Lt. Gen. Alexander Kubasov, the former head of the Yaroslavl regional office of the FSB, the Russian federal security service, was found dead in a hotel room outside Moscow, RIU.ru reports.  Curiously, the cause of death wasn’t foul play, but viral pneumonia.

The 62-year-old Kubasov was not known to be ill, and it is not known why he would check in to a hotel rather than go to a hospital to be treated for pneumonia.  It is also not known if the illness was rooted in the coronavirus, which is causing deaths Moscow is attempting to downplay the impact of the pandemic.

It’s also unknown what Kubasov was doing in suburban Moscow, approximately 180 miles from his home in Yaroslavl.

🔥 🔥 🔥 https://t.co/5CzT8w6vLb

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 28, 2021

Associated Press:  “A New York judge on Wednesday refused to pause a COVID-19 vaccine mandate set to begin Friday for the city’s municipal workforce, denying a police union’s request for a temporary restraining order.  Judge Lizette Colon said the mandate can take effect as scheduled while also ordering city officials to appear in court Nov. 12 to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit seeking to have it declared illegal.

“Police officers, firefighters and most other city workers must show proof they’ve gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 5 p.m. Friday. Previously, city workers were able to show proof of a negative test to stay on the job.  Workers who don’t comply will be put on unpaid leave starting Monday.  As a result, the city’s fire department said it was preparing to close 20% of its fire companies and have 20% fewer ambulances in service.

“Colon, whose court is on Staten Island, issued the ruling hours after hearing arguments from lawyers for the Police Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, and the city, which prevailed in arguing the mandate should be implemented without delay. …

“As of Tuesday, 73% of police department personnel had gotten at least one vaccine dose, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told WPIX-TV on Wednesday. More than 60 NYPD employees have died of COVID-19. … The fire department reported a vaccination rate of 68% as of Wednesday. The department, whose EMTs and paramedics were working around the clock in the early days of the pandemic, lost 16 workers to the virus.”

Politico:  “Iran is ready to return to nuclear talks in Vienna before the end of November, Ali Bagheri Kani, the country’s deputy foreign minister, said on Wednesday after meeting with EU officials in Brussels.  ‘Had a very serious & constructive dialogue with @enriquemora_ on the essential elements for successful negotiations,’ he wrote on Twitter, referring to Enrique Mora, the chief EU coordinator for the talks. ‘We agree to start negotiations before the end of November. Exact date would be announced in the course of the next week,’ he added.

“Mora did not immediately confirm the statement but two Western diplomatic officials said Bagheri Kani’s announcement was correct.  The development paves the way for a resumption of talks between Iran and six world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the Iran nuclear deal is officially called. Negotiations have been stalled since June, when Iran elected hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi to the presidency.

“Iran had repeatedly stressed that it was ready to resume talks ‘soon’ but refused to provide a clear date, leaving U.S. and European officials increasingly impatient and irritated.  ‘We could understand some hiatus to their transition … but at this point, it’s hard to find an explanation, an innocent explanation, for why they are taking so long,’ U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley told reporters in a press call earlier this week. He added that efforts to revive the accord were in a ‘critical phase.'”

White rage porn addicts were in uproar over some sort of homecoming event prank at Hazard High School in Hazard, Kentucky, in which male students wore Hooters uniforms and gave lap dances to male staff, including the principal (and mayor of the town) Don ‘Happy’ Mobelini, Fox News reports.

“Public education is under so much fire right now. This kind of stuff is not helpful. In fact, it’s disgusting. It appears they are sexualizing young adults” Fox News quotes some Karen as saying. Of course it’s “under investigation” by the school district’s board but there’s no indication yet of which elected Democrats can be personally blamed for “fostering such an environment” if any, or if it’ll just be generally and vaguely pinned on the amoral, fascist left.

Among all her other fault, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-GA) is no financial genius either:  Her Friday purchase of Digital World Acquisition Corp., Trump’s Special Purpose Acquisition Company, has plunged in value, CNN reports.

Greene reported buying between $15,000 and $50,000 in shares in the SPAC, which was set up to fund Trump’s latest planned social media endeavor, TruthSocial.  Since Friday, when the stock was selling for $150 per share, its value has plummeted to just $65 dollars per share, or 37% of its value just five days ago.

Many of the investors who bought into the SPAC have reportedly rescinded their investments after hearing about the involvement of Trump, who has bankrupted four casinos, an airline and scores of other business ventures.  Trump also reportedly owes various lenders hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding debt that will come due in the coming years, which will likely cause further financial strife for the family-owned business.

Karen Fann, the president of the Arizona state senate, has sent a letter to the Cyber Ninjas declaring that the company is in “material breach” of its master service agreement with the senate for failing to turn over documents demanded by a court relating to the fraudulent audit it conducted in Maricopa County.

As Brad Heath of Reuters reports, the letter states the Cyber Ninjas has turned over only 300 records to date, an “unsubstantial percentage of all existing responsive records.”  In the course of the activities, the Cyber Ninjas were provided access to voting records and voter rolls, as well as electronic versions of public records.

Courthouse News: “A federal jury in Washington state found immigrant detainees in a voluntary work program at a for-profit ICE processing facility are employees under state law and deserve minimum wage. The verdict caps a four-year legal battle over whether the Florida-based GEO Group, one of the largest private prison providers in the country and operator of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma since 2005, unjustly profited off of immigrant detainees by paying them $1 a day for cleaning and cooking services that the private prison company is required to perform under its contract with ICE. Washington AG Bob Ferguson sued GEO in 2017 along with a class of detainees seeking back pay. The jury reached a verdict just before 1 p.m. Wednesday after about four hours of deliberation, according to federal court records. Attorneys will present arguments over damages GEO must pay, including back wages to detainees, beginning Thursday.”

A pair of toddlers found a loaded handgun in a family home in Canton, Ohio, on Monday night prompting one of them to play with it and accidentally shooting his playmate in the face, killing him, the Canton Repository reports.  Brandon D. Owens, Jr. was pronounced dead at a local hospital after medical crews could not save the boy, who would have turned two years old in December.  His playmate will turn three shortly.

Brandon’s mother called 9-1-1 sobbing, saying “Oh, baby, no. My baby….”  She told the dispatcher her baby had been shot.  No one has yet been charged in the incident.

We remind everyone that unsecured firearms should not be kept where children have access to them,” Canton Chief of Police Jack Angelo said, calling the child’s death “a preventable tragedy,” adding, “Gun locks are available free of charge at most law enforcement agencies. The Canton Police department will provide a gun lock free of charge to anyone, regardless of what jurisdiction you live in.”

You are frequently a liar (and often spewing anti-Semitism).

But here, you’re lie is exactly 180 degrees false. I was defending the right of citizens to denounce authoritarian policies. In other words, to OPPOSE Nazis (or petty tyrants), not to support them. https://t.co/BrDSjYIKyT

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 27, 2021

Washington Post:  “Congressional Democrats signaled Wednesday they are closing in on a long-elusive deal to overhaul the nation’s health care, education, climate and tax laws, setting in motion a tenuous new plan to try to advance President Biden’s broader economic agenda as soon as this week.  The frenetic day began with another burst of outreach, as Biden continued the arduous task of crafting a signature spending initiative that could unite his party’s ambitious liberals and its two moderate holdouts, Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

“Emerging from a roughly two-hour gathering with Biden’s aides on Capitol Hill, the centrist duo each pointed to ‘progress’ after months of deadlock over Democrats’ initial plans to spend $3.5 trillion financed through a slew of new tax increases. The architect of that original blueprint, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), soon paid his own visit to the White House, reflecting the White House’s shuttle diplomacy that for hours spanned Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Democrats appeared on the verge of clinching more than $500 billion in new money to combat climate change, even as they continued to hammer out some of the specifics. Some felt they were also closer to a temporary program to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans. Even before Wednesday, the party had neared consensus over a slew of other programs to aid families, including expanded tax credits for parents and new, free and universal prekindergarten for their children.

“Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, is preparing to announce as soon as Thursday that she will run for governor, according to six Democratic leaders briefed on her plans. Ms. James, her chief of staff and key political advisers began informing allies in the state’s labor unions and Democratic political circles in recent days that she intends to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in next year’s Democratic primary, and could make her plans public as early as Thursday, potentially by video.”

“Several of the Democrats, all of whom asked for anonymity to detail private conversations, said that the attorney general’s team was seeking commitments for early endorsements that could help build momentum for a campaign. Ms. James’s team would not confirm early Wednesday afternoon that she intended to enter the race, but an adviser later said that a decision had been reached, ending months of deliberations. ‘Attorney General Letitia James has made a decision regarding the governor’s race,’ the adviser, Kimberly Peeler-Allen, said in a statement. ‘She will be announcing it in the coming days.’ Ms. James’s candidacy would ensure an expensive, high-profile Democratic primary that would set up a marquee test over the direction of the party in a heavily Democratic state. It will also establish a vigorously contested race that some party leaders had hoped to avoid after years of party infighting” – New York Times.

Michelle Cottle, NYT: “If Democrats lose their sense of urgency when it comes to voting, the party is in serious trouble. Republicans are working hard to keep their voters outraged and thus primed to turn out. They are seeking to capitalize on a difference in motivation between the parties that Mr. Trump neatly exploited in his rise to power. As is often noted, the essence of the modern Republican Party has been boiled down to: Own the libs. The impulse on the other side is not parallel. Democrats try to mobilize their voters with promises to enact popular policies – paid family leave, expanded Medicare coverage, cheaper prescription drugs, universal pre-K and so on. Democratic voters were desperate to send Mr. Trump packing. But beyond that, what many, many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether.

“Conservatives see the culture and economy evolving in key ways, leaving them behind. Ignoring the shift isn’t an option for them. Mr. Trump electrified much of red-state America by promising to beat back the changes – and, better still, bring to heel the condescending urban elites driving them. The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen further fuels conservatives’ existing sense that progressives are destroying their world. Outrage and fear are powerful motivators – ones at which Mr. Trump and his breed of Republicans excel. So while the non-MAGA electorate may be rightly exhausted, Democrats should beware of letting their voters get comfy or complacent just because Mr. Trump is currently cooling his heels in Florida. That is exactly what his Republican Party is counting on in Virginia – and everywhere else.”

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Quintana Roo) harangued Attorney General Merrick Garland about Garland’s son-in-law’s involvement in an education consulting company, claiming that the company would make money when schools teach the GOP’s MacGuffin of the GOP:  elementary school and high school classes on critical race theory.

“The Perry County district attorney’s office dismissed a felony charge that Pennsylvania State Police had filed against a homeless man after he paid $2 for a Mountain Dew drink that cost $2.29. Joseph Sobolewski maintained all along that his arrest for retail theft after visiting the Exxon at 3298 Susquehanna Trail in Duncannon was a misunderstanding. He said he saw a sign for 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottles: 2 for $3. He grabbed a bottle, slapped $2 on the counter and walked out. What he didn’t know was a single bottle was $2.29, not $1.50. So he had shorted the store 29 cents plus tax, or 43 cents total. The store called police, who tracked him down.”

“Pennsylvania State police Trooper Johnathan Sullivan charged him with a felony, and a Magisterial District Judge Jackie Leister locked him up for seven days on $50,000 cash-only bond. He was facing up to seven years behind bars because of Pennsylvania’s ‘three-strikes’ law that mandates a third theft charge must be a felony regardless of the amount. The original story last month of Sobolewski’s plight went viral, with dozens of other publications across the country and into Canada writing about it. Then, earlier this month, prosecutors quietly dropped the theft charge and reduced another charge, driving while suspended, from a misdemeanor to a summary offense, which is the same level as a traffic ticket” – PennLive.

Bloomberg:  “Key House Democrat Richard Neal said a proposal to tax the assets of billionaires has been dropped in negotiations over revenue measures to pay for President Joe Biden’s social-spending bill, while a surtax on millionaires is under discussion, Bloomberg News reports.

“The House is discussing with the Senate the inclusion of a 3% surtax, on top of the top income rate, for those earning more than $10 million, Neal, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Wednesday.”

“In your editorial ‘The Election for Pennsylvania’s High Court’ (Oct. 25), you state the fact that a court wrongly said mail-in ballots could be counted after Election Day. ‘This didn’t matter,’ you add, ‘because Mr. Biden won the state by 80,555, but the country is lucky the election wasn’t closer. If the election had hung on a few thousand Pennsylvanians, the next President might have been picked by the U.S. Supreme Court.’ Well actually, the election was rigged, which you, unfortunately, still haven’t figured out. Here are just a few examples of how determinative the voter fraud in Pennsylvania was: 71,893 mail-in ballots were returned after Nov. 3, 2020, at 8 p.m., according to Audit the Vote PA. None of these should have been counted according to the U.S. Constitution and the state Legislature, which didn’t approve this change… 10,515 mail-in votes from people who do not exist on the Pennsylvania voter rolls at all… 120,000 excess voters are not yet accounted for by the Pennsylvania Department of State – far more votes than voters!”

“Attorney General Bill Barr ordered U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain to stand down and not investigate election irregularities… Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook poured over $17 million to interfere in the Pennsylvania election, including $5.5 million on ‘ballot processing equipment’ in Philadelphia and $552,000 for drop boxes where the voting pattern was not possible… And so much more! This is why Democrats and the Fake News Media do not want a full forensic audit in Pennsylvania. In reality, 80,555 ballots are nothing when there is this much corruption or voter irregularities” says the letter to the editor from the emotionally disturbed man, identified as Don T in Palm Beach, FL.

Stitched together this two-part video from investigative reporter Lauren Windsor cornering fascist attorney John Eastman into talking a bunch of shit and walking back his previous walk back on the infamous January 6th memo. In the first part Eastman whines that Pence ws too much of an “establishment” Republican to go through with his plan, in part two he tries the old “the Capitol riot was a setup” fairy tale, claiming an “Antifa guy” was paid by CNN to capture footage of the attack and that FBI agents entrapped the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers into participating.

“A second-tier QAnon influencer who has baselessly accused high-ranking Democrats of being pedophiles is himself a convicted sex offender, a Right Wing Watch investigation found. David Todeschini, under the alias of David Trent, operates the Net4Truth BitChute channel with some 21,000 followers, a GoFundMe page for ‘Christian Ministry and Veteran’s advocacy’ featuring QAnon rhetoric, and number of social media pages. Todeschini was also the owner of a YouTube channel that had thousands of followers until that platform purged channels espousing the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

“QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that posits that a ‘deep state’ made up of high-ranking Democrats, business leaders, and Hollywood figures are operating a satanic child-sex trafficking cult and that former President Donald Trump has been working to bring down the cult. The conspiracy theory has become a movement whose followers are among Trump’s most ardent supporters. Like many other QAnon followers, Todeschini was among those who attended the rally prior to the insurrection on Jan. 6 to keep Trump in office, though it’s unclear whether he was among the cohort that breached the U.S. Capitol. In his videos, Todeschini calls for Democratic politicians in D.C. to be ‘taken out at gunpoint,’ alleges children are being trafficked, and claims Hillary Clinton, Bill Barr, and others have been convicted of treason and sentenced to hang. The introduction for his videos displays QAnon slogans and the symbol of the Three Percenters, a paramilitary extremist group” – Right Wing Watch.