Texas surpassed one million coronavirus cases Wednesday, becoming the first state in the US to surpass that milestone, CNN reports.

While the virus hit the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut the hardest during its first wave, the last five months have seen an explosion of cases in states that did not implement public health guidelines like mandatory mask wearing and social distancing.

Of the top 25 states with the most infections per capita, all but two (Illinois and Minnesota) voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Oceanside-Camp Pendleton, CA Patch: “Notorious KKK leader and former longtime Fallbrook resident Tom Metzger died last week, according to a post on his White Aryan Resistance website. Metzger, who was 82, died Nov. 4 in the Riverside County city of Hemet, according to the post, which said he is survived by his partner, Mary Arnold, as well as six children, nine grandchildren and a great-grandchild. His cause of death was not released.”

“A member of the Ku Klux Klan since the 1970s, he later left the KKK and founded the White Aryan Resistance group, described on its website as ‘an educational repository on the benefits of racial separation, highlighting the dangers of multiculturalism and promoting racial identity and a territorial imperative.’ In 1990, the family of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian man who moved to the United States to attend college and was fatally beaten by three white supremacists in 1988, was awarded $12.5 million by an Oregon jury in a lawsuit filed against Metzger and his son, John. Seraw’s family sued the Metzgers for inciting its members to commit violence against minorities. The judgment forced Metzger into bankruptcy, though he continued his white supremacist activities. He was jailed in 1991 in Los Angeles County for attending a cross burning, and jailed the following year in Toronto for violating Canada’s immigration laws by entering the country ‘to promote race hatred.'”

With a population of 292,000, the small Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, made up of 80 islands, had been spared the impact of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, having recorded no cases of the virus.

That ended last week, when a 23-year-old man returned from the United States and tested positive for the virus while in mandatory quarantine upon his return, CNN reports.  While this individual was isolated, the national health ministry is urging people who may have had contact with him, including those on the flight that brought him to the island, to isolate.

“Physical distancing and personal protection measures were applied and maintained during the flight, throughout the arrival process, during transport to and during registration at the quarantine facility,” the health ministry said in a news release.

The virus has spread to 217 nations and independent territories around the world.

BREAKING: President Trump and Senate Republicans win Alaska, overwhelmingly and by a massive 20 point spread!

Put AK in the books for @realDonaldTrump! Congratulations Senator @DanSullivan_AK!

Thank you Alaska! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/pr7Gz0S7q1

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 11, 2020

“It appears that former Vice President Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States on Jan. 20, unless President Trump succeeds in legal challenges to the counting of votes in several states. For millions of Christians across our nation, this is a bitter pill to swallow. President Trump’s strong policies on life and religious liberty would have seemed, from our vantage point, to be a better path for our country’s future. Many of you may be asking: What is God doing in this outcome? Why would He allow this to happen? Human governments and rulers change at God’s direction and design. Our faith and our salvation lie not in any human ruler, but in the ruler of rulers, the King of kings. We have to remember that even though the occupant of the White House is changing, the One who occupies the throne of Heaven hasn’t changed. The fact that God has established authorities means that by obeying the government, we obey God.”

“Here is our chance to show that Christians are not hypocrites. We serve a God who remains on His throne, sovereignly reigning over every square inch of this vast universe. We serve a God who loves us and will never leave or forsake us. And now we have the chance to show the consistency and constancy/ of our Christian witness to this world. When Joe Biden becomes president, we should commend him for the things he does right. We should condemn the things he does wrong. And above all, we must pray fervently for our president. If President Biden succeeds, we all succeed. May God bless Joe Biden, and may God bless the United States of America” – Rev. Robert Jeffress, the guy who in 2019 warned impeaching Trump would cause civil war.

The White House has reportedly requested the names of any political appointees who participated in the “clap out” at the Pentagon for Jim Anderson, who Trump fired from his position as the Undersecretary for Policy, so the Administration could fire them, according to the HillReporter.

Anderson was abruptly fired by Trump in a post-election purge of people he feels are not suitably loyal to him.  A “clap out” is an honor given to respected members of the military and civilian staff at the Pentagon who are leaving their positions:  personnel line up along the halls and sidewalks they’ll walk on their final trip out of the building, having them leave as colleagues cheer them.

The expulsion of two UK diplomats from Belarus was arbitrary and unjustified, and yet another attempt to distract from the ongoing repression of peaceful protestors. The people of Belarus deserve to have their voices heard.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) November 11, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, future First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visited the Korean Veterans Memorial in Philadelphia to commemorate Veterans Day.

At the Philadelphia ceremony, veterans of American wars participated in a short ceremony on a rainy day.  Many of the veterans saluted President-elect Biden as the incoming Commander-in-Chief.

Outgoing president Donald Trump left the White House for the first time, other than to golf at his Virginia club, since Election Day.  He, along with outgoing vice president and the momentary acting secretary of defense, attending a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.  Their wives, the Third First Lady and Mother Pence, also attended.

Trump arrived 15 minutes late at the wreath-laying ceremony, apparently unaware of the significance of 11:11 a.m. on November 11th to veterans.

Trump’s history with veterans is spotted with insults and slurs.  He reportedly called people who served in the military “losers” and “suckers.” He demeaned late Senator John McCain, who was imprisoned for years as a POW during the Vietnam War.  Trump also ordered that the POW/MIA flag that flew above the White House be moved to a less prominent position out of site of visitors.

“Georgia Secretary of State about to announce that they will conduct a HAND RECOUNT of the presidential race” – Washington Post reporter Amy Gardener.

“President Donald Trump’s campaign has filed another lawsuit in Michigan challenging the election results. The federal lawsuit, which the campaign said it filed late Tuesday, seeks to stop the state from certifying results that show Democrat Joe Biden leading by almost 146,000 votes. The campaign asked a judge to stop Michigan from certifying fraudulent ballots, those received after Election Day, those processed when observers weren’t present, and any counted with defective tabulating machines or software. At least two prior suits contesting the state’s election results have already been rejected by Michigan judges” – Bloomberg.

“The disparate tribes of MAGA Nation — Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Infowars fanatics, Groypers, Proud Boys, white nationalists, neo-Nazis and the people who would simply call themselves die-hard MAGA — have declared that they are simply going to show up in Washington en masse over the weekend to rally together, with the marquee event on Saturday. The groups have assigned the gathering different names: the Million MAGA March, the March for Trump, Stop the Steal DC. But they’re all set to take place Saturday in the nation’s capital, around noon, with most set to congregate near Freedom Plaza, just east of the White House, though some groups have also suggested the Supreme Court building down the National Mall” Politico reports.

“It’s unclear how many people may show up, and past promises of massive rallies have sometimes fizzled out. Notably, organizers have not filed for permits, according to a spokesperson for the D.C. Metropolitan Police. But disinformation and extremist researchers have estimated anywhere from several hundred to several thousand may show up. The events — or ‘rally initiatives,’ as Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes termed them — show how Trump’s more dedicated followers plan to spend the coming weeks. Activists throughout the far-right universe, from MAGA celebrities to policy wonks to conspiracy theorists, are exploring how to use the final two-plus months of Trump’s presidency to undermine President-elect Joe Biden, vocally support Trump’s court challenges to the election, confront antifa, and maybe, just maybe, help keep the current president in office.”

The Fake Pollsters at @ABC/@washingtonpost produced a possibly illegal suppression Poll just before the Election showing me down 17 points in Wisconsin when, in fact, on Election Day, the race was even – & we are now preparing to win the state. Many such “deplorable” instances!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2020

Japan Times: “The mayor of a small Japanese town has become an internet sensation after it was observed that the characters of his name can be read as ‘Jo Baiden,’ phonetically the same as the name of the winner in last week’s U.S. presidential election. Yutaka Umeda, 73, mayor of Yamato, Kumamoto Prefecture, was caught by surprise when his family told him that an alternate reading of his name had drawn attention online. ‘I feel very close to him. It feels as though I’ve also won the election after hearing about (Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s) projected win’ over his rival, President Donald Trump, Umeda said Sunday.”

“Umeda said he has received a flood of messages following the former U.S. vice president’s election win. With Biden set to take office next year, Umeda hopes the event will also be a chance for his small town of about 15,000 to bask in the spotlight. ‘Being the president of a superpower like the United States and a mayor of Yamato — the scale (of our jobs) is completely different, but I’d like to think of ways to promote the town,’ he said.”

“A petition to ‘bring back’ Johnny Depp to the Fantastic Beasts franchise has reached nearly 150,000 signatures. On Friday (6 November), Depp confirmed on Instagram that he had been asked to resign from the Harry Potter spin-off series by film studio Warner Bros, and will ‘respect and agree to that request’. The decision followed after the Pirates of the Caribbean star lost his libel trial against The Sun which saw the actor suing News Group Newspapers and the paper’s executive editor Dan Wooton. The editor had referred to Depp as a ‘wife beater’ in a 2018 column, following allegations of domestic violence made against the actor by his ex-wife Amber Heard.”

“Fans have since launched a petition calling on the movie studio to reverse their decision and ‘bring back’ Depp in his role as Gellert Grindelwald for the third instalment of the franchise. The online petition on Change.org reads: ‘We want him back! Warner Bros should listen to the public or we will boycott the movie!!!’ It also states that the outcome of the libel case ‘was completely unfair’. Depp has also announced that he intends to appeal the verdict of the trial, stating: ‘My resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations made against me are false'” – The Independent.

Politico: “It wasn’t until Election Day, when returns showed counties across Michigan, Georgia and the industrial Midwest leaning toward Joe Biden due to a groundswell of religious support, that the Trump campaign realized it had a problem. For months, President Donald Trump’s top aides and religious allies dismissed his softening support with white evangelicals and Catholic voters as a polling fluke — another media-spun narrative intended to frighten the incumbent Republican and his top donors. No president had ever done more for these demographics, they claimed, pointing to the unfettered access many conservative Christian groups had to the Trump administration and the influence they wielded over policy priorities and judicial nominees.”

“‘You can look at the polls but at the end of the day, the president will perform very well with Catholic voters because he has delivered for them in so many ways,’ senior Trump campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp, a Catholic herself, said in an interview just days before the election. In the end, surveys of early voters and exit polls showed they may have been the difference in his loss. Between 47 percent and 50 percent of Catholic voters supported Trump — a small decline from 2016, but enough to cost him the Rust Belt states that mattered most to his path to victory. Nationally, the president carried white Catholics by a 15-point margin, according to AP/VoteCast data, marking a significant decline from his 33-point margin of victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016.”

“Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State said once again Tuesday that he has seen no evidence of any widespread voter fraud in Georgia. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray that he is a conservative Republican supporter of not only President Donald Trump, but the two Republican senators who are now calling for him to resign. Raffensperger said he has investigators on staff whose sole job is to look into wrongdoing. He told Gray that so far, nobody has provided any evidence of any significant voter fraud in Georgia. ‘We haven’t found any widespread fraud. We will investigate every single case that voters bring to us,’ Raffensperger said. An engineer by trade, the Secretary of State said he focuses on numbers and data. ‘Election integrity still matters and integrity matters in this office,’ Raffensperger said.”

“On Monday, Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are both facing runoffs, released a statement saying, ‘The Secretary of State has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections. He has failed the people of Georgia, and he should step down immediately.’ But they did not provide any specific examples of election wrongdoing. ‘Any chance you are going to resign?’ Gray asked Raffensperger. ‘No, I think I was pretty clear on that. The voters hired me, the voters will fire me. I’m not going anywhere,’ Raffensperger said” – WSB-TV.

“As the weaknesses of President Trump’s legal cases to overturn Joe Biden’s win become clearer, Republicans are talking more about the Electoral College — hinting at an extreme last-chance way for Trump to cling to power. What we’re watching: In this long-shot scenario, Trump and his team could try to block secretaries of state in contested states from certifying results. That could allow legislatures in those states to try to appoint new electors who favor Trump over Biden.”

“‘It’s basically hijacking the democracy,’ one lawyer familiar with the process tells Axios. ‘They’ve got nothing else; you’d be trying to deny Joe Biden 270.’ If Trump were to pursue this course, it likely would become apparent the week leading up to Thanksgiving, as states face deadlines to finalize election results” – Axios.

Politico: “It was just noise when it started — Donald Trump spouting wild, unsubstantiated claims about election fraud, his lawyer seething at an almost comical press conference in the parking lot of a Philadelphia landscaping business. But one week after an election in which Joe Biden received close to 5 million more popular votes than Trump and captured more than 270 electoral votes, the president and top Republican Party officials are nowhere near conceding.”

“It will be nearly impossible for Republicans to alter the outcome or prevent Biden from taking office. Counting all the states where he currently leads in voting, Biden has 306 electoral votes. In Michigan, Biden’s lead at the moment is more than 10 times larger than Trump’s winning margin was there in 2016. To date, Trump’s campaign has yet to produce evidence in any state of the kind of widespread ballot fraud the president alleges. Yet one week after the election, there is no sign any of that is sinking in. Instead, the controversy seems to be metastasizing within GOP circles, as the party unites behind an idea that threatens to distract Washington and state capitals for weeks amid an ongoing pandemic and a looming transition of government. A majority of Republicans, according to new polling, are convinced the election wasn’t fair. Party officials are attacking one another for failing a litmus test of defending Trump’s interests. Lawmakers in Congress and states across the country are rushing to the cause.”

In four separate incidents, port-o-potties have exploded around Pittsburgh, apparently the targets of a poop-fixated prankster who drops a load of explosives into the chambers late at night, KDKA CBS-2 News reports.

The last port-a-potty to blow up was located at a construction site in downtown Pittsburgh.  Police had the area cleared by sniffer dogs, who are not paid nearly enough biscuits.

Another spot-a-pot was blown up Thursday, November 5th, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Lawrenceville.

Both crappers blew up in the middle of the night, and thankfully no one was using the facilities when they blew up.

Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison, who is facing three counts of wanton endangerment for firing blindly into Breonna Taylor’s apartment, has been sued for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he met while moonlighting at a bar, NBC News reports.

Hankison was working security at a Tin Roof bar in Louisville when he met 23-year-old Margo Borders through a mutual friend.  In April 2018, Hankison alleged offered Borders a ride home after she left the bar.  Borders said she took the ride because she was intoxicated and she felt safe taking a ride from a police officer.

Hankison invited himself into Borders’ apartment and sat on a couch as Borders went into her bedroom to change.  She passed out on the bed there.