Ron Brownstein: “The silence of congressional Republican leaders as President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud grow wilder and more venomous increasingly resembles the party’s deference to Sen. Joe McCarthy during the worst excesses of his anti-Communist crusade in the early 1950s. In McCarthy’s era, most of the GOP’s leaders found excuses to avoid challenging conspiracy theories that they knew to be implausible, even as evidence of their costs to the nation steadily mounted. For years, despite their private doubts about his charges and methods alike, the top GOP leadership – particularly Senate Republican leader Robert A. Taft, the Mitch McConnell of his day – either passively abetted or actively supported McCarthy’s scattershot claims of treason and Communist infiltration. A significant faction of Senate Republicans didn’t join with Democrats to curb McCarthy’s power until the senator immolated himself with his accusations, in highly publicized 1953 and 1954 hearings, that the Army was riddled with Communists during the presidency of fellow Republican Dwight Eisenhower.”

“In many respects, the congressional GOP response to Trump has paralleled the party’s response to McCarthy. Whatever their private concerns about Trump’s behavior or values, the vast majority of congressional Republicans have supported Trump since his 2017 inauguration at almost every turn, brushing aside concerns about everything from openly racist language to his efforts to extort the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden. That pattern of deference has continued since the election as Trump has raised unfounded claims that he lost only because of massive voter fraud; as an array of state and federal courts have rejected those claims as lacking any supporting evidence, Trump has only heightened his allegations.”

The iconic Arecibo Radio Telescope, with a 1,000-foot diameter spherical reflecting dish built into a mountaintop in Puerto Rico, suffered an unplanned collapse of its receiver platform overnight after a second cable failed in four months, Space.com reports.  No one was injured in the accident.

The cable system supported and steered the platform, 150 feet above the collection dish, to focus the telescope to look deep into space.  Another cable had failed four months ago, prompting the US National Science Foundation, which runs the facility, to decommission the telescope because it was too dangerous to repair.  The USNSF planned to deconstruct the telescope in a controlled manner, but the collapse of the platform made that effort moot.

The telescope first went online November 1, 1963.  It helped to discover various pulsars, supernovae and other interstellar objects, as well as help scientific understanding of our own solar system.  Soon after going online, scientists used the Arecibo telescope to learn that a “day” on Mercury wasn’t 88 days, as thought, but 59 days. 

A group of nine Senators–five Democrats and four Republicans–presented a $908 billion coronavirus aid package as a way to jumpstart negotiations for a new relief bill as key provisions of the CARES Act, passed in March, expire, the Washington Post reports.

With Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin scheduled to have a call at 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, the compromise package becomes a starting point from which the two sides can discuss moving forward, knowing that there is support in the Senate, where previous relief bills went to die.  The House passed the HEROES Act in May, but the Senate has refused to consider the legislation.

“Our action to provide emergency relief is needed now more than ever before. The people need to know we are not going to leave until we get something accomplished,” Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin said in a morning press briefing. “I’m committed to seeing this through.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “President Donald Trump sued Wisconsin officials Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to reclaim a state he lost by about 20,700 votes. The Republican president filed his suit against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers a day after the governor and the head of the state Elections Commission certified Joe Biden had won the state’s 10 Electoral College votes. Trump has made little headway with lawsuits in other states and he faces an extraordinarily difficult path in Wisconsin. Time is running short. Under the federal ‘safe harbor’ law, the results determined by the state will be respected if challenges to the outcome are resolved by Dec. 8.”

“The Electoral College meets on Dec. 14 and Congress is to count the electoral votes on Jan. 6. State law says challenges to election results are to be filed in circuit court, but Trump brought his lawsuit directly with the state Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 4-3 majority. The justices did not immediately say whether they would take the case. Since the election last month, Trump has argued hundreds of thousands of ballots in Wisconsin should be thrown out, in many cases on technicalities. For instance, he alleges the process election officials have used for more than a decade to conduct in-person early voting is illegal.”

Good morning.

Our country is headed to civil war. A war created by 3rd party bad actors for their benefit – not for We The People.

Communist China is leading the nefarious efforts to take away our freedom.@realDonaldTrump should declare martial law.https://t.co/h3Ym5ytMYt

— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 1, 2020

Rudy Giuliani, a member of lame duck president Donald Trump’s Elite Special Force Team of legal pundits, discussed obtaining a pardon from Trump before he leaves office, the New York Times reports.

Giuliani represents Trump in his ongoing, and failing, efforts to undermine the results of the November presidential election in which Trump lost reelection to President-elect Joe Biden.  Giuliani also worked on Trump’s behalf in a hairbrained scheme to obtain incriminating information on Biden from Ukraine, during which Giuliani was viewed as an unwitting asset of Russian government, according to US intelligence agencies.

It’s unclear what activities of Giuliani’s would require a pardon to avoid criminal indictments, nor is it clear who raised the topic in the discussion between Trump and Giuliani.

Erstwhile member of the Trump campaign’s Elite Special Force Team of lawyers, Sidney Powell apparently intentionally submitted an altered piece of evidence in her “kraken” lawsuit, editing out the date and signature of certification by the Georgia Secretary of State for Dominion voting machines, Brad Heath of Reuters tweeted.

Powell has said that her lawsuit alleging election fraud in Georgia would show that Dominion Voting Systems was intentionally flipping votes, deleting votes cast for Trump, and automatically throwing the election to President-elect Joe Biden.  None of these accusations have proven true, and hand recounts of votes have confirmed vote tallies.

“The Pentagon policy official overseeing the military’s efforts to combat the Islamic State was fired on Monday after a White House official told him the United States had won that war and that his office had been disbanded, according to three people briefed on the matter. The ouster of the official, Christopher P. Maier, the head of the Pentagon’s Defeat ISIS Task Force since March 2017, came just three weeks after President Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and three other Pentagon officials, and replaced them with loyalists” – New York Times.

Washington Post: “The White House began the annual holiday party season on Monday afternoon, officials said, kicking off a spate of indoor holiday parties that commemorate various religious traditions over the season. While many public health professionals have asked Americans not to congregate in large group settings and avoid travel over the holidays because of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 266,000 Americans and infected 13 million more, the White House is expected to throw more than a dozen indoor parties, including a large congressional ball on Dec. 10, officials say.”

“The parties will be paid for by the Republican Party, a person with knowledge of the planning said, and will cost millions of dollars. The president and the first lady are determined to have a final holiday season in the White House, officials said, and concerns about spiking cases and deaths across the country have not stopped the events. Many of the administration’s supporters have taken a skeptical view of the restrictions over the virus and are choosing to attend, officials said.”

The former head of the federal government’s office of election cybersecurity, Christopher Krebs, suggested on NBC’s “Today” show that he’ll take legal action against Trump lawyer and Fox News commentator Joe DiGenova, who said Krebs “is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.”

“It’s certainly more dangerous language, more dangerous behavior,” Krebs responded. “And the way I look at it is that we are a nation of laws, and I plan to take advantage of those laws. I’ve got an exceptional team of lawyers that win in court, and I think they’re probably going to be busy.”

A Newsmax/McLaughlin poll shows President Trump with 53% support among Republican voters for the 2024 election, with Vice President Mike Pence in second at 9%. When asked again, with Trump removed from the field and Don Jr and Ivanka added, Pence and Don Jr tie at 20% each. All other potential candidates are stuck in the single digits, with Ted Cruz coming third at 7%. Ivanka got 4%, behind Nikki Haley and Mitt Romney at 6% and 5% each, respectively. Read more here.

Do something @BrianKempGA. You allowed your state to be scammed. We must check signatures and count signed envelopes against ballots. Then call off election. It won’t be needed. We will all WIN! https://t.co/UiJrlyBGiK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2020

CNN: “Despite what President Donald Trump is tweeting and saying publicly in the wake of Arizona and Wisconsin certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory Monday, Trump sees the scoreboard and understands he has no chance of hanging on to the presidency, two White House advisers told CNN. Asked whether the President realizes that he’s been defeated, a close adviser who has been in contact with Trump about his legal strategy said Monday: ‘Yes, he does.’ The same adviser told CNN that Trump will continue to pursue his legal challenges until they are exhausted, but that adviser pointed to the certification in Wisconsin and said, ‘The writing is on the wall.’ Without the ability to override the results in a combination of states, not to mention even one state, the adviser said Trump’s election challenges are obviously doomed.”

“Trump is still sounding as if he could still win because he wants to believe it, the adviser continued. But the adviser added Trump is fully aware that he has lost. Trump has not conceded the election and he still falsely claims that he won, but his administration has approved access to transition materials and national security briefings for Biden and his team. A separate adviser said the President has understood for some time that it is unlikely he will be able to overturn the election results but that Trump simply does not want to say that out loud.”

Did you know the Republican Party plotted to sabotage my campaign more than the Democrat Party ever did? If the Republican Party leadership went out of their way to sabotage me as a Trump endorsed Republican congressional nominee, imagine what they are doing to Trump right now. The GOP wants Biden to win but they want to collect as many Trump fundraising dollars from his grassroots supporters while pretending to care about the sanctity of our elections. Trust me. I had first hand experience dealing with these liars.

— Laura Loomer LauraLoomer Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Daily Beast: “On Monday, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem buried her grandmother, who was among 13 to die over a two-week period at a top-rated nursing home swept by COVID-19. The 98-year-old grandmother, Aldys Arnold, is said by Noem’s office to have tested negative for the virus, though no cause of death was given. The other 12 of the 13 deaths between Nov. 14 and Nov. 28 at the Estelline Nursing Home are described by the administrator, Mike Ward, as ‘COVID-related.’ ‘All but one,’ Ward told The Daily Beast.”

“But one less is still a dozen COVID deaths in a short period in one small facility. The number makes clear the lunacy of Noem’s downplaying of the pandemic and her continued refusal to impose a statewide mask mandate. ‘I’ve always taken #COVID19 very seriously, but South Dakota trusted our citizens to exercise their personal responsibility to keep themselves and their loved-ones safe,’ Noem tweeted back in July. But the report from the Estelline Nursing Home, in a town of the same name, made clear that South Dakotans are anything but safe. Ward confirmed that along with the deaths, all but two of the surviving 38 residents and at least 16 of the staff had tested positive. The two most recent deaths were on Saturday and helped raise the statewide daily total to 54, a record for South Dakota, which has fewer than 1 million people.”

“President Trump’s political operation has raised more than $150 million since Election Day, using a blizzard of misleading appeals about the election to shatter fundraising records set during the campaign, according to people with knowledge of the contributions” reports the Washington Post.

“The influx of political donations is one reason Trump and some allies are inclined to continue a legal onslaught and public affairs blitz focused on baseless claims of election fraud, even as their attempts have repeatedly failed in court and as key states continue to certify wins for President-elect Joe Biden. Much of the money raised since the election is likely to go into an account for the president to use on political activities after he leaves office, while some of the contributions will go toward what’s left of the legal fight. The surge of donations is largely from small-dollar donors, campaign officials say, tapping into the president’s base of loyal and fervent donors who tend to contribute the most when they feel the president is under siege or facing unfair political attacks. The campaign has sent about 500 post-election fundraising pitches to donors, often with hyperbolic language about voter fraud and the like.”

Politico: “President Donald Trump’s arsenal for overturning the election will soon be down to one final, desperate maneuver: pressing his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to step in and derail Joe Biden’s presidency. Although the Electoral College casts the official vote for president on Dec. 14, it’s up to Congress to certify the results a few weeks later. And federal law gives individual members of the House and Senate the power to challenge the results from the floor – a rarely used mechanism meant to be the last of all last resorts to safeguard an election.”

“But several House Republican lawmakers and aides now tell POLITICO they’re considering this option to aid Trump’s quest. ‘Nothing is off the table,’ said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). Gaetz pointed out that in January 2017, a handful of House Democrats took this precise procedural step before their efforts flamed out during a joint session of Congress presided over by none other than Biden, then the outgoing vice president. ‘It is over,’ Biden said at the time, gaveling down Democrats as Republicans cheered. This time, Vice President Mike Pence will be in the chair for any potential challenges – a potentially awkward scenario as his boss continues to deny the reality of the election he lost. Indeed, Trump lost the election. His legal battles have failed to stop states from certifying his defeat. And his bid to pressure state legislators to overturn Biden’s victory appears to be going nowhere. Congress – where Republicans are still largely in lockstep with Trump – is the last institution that could be a factor.”

“We, in this hour… I am not told what to say.  I don’t vet the information in this program that I give out.  We have always been independent.  Follow our own path on this show.  That’s not going to change for me ever.”

https://youtu.be/Vgmjx-ZPgWo

Hannity just admitted that he doesn’t confirm the statements that he says on his program are true; he brags he doesn’t “vet the information.”

Nearly one-third of all coronavirus cases in the US happening in the last thirty days, as well as 14 of the fatalities from the virus, happening in November, the month comes to a close with more Americans hospitalized with coronavirus and more than a dozen states experiences peaks in disease outbreaks.

Data from the COVID Tracking Project show that more than four million people contracted the virus, raising our total case count over 13 million.  Thirty-six thousand people died in November–more than 1,200 per day, nearly one per minute.