar on Monday, following negotiations between former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson and the ruling military junta.  Fenster, 37, the managing editor of independent online magazine Frontier Myanmar, looked frail on arrival at Hamad International Airport in Doha but said he had not been beaten while in captivity.

“‘I feel great and am really happy to be on my way home. I’m incredibly happy for everything Bill has done,’ he told reporters on the tarmac, referring to Richardson’s intervention.  ‘You just go a little stir crazy and the longer it drags on the more worried you are that it’s just never going to end. That was the biggest concern, staying sane through that.’

“Asked if he had been mistreated, he said: ‘I was arrested and held in captivity for no reason, so I suppose so. But physically, I was healthy. I wasn’t starved or beaten.’  Fenster was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Friday for incitement and violations of laws on immigration and unlawful assembly, a ruling that drew international condemnation.”

NBC News:  “Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., plans to retire at the end of his term, the veteran lawmaker told reporters in his home state on Monday.  ‘It is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home,’ Leahy said.

“Leahy, 81, is the longest-serving current senator, having served since 1975. He currently chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee chair and is third in the line of succession to the presidency as president pro tempore of the Senate, after the vice president and the Speaker of the House. He was last re-elected in 2016.  Earlier this year, Leahy was hospitalized and under medical observation after feeling unwell.

“The Senate is divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote. If a seat were to become vacant or a senator were unable to attend votes, the balance of power could be upended.  Notably, Leahy presided over former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. … The seat should be safe for Democrats, although Republicans are expected to hold the electoral advantage going into the 2022 midterms. President Joe Biden won Vermont by 35 percentage points in 2020.”

Yes!!! I stayed at the Trump Hotel when I was in Washington DC for sentencing. Amazing!!! Very pricey but I figure I'm worth it. 😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/oZlgAl2Fq1

— Jenna Ryan 🇺🇸 (@dotjenna) November 13, 2021

“Former President Donald Trump called January 6, the day of the Capitol riot, ‘a very beautiful time’ in a March interview with ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, according to Karl’s forthcoming book. During the interview at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Trump praised the supporters who attended his speech in which he urged his loyalists to march to the Capitol and protest Congress’ certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. When Karl asked Trump why he tweeted, ‘Remember this day forever,’ hours after the deadly riot, Trump told him that Jan. 6 was ‘a very beautiful time with extremely loving and friendly people – the largest crowd that I’ve ever spoken before – with tremendous spirit. And I’m referring to that.'”

“Trump went on, ‘I’m referring to when I made a speech which was perfectly fine. Some people thought it was mild-mannered… it was a relatively mind-mannered speech.’ Karl said he wasn’t expecting Trump to express remorse for his role in inciting the deadly mob, but that he was shocked at how the former president recalled the day with pride. ‘I was taken aback by how fondly he remembers a day I will always remember as one of the darkest I have ever witnessed,’ Karl writes in ‘Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,’ an advanced copy of which was obtained by Insider. Trump also insisted that ‘the fake news’ didn’t report on the large size of the crowd on the National Mall. ‘When I made that speech, it was a magnificently beautiful day,’ he told Karl. ‘They never gave the credit to the size of the crowd when the crowd went all the way back to the Washington Monument'” – Insider

“Connecticut judge rules Alex Jones GUILTY by default in case brought by eight Sandy Hook families. Combines with earlier rulings in Texas to grant a clean sweep to the Sandy Hook families in their four defamation cases against the conspiracy theorist” reports NYT’s Liz Williamson.

“Trump impeachment lawyer David Schoen will serve as defense attorney for Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress case. Schoen has formally notified DC federal court clerk. Bannon appears in court later today” reports NBC Washington’s Scott MacFarlane.

Schoen famously met with Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and other fanboy Republican Senators in the middle of Trump’s impeachment trial, which underscored how much of a joke the whole concept is.

UPDATE 11/15/2021 9:50 AM EST: “Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon taken into federal custody on contempt charges, will appear before judge later Monday” the AP reports

I’m running for governor.

Together, we can push past the small and divisive politics that we see in Texas today — and get back to the big, bold vision that used to define Texas. A Texas big enough for all of us.

Join us: https://t.co/eMY5wwf6an pic.twitter.com/yrG1WOkpqk

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) November 15, 2021

Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic: “If the 20th century was the story of a slow, uneven struggle, ending with the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies – communism, fascism, virulent nationalism – the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse. Freedom House, which has published an annual ‘Freedom in the World’ report for nearly 50 years, called its 2021 edition ‘Democracy Under Siege.’ The Stanford scholar Larry Diamond calls this an era of ‘democratic regression.’ Not everyone is equally gloomy – Srdja Popovic, the democracy activist, argues that confrontations between autocrats and their populations are growing harsher precisely because democratic movements are becoming more articulate and better organized.”

“But just about everyone who thinks hard about this subject agrees that the old diplomatic toolbox once used to support democrats around the world is rusty and out of date. The tactics that used to work no longer do. Certainly sanctions, especially when hastily applied in the aftermath of some outrage, do not have the impact they once did. They can sometimes seem, as Stephen Biegun, the former deputy secretary of state, puts it, ‘an exercise in self-gratification,’ on par with ‘sternly worded condemnations of the latest farcical election.’ That doesn’t mean they have no impact at all. But although personal sanctions on corrupt Russian officials might make it impossible for some Russians to visit their homes in Cap Ferrat, say, or their children at the London School of Economics, they haven’t persuaded Putin to stop invading other countries, interfering in European and American politics, or poisoning his own dissidents. Neither have decades of U.S. sanctions changed the behavior of the Iranian regime or the Venezuelan regime, despite their indisputable economic impact. Too often, sanctions are allowed to deteriorate over time; just as often, autocracies now help one another get around them.”