Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “A Republican candidate for Congress who lost his election on Nov. 3 says his name is being used without permission as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit to make President Donald Trump the winner of Wisconsin’s presidential election, despite receiving fewer votes than President-elect Joe Biden. Derrick Van Orden, who narrowly lost to U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, said Tuesday he learned through social media posts about the lawsuit that his name was being used.”

“‘I learned through social media today that my name was included in a lawsuit without my permission,’ Van Orden said in a statement. ‘To be clear, I am not involved in the lawsuit seeking to overturn the election in Wisconsin.’ Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday on behalf of Van Orden and La Crosse County Republican Party chairman Bill Feehan. The suit seeks, among other relief, a new election for Van Orden and wants Gov. Tony Evers to certify the election for Trump instead of Biden. Powell and Feehan did not immediately return phone calls.”

“Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to begin large-scale coronavirus vaccinations for doctors and teachers as early as next week. During the event, which the president took part in by videoconference, Putin announced that the country had already produced about 2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine. ‘This gives us the opportunity to start, if not mass, then large-scale vaccination,’ the head of state said. According to him, vaccination will begin with ‘the first two risk groups – doctors and teachers'” – TASS.

Politico: “Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has been telling colleagues and allies that he plans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress officially certifies Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, as long as a Senate Republican joins him in the long-shot effort, sources tell your Huddle host. Brooks confirmed his plans in a phone interview, adding that he is still considering objecting to the vote-counting process even if no one joins him – though he acknowledged that would be a symbolic protest. Brooks, echoing Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud without providing evidence, argued that the election was ‘badly flawed’ and that most mail-in voting is ‘unconstitutional.'”

“‘In my judgment, if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast, Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin, and Congress’s certification should reflect that,’ Brooks said. ‘This election was stolen by the socialists engaging in extraordinary voter fraud and election theft measures.’ Brooks, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said he has had ‘indirect communication’ with some senators about potentially joining forces, though he declined to elaborate further. He also said he’s discussed the procedural maneuver with some members of GOP leadership, but they gave him neither a ‘thumbs up’ nor a ‘thumbs down,’ Brooks said.”

“The 2020 presidential election set a participation record, with more than 157 million people casting ballots. Turnout increased in every state and in 98 percent of the nation’s counties. According to an analysis of the NBC News election results, Hawaii and Vermont saw the biggest increase in turnout compared to 2016. Each state had more than a 13 percentage point increase in ballots cast by the voting-age population. Third and fourth on that list was Utah and Arizona. Arizona saw turnout increase by 11 points as the state supported a Democratic candidate for the first time in more than 20 years” NBC News reports.

“Other states that had significant increases in turnout included Washington, Montana, Oregon and California, where turnout among the voting eligible population increased by more than 10 points. In swing states such as Georgia, Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, turnout increased anywhere from 6 to 9 points compared to 2016. Across the board, turnout increased in every state, though not every ballot has been counted. Several states in the upper Midwest had remarkable turnout numbers. In Minnesota, its turnout rate was greater than 75 percent – tops in the nation – while Maine, New Hampshire, Colorado and Wisconsin were close behind, with turnout ranging from 72 percent to 74 percent. Those states were heavily targeted by both Trump and Biden. NBC News projected that Biden won all four of those contests. In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania while coming very close to flipping Minnesota red for the first time in more than 40 years.”

Politico: “Trump’s namesake company plans to resume foreign real estate projects, likely luxury hotels, as it grapples with a tarnished brand in the United States and the need to pay off hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, according to three people familiar with the plans, not to mention past public statements from Trump’s children. Company officials have already vowed to look into more developments in India and will be expected to give a second look to projects they had considered in China, Turkey, Colombia and Brazil before Trump entered office. The arrangement is already being criticized as one that could be used to pay back Trump for his policies as president or to influence U.S. policy through a former president – and possibly a future presidential candidate.”

“Other former presidents have faced allegations they were monetizing the presidency with their post-presidency ventures, including paid speeches abroad, seven-figure book advances and foreign donations to presidential libraries. Most recently, Bill Clinton raised millions of dollars from foreign governments and foreign donors for his family’s global charity. But Trump’s return to overseas dealmaking as a private businessman raises a new set of ethical issues no ex-president has ever confronted. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, is sprawling and extensive – it comprises more than 500 businesses, including hotels, resorts and golf clubs around the globe. And since it’s not a charity or publicly held, it has fewer financial disclosure requirements. To cap it off, few American financial firms are still willing to lend Trump money, meaning he increasingly has had to go abroad to seek financing.”

“Adam Laxalt, the co-chair of the Trump campaign in Nevada, is fighting ferociously against his state’s decision to reward its six electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden, alleging widespread voter fraud and hyping litigation to overturn Biden’s victory. But a nonprofit ethics and transparency group affiliated with Laxalt, Nevada’s former attorney general, has already conceded Biden’s victory and is looking ahead to the new administration.”

“‘It’s become clear that we’re going to be having a Biden team and a Biden administration in 2021,’ said Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of Americans for Public Trust, in an interview on Tuesday. The new administration is ‘what we will remain focused on going into next year.’ Sutherland stressed that Laxalt’s work with the Trump re-election campaign, and his efforts to invalidate Biden’s win in Nevada, were entirely separate from his work with APT, a tax-exempt nonprofit that’s barred by law from engaging in political or partisan activity. ‘That is something he does in a personal capacity outside his role in APT,’ Sutherland said. ‘As a 501c3, we, and Adam when he works with us, do not engage in anything with a partisan or political bent'” – Daily Beast.

Axios: “President Trump is likely to announce he’ll run again in 2024, perhaps before this term even ends, sources tell Axios. Trump has already set in motion two important strategies to stay relevant and freeze out other Republican rivals. On Tuesday night, Trump was explicit about his 2024 vow, telling guests at a White House holiday party, as tweeted by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: ‘It’s been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years.'”

“Trump has made plain he’ll fight to keep his ally Ronna McDaniel as head of the RNC, giving him tight control over party HQ. The president has raised $170 million for his “Election Defense Fund” and political operation – of which $125 million+ goes to a PAC that Trump set up in mid-November, Save America, and can be used for future travel and other political activity.”

https://twitter.com/TheFirstDogs/status/1333719339338526725

The four-day “Naughty N’awlins” swingers convention, which 300 people attended in New Orleans starting November 11th, led to 41 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, the event organizer announced on his blog, reports NBC News.

Naughty Events Owner Bob Hannaford advised people who attended the event to get tested for coronavirus after the outbreak was discovered.  There is no word if he suggested getting tested for other diseases as well.

Hannaford explained that the company tried to identify people who had submitted negative test results for the coronavirus with a colored wrist band.  He did not mention if there were other colored wristbands for negative tests for other conditions.

It is unknown if the event was permitted by the city, but it is highly doubtful that the event practiced safe social distancing between participants.

The United States hit a seven-month high in daily fatalities on Tuesday due to the coronavirus, recording more than 2,400 fatalities according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The nation also recorded more than 177,000 cases Tuesday and nearly 98,700 people hospitalized due to the coronavirus, a record high that foretells a sustained number of deaths in the near future.

Texas, California and Illinois each recorded more than 10,000 new cases according to Worldometers, and nine state had more than 100 fatalities registered, with Texas leading with 237.

Note that some of these numbers may be skewed because of reporting irregularities due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Pardon investigation is Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2020

US District Court Judge Timothy Batten canceled a planned Friday hearing in his court to review an appeal from one-time Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell because Powell may have accidentally appealed the case to the wrong court, noting that the cancelation was entirely “attributable to the Plaintiff–not the Court.”

In a notice posted by Georgia Public Broadcasting reporter Stephen Fowler, Judge Batten noted that the hearing had been scheduled for Friday to hear Powell’s argument that the ten-day temporary restraining order he issued Saturday, to preserve files on voting machines in three Georgia counties, was not sufficient and should apply to all counties in the state.  (The order did not cover the entire state because the suit Powell filed only covered the three specified counties.)

Powell, however, appealed Batten’s TRO, a motion that Batten notes is “not directly appealable” because of the innate nature of a temporary restraining order.   In her motion, Powell apparently decrees that the District Court “divests [itself] of responsibility”–something that a plaintiff’s counsel can’t unilaterally do.

The Atlantic: “Since Election Day, Trump has focused on just two things: playing golf, and trying to claim victory in his contest against the Democratic president-elect, Joe Biden. With rare exceptions, such as the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, his schedule has been empty nearly every day. Of the two goals, he has been markedly more successful in the first pursuit. His election-related efforts are sputtering: Trump has watched while state after state certifies election wins for Biden. He has watched as dozens of judges have punted long-shot lawsuits out of court. He watched as dye ran down Rudy Giuliani’s face in a news conference that was somehow both jaw-droppingly insane and jaw-clenchingly dull. Having exhausted nearly every option, the Trump legal effort has now resorted to recycling old, failed gambits. With the Electoral College meeting on December 14, the end is in sight.”

“The relevant description of Trump’s role is ‘watching.’ The president has long been an obsessive TV viewer, but without a campaign to run and with no events on his schedule, there is less to distract him from the tube – and his gripes about Fox News and praise for the network’s smaller rivals, Newsmax and One America News. (Trump still knows where the audiences are, though, which is why he gave his first postelection interview, on Sunday, to Fox’s Maria Bartiromo; and Fox knows where its interests lie, which is why Bartiromo’s interview was embarrassingly deferential.) For a time after the election, Trump was unusually quiet on Twitter. He is now back to feeding his followers a steady diet of false and misleading claims about the election results, though it is difficult to tell whether he really believes his claims, is just processing his grief, is simply taking advantage of a lucrative fundraising opportunity, or some combination thereof.”

…..Therefore, if the very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk. Take back America NOW. Thank you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2020

The Guardian: “Cultured meat, produced in bioreactors without the slaughter of an animal, has been approved for sale by a regulatory authority for the first time. The development has been hailed as a landmark moment across the meat industry. The ‘chicken bites’, produced by the US company Eat Just, have passed a safety review by the Singapore Food Agency and the approval could open the door to a future when all meat is produced without the killing of livestock, the company said.”

“Dozens of firms are developing cultivated chicken, beef and pork, with a view to slashing the impact of industrial livestock production on the climate and nature crises, as well as providing cleaner, drug-free and cruelty-free meat. Currently, about 130 million chickens are slaughtered every day for meat, and 4 million pigs. Of all the mammals on Earth, 60% are livestock, 36% are humans and only 4% are wild. The cells for Eat Just’s product are grown in a 1,200-litre bioreactor and then combined with plant-based ingredients. Initial availability would be limited, the company said, and the bites would be sold in a restaurant in Singapore. The product would be significantly more expensive than conventional chicken until production was scaled up, but Eat Just said it would ultimately be cheaper. The cells used to start the process came from a cell bank and did not require the slaughter of a chicken because cells can be taken from biopsies of live animals. The nutrients supplied to the growing cells were all from plants.”

“President Trump has discussed with advisers whether to grant pre-emptive pardons to his children, to his son-in-law and to his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, and talked with Mr. Giuliani about pardoning him as recently as last week, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Trump has told others that he is concerned that a Biden Justice Department might seek retribution against the president by targeting the oldest three of his five children – Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump – as well as Ms. Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, a White House senior adviser” the New York Times reports.

“Donald Trump Jr. had been under investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, for contacts that the younger Mr. Trump had had with Russians offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, but he was never charged. Mr. Kushner provided false information to federal authorities about his contacts with foreigners for his security clearance, but was given one anyway by the president. The nature of Mr. Trump’s concern about any potential criminal exposure of Eric Trump or Ivanka Trump is unclear, although an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the Trump Organization has expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees by the company, some of which appear to have gone to Ms. Trump. Presidential pardons, however, do not provide protection against state or local crimes.”

Axios: “President Trump and his allies are piling extreme pressure on Attorney General Bill Barr to release a report that Trump believes could hurt perceived Obama-era enemies – and view Barr’s designation of John Durham as special counsel as a stall tactic. Speculation over Barr’s fate grew on Tuesday, with just 49 days remaining in Trump’s presidency, after Barr gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he said the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread fraud that could change the election’s outcome.”

“In the interview, Barr also revealed he’d appointed Durham, a veteran prosecutor, as special counsel on Oct. 19 to continue investigating the origins of the FBI’s 2016 probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia no matter who won the presidential election. Within Trump’s orbit, sources told Axios, Tuesday’s revelation was seen as a smokescreen to forestall the release of the so-called Durham report, which senior administration officials believe is already complete – and which Barr had ruled out issuing before the election. Trump has been ranting about the delay behind the scenes and mused privately about replacing Barr with somebody who will expedite the process. But it’s unclear whether he will follow through with that, per sources familiar with the conversations.”

“Today, an emergency appeal was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the election results in Pennsylvania. This appeal raises serious legal issues, and I believe the Court should hear the case on an expedited basis. The Pennsylvania Constitution requires in-person voting, except in narrow and defined circumstances. Late last year, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a law that purported to allow universal mail-in voting, notwithstanding the Pennsylvania Constitution’s express prohibition. This appeal argues that Pennsylvania cannot change the rules in the middle of the game. If Pennsylvania wants to change how voting occurs, the state must follow the law to do so.”

“The illegality was compounded by a partisan Democrat Supreme Court in Pennsylvania, which has issued multiple decisions that reflect their political and ideological biases. Just over a month ago, Justice Alito, along with Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch, wrote – correctly, I believe – concerning the Pennsylvania court’s previous decision to count ballots received after Election Day, that ‘there is a strong likelihood that the State Supreme Court decision violates the Federal Constitution'” – Statement posted to Ted Cruz’s Senate.gov website.