Stewie Peters melted down and kicked Georgia Republican Governor primary challenger Vernon Jones off his show after Jones refused to answer questions about an anti-white discrimation lawsuit against Jones. Stupid story short, way back in 2010 when Jones was a Democrat and the commissioner of DeKalb County, Georgia, a federal jury found in favor of two white county parks department employees who had sued Jones and another public official alleging they were racially discriminated against when they were fired and replaced with Black employees. Apparently this was part of a pattern and Jones had indeed demonstrably favored Black public employees over white ones for promotions and raises during his reign as chief executive of the county. Fast forward eleven years and now Jones is a Republican and a MAGA superstar attempting to challenge Trump outcast Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for the GOP governor race primary.

Or was, before Stewie Peters dug up this old lawsuit and blew shit up for him.

Elon Musk announced Thursday that his electric car company, Tesla, will move its headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas, the Washington Post reports, as Musk also states that the company will still maintain its presence in California.

The announcement comes as Tesla is building a new manufacturing plant in the Austin area that will employ 10,000 workers.  Musk’s other major venture, SpaceX, is also based in Texas, utilizing existing NASA facilities.

The facilities Tesla uses in the Palo Alto’s Stanford Research Park are limited because of the existing development around them.  Musk had also complained that California’s coronavirus lockdown hurt production at the Fremont, California manufacturing plant.

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Thursday two bills that broaden sexual assault laws to include taking off a condom without permission during sex as well as removing a state exemption to prosecutions for marital rape, the Associated Press reports.

The removal of a condom during sex–a practice known as “stealthing”–can now be used to sue a sexual partner civilly on a charge of sexual battery.  Besides sexual partners, the law gives sex workers a legal pathway to sue clients who remove condoms.

Relating to spousal rape, the provision Newsom signed treat spousal rape as criminal rape, removing an exemption in the state’s definition of rape.  California, and ten other states, treated spousal rape differently than other legal charges of sexual assault.

A study by the medical journal Pediatrics found that more than 120,000 children in the United States lost a primary caregiver who died from the coronavirus, with more than 50% of them coming from Black and Hispanic families, PBS reports.

“These findings really highlight those children who have been left most vulnerable by the pandemic, and where additional resources should be directed,” one of the study’s authors, Dr. Alexandra Blenkinsop of Imperial College London, said in a statement.

The study also found that another 22,000 children lost a secondary caregiver, defined as someone who may have provided a single “basic need” such as housing or education to a child.

Idaho Statesman: “After MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely claimed election fraud occurred in Idaho, Secretary of State officials audited three counties to disprove that claim. Now, the state plans to send Lindell a bill. Idaho Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that the office plans to bill the CEO for the costs associated with auditing the three counties, a total estimated at about $6,500. Houck announced the bill on CNN on Thursday.”

“In Idaho, former President Donald Trump handily won in the 2020 presidential election with 63.8% of the votes. But Lindell, in a widely circulated document titled “The Big Lie,” alleged that presidential election results in all 44 Idaho counties were electronically manipulated to switch votes from Trump to Joe Biden. Seven Idaho counties have no electronic means to count votes, Houck said. Houck said the suggestion to bill Lindell came from a citizen, and that totaling the expenses and sending the bill will likely take at least another two weeks.”

The Senate reached the threshold of 60 Senators voting to raise the debt ceiling until December 3rd, a proposal put forth by Republican Senate Minority Leader that will essentially delay a larger deal to address the issue.

The final vote was 61-38, with one abstention.  Eleven Republicans crossed the aisle to approve the temporary patch:  Mike Rounds (SD), Roy Blunt (MO), Sue Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), John Barrasso (WY), John Thune (SD), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Dick Shelby (AL), Rob Portman (OH), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), and McConnell (KY).

Ali Alexander, the leader of the Stop the Steal group, and Nathan Martin, a member of both Stop the Steal and another group called “One Nation Under God” listed on permit applications, have been subpoenaed by the bipartisan House committee investigating the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, the Washington Post reports.

This is the third round of subpoenas issued by the J6 committee; the second set, released last week, targeted the organizers and funders for the rallies that occurred January 5th and 6th prior to the attack on the Capitol.

In a video released on Periscope prior to the events, Alexander said the plan was to “change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside.”  At a rally on January 5th at Freedom Plaza, Ali led the crowd in chants of “victory or death.”

The USS Connecticut, a nuclear-powered Navy attack submarine, struck an unknown undersea object while cruising in the South China sea earlier this week, but reported no life-threatening injuries and the submarine was still operational, the Associated Press reports.

The US Pacific Command said the Seawolf-class submarine was able to sail to Guam under its own power.  The Navy delayed announcing the incident to preserve operational security, including the exact route the sub traveled.

Officials do no know what the Connecticut struck.  It did not strike something that was on navigational charts, leading to speculation that the object was a sunken vessel or a lost shipping container.

“Do you remember what the hottest topic on Fox News was this summer? If you guessed a more than 40-year-old theoretical framework for understanding the impact of structural and systemic racism, called critical race theory, you are right. In June, the term was mentioned 993 times during Fox News programming, including overnight rebroadcasts of daytime and prime-time shows. In July, it was mentioned 921 times. That was after being mentioned only 132 times in all of 2020. But the network seems to have largely moved on from critical race theory, which conservative activists and right-leaning media companies identified as a pressing threat as part of a backlash to the calls for greater attention to racial disparities that followed the police killing of George Floyd last year.”

“In August, however, critical race theory was mentioned only 325 times on Fox News. And in September, the theory was mentioned only 150 times on the network’s programming. The drop has also been pronounced on Newsmax and One America News (OAN), two conservative upstart channels seeking to outflank Fox News Channel to the right. Critical race theory was mentioned 930 times on Newsmax in June but only 242 times in September. The theory was mentioned more than 1,000 times on OAN in June but only 208 times in September” – Washington Post.

Politico:  “A top career official in President Joe Biden’s Justice Department blocked efforts by Senate investigators to probe the handling of voter fraud complaints in the aftermath of the 2020 election, according to transcripts released Thursday.  As Senate Judiciary Committee aides investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election questioned top Trump-era Justice Department officials, a DOJ attorney present for the interviews intervened repeatedly to say such questions were outside the scope of the panel’s inquiry.

“The official, DOJ attorney Bradley Weinsheimer — a career official who has worked under attorneys general of both parties — cited guidance he issued in July that paved the way for congressional testimony but limited the topics former DOJ officials were permitted to discuss. But his assertions drew repeated, and sometimes pointed, challenges from Judiciary Committee aides in both parties, the transcripts show.

“’It strikes me as completely within the scope of this interview,’ said Sara Zdeb, chief oversight counsel for Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), after Weinsheimer intervened to block an answer from Byung Pak, a former U.S. attorney from the Atlanta area. Pak resigned on Jan. 4 under pressure from Trump to interfere in election-related matters. The exchange, one of a dozen times that Weisenheimer blocked former officials from answering committee questions, underscores the tension facing the Biden DOJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

A new poll from the University of Virginia Center for Politics finds a staggering 84% of Trump voters somewhat or strongly agree with the statements “I worry that discrimination against whites will increase significantly in the next few years,” (52% strongly, 32% somewhat) and “Christianity is under attack in American today,” (61% strongly, 23% somewhat) which further confirms the endless, downright fucking insufferable victimhood narrative of MAGA Land. Read more here.

Politico: “Former President Donald Trump is directing a group of his former aides to ignore a subpoena from the House committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and signaling he will go to court to block their testimony to the investigators. The committee has subpoenaed documents and testimony from four Trump administration alumni: former social media czar Dan Scavino, former Defense Department official Kash Patel, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former White House adviser Steve Bannon. The four men were ordered to turn over documents related to Jan. 6 by Thursday and to sit for interviews with investigators next week.”

“But Trump is saying otherwise. In a letter that Politico viewed, a Trump lawyer tells them not to cooperate with the probe. The letter stated the committee is seeking materials that are covered by executive privilege, as well as other privileges. ‘President Trump is prepared to defend these fundamental privileges in court,’ the letter said. Then the letter directed its recipient to hold back any documents about his White House work and to refuse to testify about his official duties.”

“A noticeably uncomfortable Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) nervously chuckled on Wednesday night when he was asked about Stephanie Grisham’s claim that he cozied up to former President Donald Trump to ‘mop up the freebies like there was no tomorrow.’ And in the end, Graham didn’t deny the former Trump press secretary’s accusation that he’s ‘Senator Freeloader.’ Towards the end of his Tuesday night interview with the South Carolina lawmaker, Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt brought up the claims from Grisham – who Schmitt labeled ‘another turncoat’ – that she detailed in her new Trump tell-all titled I’ll Take Your Questions Now. ‘It struck me that he was using Trump to mop up the freebies like there was no tomorrow (seems that he still is),’ Grisham alleged in the book, adding that he would ‘stuff his face with free food’ regularly at Trump’s golf clubs.”

“‘Senator Freeloader was sitting at a table by the pool, a big grin on his face, lapping up the goodies he was getting like some potentate. He said to me, with a creepy little smile, ‘Isn’t this great? Man, this is the life,’’ she added. ‘What exactly is she implying here and what’s your response?’ Schmitt asked as a sweating Graham began to awkwardly laugh immediately. ‘Apparently she’s implying that the only reason I want to be around President Trump is because of the food,’ the senator replied as his chortling grew louder” – Daily Beast.

“Lawmakers have a deal on a short-term debt ceiling increase” CNBC reports.

“A U.S. special-operations unit and a contingent of Marines have been secretly operating in Taiwan to train military forces there, U.S. officials said, part of efforts to shore up the island’s defenses as concern regarding potential Chinese aggression mounts. About two dozen members of U.S. special-operations and support troops are conducting training for small units of Taiwan’s ground forces, the officials said. The U.S. Marines are working with local maritime forces on small-boat training. The American forces have been operating in Taiwan for at least a year, the officials said. The U.S. special-operations deployment is a sign of concern within the Pentagon over Taiwan’s tactical capabilities in light of Beijing’s yearslong military buildup and recent threatening moves against the island” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Taiwan and U.S. officials have expressed alarm over nearly 150 flights near Taiwan in the past week by Chinese military aircraft. The Chinese aircraft have included J-16 jet fighters, H-6 strategic bombers and Y-8 submarine-spotting aircraft and have set a record for such sorties, according to the Taiwan government. The Chinese flights, while not entering the area Taiwan defines as its airspace, have been a reminder of the Communist Party’s view of Taiwan as a part of China. Beijing has vowed to take control of the island by force if necessary. Top U.S. military officials testified earlier this year that Beijing is likely to try to use force in its designs on Taiwan within the next six years. Other officials have said China’s timeline could be sooner than that.”

The third elections chief for a deep red 2020 non-battleground in as many weeks has told MyPillow assclown Mike Lindell his state ran a clean election and their equipment was not hacked in very specific and not at all uncertain terms. Here’s a letter sent from Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax to Lindell, included as part of a report to the state senate on Tuesday:

The rebuke is fast becoming its own subgenre of Mike Lindell failure articles, following the letters from the Secretaries of State for Alabama and Idaho similarly semi-politely telling the mustachioed former crackhead Evangelical Christian pillow man he’s a moron.

The Senate Judiciary Committee released a report titled “Subverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election” on Thursday morning and it contains some interesting new findings that we’re not sure have been previously reported publicly:

1. “After personally meeting with Trump, [then Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Division] Jeffrey Bossert Clark pushed [then Acting Attorney General Jeffrey] Rosen and [then Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard] Donoghue to assist Trump’s election subversion scheme – and told Rosen he would decline Trump’s potential offer to install him as Acting Attorney General if Rosen agreed to aid that scheme.”
2. “Trump forced the resignation of U.S. Attorney [for the Northern District of Georgia] Byung Jin (“BJay”) Pak, whom he believed was not doing enough to address false claims of election fraud in Georgia. Trump then went outside the line of succession when naming an Acting U.S. Attorney, bypassing First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine and instead appointing Bobby Christine because he believed Christine would ‘do something’ about his election fraud claims.”
3. “U.S. Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, who led the objection to counting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes on the House floor in the hours immediately following the January 6 insurrection. Perry has acknowledged introducing Clark to Trump, and documents and testimony confirm that he directly communicated with Donoghue about his false Pennsylvania election fraud claims.”

Read more from the report here.

“Section one: What should have occurred during the election? How do these things work? Most people don’t know about that. Election laws are unlike, say, laws about ‘don’t kill me’ – they’re not intuitive. No one can call elections laws common sense. Once you understand them, it may be common sense but it’s not intuitive. And so most people, myself included, do not have a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work” said Former Wisconsin state Supreme Court Justice and 2020 election “review” czar Michael Gableman to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in an interview in Green Bay on Tuesday.

“McConnell backed down after Democratic threats of nuking the filibuster for the debt ceiling started to become more real. At their Tuesday lunch, Democratic senators discussed how McConnell’s blockade on the debt ceiling was boosting the case of filibuster reformers. Later that day, Biden, generally a skeptic of filibuster reform, said such a change for the debt ceiling was now a ‘real possibility.’ McConnell himself alluded to how filibuster reform was the key issue at play. ‘It’s not clear whether the Democratic leaders have wasted two-and-a-half months because they simply cannot govern, or whether they are intentionally playing Russian roulette with the economy to try to bully their own members into going back on their word and wrecking the Senate,’ he said.”

“‘The filibuster is McConnell’s instrument of obstruction,’ one Democratic senator told Playbook. ‘He wants to protect that at all costs. He was at real risk of overplaying his hand as he faced the growing prospect that we would have 51 votes to waive it for the purpose of dealing with debt. He wanted to avoid creating that precedent. Still, would have been better for us to just do it.’ This is the second time this year that the politics of filibuster preservation enticed McConnell to play dealmaker rather than obstructionist. The minority leader backed BIF partly because he wanted to show anti-filibuster Democrats that bipartisanship was still possible. In both episodes McConnell relied on an alliance – sometimes tacit, sometimes explicit – with Manchin and Sinema against the anti-filibuster forces. The other leading explanation for McConnell’s last-minute offer is that some of his GOP colleagues were skittish about mounting another filibuster against debt ceiling legislation and McConnell needed a way to save face” – Politico Playbook.