“Newsmax is benching White House correspondent Emerald Robinson following her posting of a tweet claiming bioluminescence in covid vaccines: ‘Newsmax is currently reviewing the posts and during that period Ms. Robinson will not be on air but continue with duties for the network'” reports the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple on the ongoing fallout from Lucifergate.

New York Times: “Federal authorities on Thursday arrested an analyst who in 2016 gathered leads about possible links between Donald J. Trump and Russia for what turned out to be Democratic-funded opposition research, according to people familiar with the matter. The arrest of the analyst, Igor Danchenko, is part of the special counsel inquiry led by John H. Durham, who was appointed by the Trump administration to scrutinize the Russia investigation for any wrongdoing, the people said. Danchenko, was the primary researcher of the so-called Steele dossier, a compendium of rumors and unproven assertions suggesting that Trump and his 2016 campaign were compromised by and conspiring with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow’s covert operation to help him defeat Hillary Clinton. The people familiar with the matter spoke on condition of anonymity because the indictment of Danchenko had yet to be unsealed.”

“A spokesman for Durham did not respond to a request for comment. Some claims from the Steele dosser made their way into an FBI wiretap application targeting a former Trump campaign adviser in October 2016. Other portions of it – particularly a salacious claim about a purported sex tape – caused a political and media firestorm when Buzzfeed published the materials in January 2017, shortly before Trump was sworn in. But most of the important claims in the dossier – which was written by Danchenko’s employer, Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent – have not been proven, and some have been refuted. FBI agents interviewed Danchenko in 2017 when they were seeking to run down the claims in the dossier.”

“New FBI infrared aerial surveillance video played in court Wednesday appears to show Kyle Rittenhouse moving toward a parking lot where Joseph Rosenbaum was standing, revealing never-before-seen moments before an interaction that led to the fatal shooting of Rosenbaum. The video is the first piece of evidence showing what took place before previously known video of Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse moments before he was shot. The video was shot from high above, and it’s difficult to clearly distinguish the identities of the two men running.”

“During his testimony, Det. Martin Howard with the Kenosha Police Department confirmed the identities of the two men in the final few seconds before the shooting. Prosecutors had previously said the infrared surveillance video could show that, at least at some point during the night of the fatal shootings, it was Rittenhouse who was following Rosenbaum. Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, argued Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse. Prosecutors played about 10 videos in court Wednesday that, taken together, showed what happened before, during and after Rittenhouse killed two men and wounded another in Kenosha. Rittenhouse, now 18, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree attempted intentional homicide” – CNN

AP: “Tens of millions of Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus weekly under government rules issued Thursday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said companies that fail to comply could face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. The new requirements, which were first previewed by President Joe Biden in September, will apply to about 84 million workers at medium and large businesses, although it is not clear how many of those employees are unvaccinated. Tougher rules will apply to another 17 million people who work in nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities that receive money from Medicare and Medicaid. Those workers will not have an option for testing and will need to be vaccinated. It was unclear how OSHA planned to enforce the rules. A senior official said the agency would target companies if it gets complaints.”

Happy Diwali! pic.twitter.com/afwctGQiOd

— GOP (@GOP) November 4, 2021

“The Racine County sheriff is recommending charges against five state election officials because they told clerks to bypass state law during the coronavirus pandemic and send absentee ballots to nursing homes instead of first visiting in person. Attorney General Josh Kaul blasted the move made by Sheriff Christopher Schmaling on Wednesday, calling it ‘a disgraceful publicity stunt’ and ‘an abuse of authority.’ Schmaling said Wednesday in a news release he wants Commissioners Marge Bostelmann, Julie Glancey, Ann Jacobs, Dean Knudson and Mark Thomsen to be charged with five separate crimes related to the incident, including felony charges of misconduct in public office and election fraud and three misdemeanor counts of being a party to a crime.”

“Thomsen, Jacobs and Glancey are Democrats; Knudson and Bostelmann are Republicans. Schmaling is not recommending charges against staff of the Ridgewood Care Center or the local election clerks who oversaw absentee voting at the nursing home, which the sheriff alleges was handled improperly for eight voters. The announcement came a day after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Racine County officials should charge a nursing home worker or local clerk if they believe election laws were broken at the facility but said he sees no reason to assume voting problems occurred at other nursing homes” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

Schmaling’s recommendation leaves out the sixth Wisconsin Elections Commission member, Bob Spindell, a Republican who had initially voted to allow the policy change for the Spring 2020 Wisconsin election, but against continuing it indefinitely in a subsequent vote. Spindell is famous for “advising” 2020 Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins on how to get on the ballot in the state in 2020 (he failed) and also being the only one to vote in favor of allowing Kanye West on to the 2020 ballot after the dumbass GOP lawyers delivered their scam ballot access petition paperwork two minutes after 5:00 pm on the final date state election laws allowed submissions, arguing he wanted to give Black Wisconsinites more “choice” on their ballots and didn’t mind his lawyers were too late. Spindell also attended the infamous August 2021 MyPillow CyberSymposium that exposed zero evidence of 2020 election hacking whatsoever.

Shortly after midnight Thursday, Florida Republican 2020 House candidate Chuck Callesto jumped in on the hot new #ExposeNJ MAGA hashtag with a bold accusation of election malfeasance:

https://twitter.com/ChuckCallesto/status/1456122254438318082

However it’s only when you see his thrilling followup tweet does the real game come into focus…

CNN: “Democrats are despondent and Republicans can barely contain their euphoria after Tuesday’s election, particularly because of Glenn Youngkin’s victory over Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor’s race. No doubt, Democrats have much soul-searching to do. But Republicans, whether they admit it or not, have a huge problem on their hands. Republicans have shown they can win important elections, but only if they keep the defeated former President Donald Trump at arms’ length. But how long can they do that? The fact is, Republicans would have a good chance of winning the White House in 2024 – if they get someone other than Trump to win the nomination.”

“In this last election, with Trump mostly out of sight, voters were able to focus on their frustrations with President Joe Biden, and on other issues. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, Republicans seemed to be saying. It worked, but the curtain is rustling; the man behind it is restless. He won’t stay hidden for long. For now, and the foreseeable future, however, the party is wholly subservient to the man who started his term in office with his party in control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, and then led Republicans in a reverse trifecta, losing the White House, the House and the Senate.”

“Dominion has justified its $1.3 billion damages claim by saying that Lindell’s conspiracy theories have made it lose out on contracts and generated death threats against its employees. A jury will ultimately decide how much to award in damages if the case goes to trial. If a jury agrees with Dominion’s assessments, the damages will almost certainly exceed MyPillow’s value and Lindell’s net worth. As a privately held company, MyPillow’s doesn’t have a public valuation, and Lindell declined to comment on its value. The pillow mogul doesn’t appear on any billionaire lists.”

“Once the judge enters the jury’s verdict – and if MyPillow loses on appeal or fails in arguing the damages down to a manageable sum – Dominion will have an opportunity to seize MyPillow’s assets. Dominion could go to Minnesota, where MyPillow is headquartered, and file what’s called a ‘writ of execution’ to the local courts. From there, the local sheriffs or courts would be able to freeze assets like bank accounts and hand over Lindell’s MyPillow shares and the keys to his pillow warehouses. Dominion would have the ability to seize assets until the value of the judgment was satisfied. It could auction off those assets itself, or it could keep them and have them valued, according to University of Minnesota’s law school professor Edward Adams” – Insider.

NBC News:  “Two men died when one of them jumped or fell from the seventh floor of a culture center ahead of a concert in Sweden and landed on the other, police said.  The 80-year-old man who crashed into the lobby of the Uppsala Konsert and Kongress venue Tuesday night died at the scene north of Stockholm, and the 60-year-old man he struck died later, police said.

“A woman with the 60-year-old was hurt, but her injuries were not considered life-threatening, police said.  A tribute concert to the two male members of ABBA, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, had been scheduled at the culture center for Tuesday, but the event was canceled, according to Swedish media.

“The center in the city of Uppsala hosts concerts and other meetings in an eight-story building with a mirrored façade and angled metal sheets reminiscent of crystal. The venue’s website said it would be closed Wednesday until Friday because of the deaths.”

“… and we have just an unbelievable night, not just with governor but with gligrsplitzler governor [scared look in eyes] not with…”

“The American Psychological Association issued an apology to people of color on Friday for its role in perpetuating systemic racism and discrimination in the U.S. ‘For the first time, APA and American psychology are systematically and intentionally examining, acknowledging and charting a path forward to address their roles in perpetuating racism,’ APA President Jennifer F. Kelly said in a statement.

“The association called past attempts to apologize for its responsibility in upholding racism “unsuccessful.” The resolution was adopted by APA’s legislative body, which is made up of its board of directors, APA members representing various states and members who represent ethnic psychological associations.  ‘The governing body within APA should have apologized to people of color before today,’ the resolution stated. ‘The work done to make this apology to people of color a reality was led by the people and voices of a broad cross-section of today’s APA—members, APA’s elected and appointed leaders, and staff.’

“The resolution said APA leaders and staff are taking their ‘collective learnings’ and assessments of the association’s past to issue an apology that will actually effect change.  The resolution acknowledged that the origins of the discipline are rooted in ‘oppressive psychological science to protect Whiteness, White people and White epistemologies’ and that in many ways the field was complacent in the exploitation of people of color.”

Oblivious to the torrent of orange spittle that has been spewed from Trump properties along the East Coast, Marco Rubio claims Democrats scream “they cheated!” when they lose…. which is not happening after the Virginia election.

Associated Press:  “Louisiana’s oldest college is celebrating its first lifetime appointment to a Black faculty member, and discussing why this racial milestone took nearly two centuries to accomplish.  ‘I think that’s the million-dollar question. It’s something I know will be highlighted and discussed’ at Centenary College of Louisiana’s event Thursday honoring the now-tenured associate professor Andia Augustin-Billy, college spokeswoman Kate Pedrotty said.  Racism is why this took 196 years, said school archivist Chris Brown.

“’Structural and institutional and systemic racism has been present ever since the college was founded, largely by enslavers,’ he said.  This history is undeniable, but it’s also in the past, said Christopher Holoman, president of the Methodist-affiliated college in Shreveport.  ‘Any institution that is as old as Centenary, particularly one in the South, must take account of the role that racism played in its history,’ Holoman said. ‘As we move forward, Centenary is committed to full inclusion of all members of our community and working towards a just society.’

“Augustin-Billy, known on campus as ‘Dr. A-B,’ pronounced ‘ah-bay,’ is an award-winning teacher of French and Francophone Studies who leads Centenary students on trips to Paris and Haiti, where she grew up as the daughter of missionaries.  She also teaches African and Caribbean literature and postcolonial, women, gender and sexuality studies to a student body described as 18% Black or Black and another race. That’s slightly ahead of the national percentage of college-aged Blacks: 16.7% of U.S. residents age 18 through 24 in 2018, according to U.S. Census figures.”

“I’ve never figured out what Critical Race Theory is, to be perfectly honest, after a year of talking about it” Fox News host (and guy who wishes he could pull off Steve Bannon’s double-shirt look) Tucker Carlson admitted after spending months railing against it.  “They’re teaching that some races are morally superior to others,” Carlson continues even though he just said he didn’t know what CRT is, “that some are inherently sinful and some are inherently saintly and that’s immoral to teach that because it’s wrong.  That would be my view, and I think most voters’ view.”

Well, that is wrong because that’s not what CRT is, Tuckums.  It’s not about the inherent saintliness of a specific race.  It’s about how systemic racism has benefited some races (cough, cough, white people) and harmed others.

Associated Press:  “The FBI released hundreds of pages of newly declassified documents Wednesday about its long effort to explore connections between the Saudi government and the Sept. 11 attacks, revealing the scope of a strenuous but ultimately fruitless investigation whose outcome many question to this day.  Agents for years investigated support given to several of the hijackers upon their arrival in the U.S., focusing in particular on whether three Saudi nationals — including a Saudi Embassy official in Washington — had advance knowledge of the attacks.

“Ultimately, investigators found insufficient evidence to charge any of the three with illegally supporting the hijackers, according to an FBI memo from May that closed out the probe and was among the more than 700 pages released Wednesday. The FBI noted in the memo that al-Qaida compartmentalized the roles within its major attacks and “did not make the attack plans known in advance to others” for fear of word getting out.  ‘Specifically, in relation to the 9/11 attacks, the hijackers knew there was a martyrdom operation, but did not know about the nature of the operation until shortly before the attack for operational security reasons,’ the FBI memo states.

“The documents were the latest materials to be released under an executive order from President Joe Biden aimed at making public long-classified investigative reports related to the attacks. A separate investigative document was released on the 20th anniversary of the attacks in September. The records have long been sought by victims’ relatives as they sue in federal court in New York to try to prove that the Saudi government was complicit, something Riyadh officials have vigorously denied.”

A New Jersey truck driver who spent just $153 on his entire campaign is likely to defeat the Democratic leader of the New Jersey Senate, and he wants people to know that he’s going to have a single focus:  VOLUME.  “I’m going to guarantee one thing – I will be the voice aaaaand people will hear me because if there’s one thing people will learn about me, I’ve got a big mouth and I don’t shut up when I want to be heard,” Edward Durr declared.

“Former President Donald Trump said he was just engaging in ‘fiery rhetoric’ when he said a former ‘Apprentice’ contestant was lying about being sexually assaulted by him more than a decade ago. Trump said the defamation lawsuit filed against him by Summer Zervos was doomed to fail because he was simply using hyperbole to deny her allegation. He made the argument in a filing on Wednesday in New York state court in Manhattan, where he’s seeking a judge’s approval to amend his response to her 2017 suit and file a counterclaim. Zervos said in a filing last week that Trump was trying to delay a court-ordered deposition, which must take place by Dec. 23, but the former president denied he was engaging in stall tactics. ‘This argument is patently absurd, disingenuous, and entirely unfounded,’ his lawyer, Alina Habba, said in the filing” – Bloomberg.

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared Wednesday that he will create a new full-time state law enforcement bureau that will concentrate on election crimes, a violation that hasn’t plagued Florida since the 2000 presidential election, Politico reports.

In the continuing Republican effort to impede the ability of citizens to vote and to quash voter turnout, DeSantis has pushed state lawmakers to pass oppressive voter registration laws and restrict the ability of voters to cast ballots quickly and conveniently.  DeSantis also wants the Republican-controlled state legislature to pass a law that requires local election officials to purge voter rolls of anyone deemed ineligible to vote 100 days before an election, significantly reducing the amount of time someone has to appeal such a removal, which must be appealed to a state board run personally by the Governor.

The new law enforcement office will cost nearly $6 million, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.  Since 2016, there have been six cases of people prosecuted for voting twice in an election.

Democratic incumbent governor Philip Murphy won reelection in a close contest, the Associated Press and NY Times declared Wednesday evening.  Murphy’s lead is expanding as mail-in ballots from around the state are being counted.  He has a 1.211 million to 1.192 million lead over Republican Jack Ciatterelli.  Murphy becomes the first Democratic governor to win reelection in New Jersey since Brendan Byrne in 1977.